Bank Card Suddenly Cancelled? Why?

On October 10, 2020, the State Council held a meeting and decided to carry out the action against illegal trafficking in bank cards and phone cards nationwide. 

What kinds of cards will be included?

★ Phone card (SIM card)

It Includes the three major operators (China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telcom), virtual operators and IoT cards, as well as derivative registered social communication accounts, etc.

 ★ Bank card

It includes personal bank accounts, corporate bank accounts, credit cards, as well as payment codes such as WeChat and Alipay, with tools for settlement and payment.

What are the punishments?

★ Tele-communication

Those who are punished will not be able to handle new network access services for mobile phones, broadband and landline phones for 6 months to 2 years. 

★ Bank accounts

Those who are punished will be suspended for 5 years from non-counter business of bank accounts, all business of payment accounts, and no new accounts may be opened. In addition, disciplinary records will also be incorporated into the personal credit system.

Who will be punished?

★ Illegal seller of bank cards

Units and individuals who illegally rent, sell, or purchase bank accounts or payment accounts and their related organizers will be punished after the public security organs determine the illegal facts.

★ illegal seller of phone cards

Untrustworthy users who illegally rent, sell, or buy phone cards will be punished after being identified and dealt with by the public security organs.

Why put control on bank cards and phone card ?

In the long-term fight against telecommunication network fraud and criminal activities, it is found that the major cause of the continued high incidence of telecommunication network fraud is that the management of telephone cards and bank cards is out of control.

Every year, there are countless tragedies caused by telecommunication fraud, which pose a serious threat to the social security of the country and the safety of the people's property.

Banks will conduct account cancellation for these accounts.

Since the end of last year, a number of banks, including CCB, ABC Bank, and PSBC, have begun to clean up "sleep accounts" and excessive accounts, but the standards of each bank are inconsistent. 

On March 19, Huaxia Bank announced that it will start cleaning up personal stock accounts from March 30. Among them, Accounts with no fund collection and payment activities for more than 5 consecutive years, and with a balance of less than 10 yuan will be cancelled. Other non-compliant accounts will be restricted from trading functions. 

On February 8, the ABC announced that from March 10, as of December 31, 2020, bank accounts with no transfer for more than 3 years (including 3 years), and deposit balance of 0 yuan, will be cancelled. Social security cards, military security cards, and retirement pension special cards are not included in the scope of this cleanup.

It is worth noting that cleanup does not mean directly canceling all the accounts. Some banks only impose restrictions on transaction function, which can still be activated and reused if necessary.