Don't forget your cash before leaving the ATM

Date: 11 August 2018 By: Jo Robinson

On Tuesday, 31 July, an eagle-eyed employee of FNB Louis Trichardt recognised Mr Roy Saunders from his photograph in an article in the Zoutpansberger of 14 July and realised from looking at CCTV footage that Saunders had left an ATM machine with only his card and not the cash he had withdrawn.

Saunders is a pensioner and could not afford going without his pension money.

The FNB employee followed the trail and not only recovered the cash, but made sure that she tracked Saunders down and returned his pension withdrawal to him. He was very impressed and relieved and said afterwards: “The bank was very good at following it up on the ATM camera and recovering the money. The bank manager, Joyce, is a very nice lady!”

After this incident, more residents shared their experience of the new “card first and cash last” system at FNB ATMs. It now seems easier to forget your cash after getting so used to getting your card last at ATMs.

The Zoutpansberger asked for comment from FNB regarding the new system.

“FNB was the only bank in South Africa to give our customers their cash first and then the card at our ATMs. All the other banks dispense the card first and then the customer’s cash. This resulted in a large percentage of our customers forgetting their cards inside the ATM. The ATM would then ‘swallow’ the card and place it in a dedicated bin. Thereafter, the card would have to be destroyed according to payments regulations,” said Ms Lee-Anne van Zyl, CEO of FNB Points of Presence.

This, she said, in turn resulted in a major inconvenience to their customers as customers had to re-order a card and be without a card for the duration of the re-issuance. “The cost and inconvenience associated with re-issuing hundreds of thousands of cards per year impacted our customers directly,” said Van Zyl.

When asked what happens to money left behind in an ATM, assuming it is not appropriated by whoever happens to be next in the queue, Van Zyl said that if customers forget to take their cash, the ATM will retract it back into the device and place it in a separate area known as the ‘Retract Bin’. “The ATM then writes that activity to the electronic journal with a certain error code, so when customers contact us to dispute the transaction, we will retrieve the journal and see that the cash was in fact not dispensed but retracted. We can then immediately refund the customer, with minimal inconvenience,” said Van Zyl.

In a scenario where money forgotten in the ATM is taken and kept by a bystander, Van Zyl said that in such a case it would be a criminal matter that the customer must report to the police, and that the bank did not have any insurance to cover losses such as these. She shared some safety-conscious tips for using ATMs.

When it comes to the PIN, Van Zyl urged clients to keep it confidential. “Never share it with anyone, not even friends and family; don’t write it down, and don’t make it easy to guess, such as a birth date. When transacting, cover the key pad with your hand - since scammers can place cameras to record what you’re punching in - while standing as close as possible to the ATM and not letting anyone to distract you or stand too close. Do not enter your PIN on a screen that is unfamiliar to you. Carefully read the instructions before transacting,” said Van Zyl.

Once cash has been withdrawn, Van Zyl said, immediately place this out of sight. “Avoid handling cash in public view and secure your wallet and handbag before leaving the ATM. Set a realistic daily limit on your banking to protect yourself, should your details be compromised, check your statements regularly and report suspicious transactions immediately … And, of course, don’t forget to take your cash after your card,” said Van Zyl.

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Jo Robinson

Jo joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2018 pursuing a career in journalism after many years of writing fiction and non-fiction for other sectors.

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