Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank ( VPBank ) has just announced a change in the SMS Banking fee schedule. Accordingly, from September 1, VPBank will adjust the SMS banking fee from a fixed monthly package of VND 12,000/account number/1 subscriber/month to an increasing fee schedule calculated based on the number of messages received each month. The new fee ranges from VND 10,000 to VND 70,000. The highest level in the SMS Banking fee schedule is VND 70,000/account number/1 subscriber/month, applied when customers receive 101 or more SMS messages.
VPBank explained that the fee adjustment increases gradually according to the number of messages received to ensure customers who use the service with the criterion "use more - pay more".
VPBank's new fee schedule applies from September 1, the bank explains the increase in SMS banking fees to encourage customers to receive free balance changes on e-banking
This bank also only charges SMS banking fees for transactions with a value of VND 100,000 or more. Transactions with a value of less than VND 100,000 (minimum transaction amount) will not receive balance change notifications on the phone but will receive them on the VPBank NEO e-banking app. The balance tracking service on the VPBank NEO app has been deployed by VPBank since the beginning of 2021 and is free.
According to Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, VPBank is not the only bank to announce an increase in SMS banking fees for account holders. Some other banks such as Techcombank , Eximbank, VIB... also adjusted to increase this fee to encourage customers to receive free balance change notifications on digital banking applications.
According to banks, from 2021 onwards, SMS banking fees were below VND 20,000/month/phone number, but in recent years, they have increasingly had to compensate telecommunications service providers for this fee.
The Vietnam Banking Association has repeatedly sent documents requesting network operators to reduce SMS banking fees for banks but has not received any response. As a result, banks have begun to increase SMS banking fees, with the highest common level being around 70,000-80,000 VND/month.
"With this change, VPBank hopes that customers will switch from managing balance fluctuations on SMS banking (fee-based) to managing on the VPBank NEO app (free for life) to help save costs for both customers and the bank. Because even with the increased fees, the bank still has to compensate for tens of billions of dong each year to pay telecommunications companies" - a representative of this bank explained.
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