The news today is full of headlines that Sberbank is massively blocking cards for transferring money. Users note that thousands of clients who receive money transfers are subject to bank sanctions. They can no longer carry out operations, and their money is “burnt out.” Can an account be blocked forever or is this measure temporary?

According to information in the media, payment cards are blocked. Sberbank made an official statement and denied this information. The sanctions are not widespread and apply only to those clients who violate the provisions of Law 115-FZ.

Banks must review all transactions and identify those associated with money laundering, obfuscation of payment schemes and concealment of the true recipients and senders of money.

You will need to provide documents confirming the legality of the translation. The calculations of legal entities are especially carefully checked. Individuals should not be afraid of close attention.

Reasons for card blocking

Sber blocks cards for the following reasons:

1. Suspicion of fraud is the most common option. If there is any doubt that criminals have gained access to the account and are trying to illegally write off money, it will be blocked. But for such caution you just need to say “thank you.”
2. Receipt of funds over 600 rubles. If the client explains what services or goods this transfer is for and proves its legality, then access will be restored.
3. Split payments. If the client does not want to come to the attention of the financial monitoring department, then the payment for a large amount is divided into several transactions.
4. Due to frequent transfers from different individuals. This may lead you to believe that the account is used for payments related to business activities. If you receive insignificant amounts from different payers, then no one will be interested in this card. But if there are large turnovers on the account, then this is direct tax evasion. The bank may refuse service, block the card and Sberbank online.

Has your card been blocked?

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If you are faced with a card blocking, we recommend reading the following articles:

As it was before?

The Central Bank has long set the task for its wards to make every effort to stop illegal operations. Previously, at Sberbank, such work was performed manually. An entire financial monitoring department independently verified client transactions. It was impossible to cover all the calculations. Therefore, the bank has implemented an automated system that processes hundreds of transactions in a few moments and filters out suspicious ones. Next, financial monitoring staff check them and make a decision to block the account. Now it will be very difficult to hide the criminal scheme and cash out money.

How to avoid blocking?

If a client uses a card for business activities, but does not want to register an individual entrepreneur, then he needs to be careful. If there is a lot of activity, account blocking cannot be avoided. You either need to run a business legally or work for cash. When depositing large amounts of cash, you must provide supporting documents to the bank: purchase and sale agreement, bank deposit agreement, etc. But you shouldn’t do this in advance. The bank will ask - then bring the papers.

Non-cash transactions with funds are increasingly replacing cash payments. Payment by bank transfer is simpler, more convenient and faster. Another plus is the ability to transfer money to another person, wherever he is. At the same time, recent practice shows that if you send a transfer (especially for a large amount) to a friend or relative, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise - the receiving bank can easily refuse to cash out the funds.

Let us remind you that the site reported a precedent when Sberbank refused to cash out its client’s cash deposit due to the inability to confirm the origin of four million rubles. The panel of the Supreme Court for Civil Disputes took the side of the bank, supporting Sberbank in a dispute over the refusal to issue money to a client in cash after the end of the deposit period. The reason for refusing to issue funds was the bank's suspicions that the depositor was trying to legalize income in this way. In 2015, 56 million rubles were deposited into the account of one of Sberbank’s clients, and he tried to cash it out the next day. However, the credit institution considered this operation suspicious and requested documents that could confirm the origin of the money. After studying them, Sberbank decided to refuse to cash out the funds.

The owner of the money then transferred it to several time deposits opened with Sberbank, but upon completion of their terms, the bank again refused to issue funds to him. As a result, the client went to court, demanding the return of not only the deposits with interest, but also to collect a penalty from the credit institution. However, the courts of all instances sided with Sberbank, noting that the client did not provide documents refuting the dubious origin of the money, and could also, if desired, make a transfer to an account at another credit institution.

Commenting on its decision, the Supreme Court panel noted that the bank is not obliged to issue funds in the form in which the client requested them, but can choose cash or non-cash payment.

Some experts believe that such decisions may lead to citizens returning to their savings under the mattress and paying in cash. Then no one will have to explain anything or prove the origin of their own money.

Sberbank now has a fully automatic system for recording and monitoring transactions made by its clients, some analysts say, noting that if previously the system was “manually controlled” and could not fully ensure control over all movements of bank clients’ funds, amounts of more than 300,000 rubles, now absolutely everything is controlled. The algorithm doesn’t care; it is limited only by the production capacity of the system. “Episodes have already begun with bank refusals to issue amounts transferred to clients in cash, without documentary confirmation of the origin and destination of the transfer, and soon this process will probably become widespread” - such predictions are made in the blogosphere. the site contacted Sberbank for clarification:

“Indeed, automated systems are used to identify transactions, but the analysis of such transactions at Sberbank is carried out by an employee - we analyze them individually in order to minimize situations where a bona fide client may suffer,” the press service of Sberbank PJSC commented on this information, noting that banks are required to conduct analysis transactions performed by clients, according to the criteria established by the Bank of Russia.

As experts explained, if operations are performed on your card that may differ from the standard behavior of the card holder, the card may be blocked. In this case, a message will be sent to the holder asking for supporting documents or explanations. After which the bank will make a decision on the possibility of unblocking the card. The bank's review period for documents submitted by the client is up to 5 days.

At the same time, sums of money cannot be burned - such information is not true and contradicts the basic principles of banking, the Sberbank press service explained:

“The client’s account is not blocked, only remote access to the account is blocked, i.e. You cannot use a bank card or Sberbank Online to make transactions. When contacting an additional office of the bank, the client can give an order, which will be executed if the Bank has no doubts regarding this particular operation.”

Moreover, if the bank refuses to carry out transactions twice, the client will be asked to terminate the agreement with the bank. In this case, the funds can be sent to the client’s own account in another bank.

Facebook users, in particular, write that the bank is trying to identify the use of individual cards in business activities. At the same time, Sberbank employees allegedly call not the recipient, but the payer, in order to find out why the money was transferred. If the sender of the money replies that he paid for a service or product, the cards are blocked. And both the payer and the recipient.

This is not the first wave of such messages on social networks. About a similar blocking at the end of September.

However, Sberbank denies the mass calling of customers and blocking of cards. IN message, published on Facebook on Friday, said that panic about this issue has arisen every month throughout this year, and after the same message in instant messengers:“Now there are checks at Sberbank about accepting money for commercial transactions. activities on cards... Calls began this week and are going on in all cities.”

The bank warns that only in exceptional cases, if the transaction looks atypical or looks like fraud, the sender may be asked for confirmation. To do this, the bank calls or sends an SMS with a request to call number 900. The card is blocked only if the client tells the operator that he did not make transactions on the card.

However, not everything is as good as Sberbank employees write. So, on Sunday, a representative of a credit consumer cooperative from Ingushetia said that all shareholders who received loans had their cards blocked, including those on which citizens received salaries.

“After blocking, our clients go to the bank, and all shareholders provide documents that they are our shareholders, that they received money in certain cases, who takes out a consumer loan, who for the purchase of real estate (in this case, he provided a purchase and sale agreement and loan agreement) who the car is (here a title and a loan agreement are provided),” writes a KPK representative.

It is unknown whether the cooperative employee will find control of the bank's security service, but he promised to go all the way to Gref. However, CPC shareholders simply close their accounts with Sberbank and go to other credit organizations.

The fact that card blocking is not just fairy tales told online is indirectly confirmed by Sberbank itself. He recently posted detailed information on this issue.

The first messages about blocking of payment cards in different regions of Russia began to appear on the Internet on November 14 last year. The reason for blocking is transfers related to commercial activities. Today the problem has reached national proportions.

Legal aspect

According to the bank card service agreement, the holder is prohibited from using it to conduct business. The financial institution skillfully uses this point to retain funds in accounts, and therefore, within its banking system.

Whatever the motives, the approach that bank officials are taking in the fight for financial assets is outrageous. Call center employees call customers who have made a transaction using their bank card. During the conversation, the operator tries to find out the purpose of the payment.

Sberbank blocks the recipient's and sender's cards.

But why?

This question was answered by an informed source, a representative of Sberbank, who disagreed with the current situation and, for obvious reasons, wished to remain anonymous:

“If someone says that they transferred money for a service, even for training, then your card will be blocked, as well as the card of the person who received it. And after blocking, both the recipient and the sender will face fines and an audit from the tax office,” and emphasized, “Now they have taken a very close look at individuals and their income. The checks in all cities are being carried out very seriously.”

What to do?

If you received a call from the Sberbank call center, the operator will inquire about the purpose of your last payment. The answer that will protect you from unwanted consequences will be:

• Transferring money for a gift.
• Transferring money to repay a debt.

The correct answer to the recipient question could be:

• Transfer money to a friend.
• Transferring money to a relative.

Otherwise, the bank blocks the payment cards of the recipient and the sender. You may be left without a card and have problems with the tax authorities.

Safe answer: “transfer to a relative for a gift.”

Official position of Sberbank

The press service of Sberbank denied this information. The financial institution also did not confirm that bank employees are calling clients. However, they emphasized the following:

“The bank card service agreement contains a condition according to which the card holder is prohibited from using it to conduct business,”

– reported in the financial institution.

Conclusion:

The BNB Options company will not let the received information slip out of sight and will definitely conduct. Will also be published.

Follow upcoming publications to stay in the center of events. Until we thoroughly understand the situation, we recommend following the advice of our informant and not going into details of the purpose of transactions in telephone conversations with bank representatives.

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