SBI credit card will charge a fee of Rs 99 plus tax on all EMI purchases from Dec 1

SBI credit card has informed its customers through email that processing costs of Rs 99 plus taxes will be charged on all EMI purchase transactions beginning December 1, 2021. All EMI purchases made at merchant outlets, e-commerce websites, and apps using SBI credit cards will be subject to a processing fee. This is expected to affect the growing number of transactions made by cards using EMI payment alternatives provided by merchant websites such as ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) and others. It may increase the cost of BNPL transactions made with SBI credit cards.

In an email issued to consumers today, the credit card company stated: Dear Cardholder, We would like to inform you that beginning December 1, 2021, a processing fee of Rs. 99 + relevant taxes will be imposed on all Merchant EMI transactions completed at a Merchant outlet/website/app. We appreciate your continuing support. Please visit this page to learn more about the Merchant EMI Processing Fee.

To illustrate, imagine you purchase a cell phone through an e-commerce platform’s EMI arrangement. If you use an SBI credit card to make the payment, the card company will charge you Rs 99 plus taxes as processing fees. This fee, together with the EMI amount, will appear on your credit card account.

This processing fee is in addition to the interest charged by the card company. Merchants may offer discounts on such transactions by paying the interest amount, giving the appearance of a zero-cost EMI to customers. Even in such cases, the processing charge will be an additional cost.

This processing fee will be charged only on transactions that successfully convert to EMI transactions. However, processing fees will only be refunded if the EMI transaction is cancelled.

Merchants shall notify SBI credit cardholders about the application of processing fees on EMI purchases via charge slips (for offline transactions)/payment pages (for online transactions).