The world is increasingly going online . A lot of people are spending money online. And at the same time,
smartphones are replacing laptops as our preferred gadget on the move. So it
makes sense to be able to do some form of banking from your cell phone. Many
banks have introduced Mobile banking services. Initially it was restricted to balance
enquiry and cheque enquiry via SMS. But now it has expanded to funds transfer
and bill payments too.
However, in India these services haven’t gained much acceptance yet. As a result, a
lot of confusion follows for those who want to use mobile banking. So here is a
guide to activating and using Mobile banking for the largest bank of India i.e. State Bank of India.
SBI has designed a system where you can register for mobile banking without any intervention from your
branch. It is a completely automated procedure.
Registration;
Update: To register just send MBSREG to 9223440000 OR 567676. You will receive an SMS with your
username and default password in it. Now install the SBI Freedom app.
Launch the app and enter the username. It will ask you to change the password. The password has to be
six characters long and can contain only numbers. Change the password. It will again send an SMS which
will cost another Rs. 3.
Now you will need to register your mobile number for mobile banking in an ATM, because it still doesn’t
know which account you are going to use the app with (it never asked for your account number,
remember). Go to an SBI ATM. Insert your Debit card and select the Mobile Banking option. Then select
register. It will ask for your phone number. Enter your phone number and confirm. That’s it, you are now
ready to use Mobile banking
.
SBI Freedom running on Symbian S60V5
However, seeing that an SMS costs Rs.3, not many would be willing to use this service through SMS. To
use it through GPRS, do the following:
Launch the app and enter your User ID
Go to settings>channel
Select GPRS, enter your pin and confirm
This SMS will be the last one! So it will cost you a total of Rs. 9 to activate the service to be used via
GPRS
Usage:
After you have registered for mobile banking, the question arises, what you can use it for. Here are the few
things you can do with it:
Funds transfer – You can transfer funds to any account in India. It can be and SBI account or
any other bank’s account through RTGS or NEFT
Balance and mini statement enquiry – You can make a balance enquiry at any time. You can also
request a mini statement of last 5 transactions. The information is shows on screen and also
sent via SMS
Check Demat account – if you have a Demat account with SBI, you can check your balances etc.
Make a cheque book request
Pay bills – You can pay phone bills, DTH bills, electricity bills etc. Here is a state wise list of
supported billers.
Mobile Topup – Almost all service providers are supported. That’s what makes this the most
useful function of State Bank Freedom. Recharge your mobile anytime, anywhere. Just select the
mobile topup option, enter the name of the service provider, your mobile number, amount you
want to recharge with and select the account to be debited. Most of the time, the balance is
received within a minute. It must be noted that you can recharge any mobile phone, not just your
phone.
M-Commerce :
You can pay the premium for SBI Life Insurance
A transaction uses just 1KB data, so even if you are not using any data pack, this won’t cost you much.
After every transaction, you’ll receive a confirmation with a reference ID. Write this ID if you need. If you
have a smartphone, you can take a screenshot.
Multiple Phones and Number Change
If you want to change your mobile number, there is an option for this under settings. Enter the new mobile
number and get a confirmation from the branch to enable. You could also deregister at the ATM and
register a new number from there itself following the process explained above. This way you will be able to
avoid branch intervention.
If you want to use SBI Mobile banking from multiple cell phones, there is a sync option under settings. Go
to options>get sync key. You will receive a key. Enter this key in your other phone and it should work
(couldn’t try this).
Security
All communications from your mobile phone to the server are encrypted with 128-bit AES encryption
algorithm. However, the SMS messages are not encrypted. This is one more reason to use GPRS as the
channel.
Of course, this is not all that security means. There has to be security on the user front too. So, it is not
possible to use mobile banking from any other phone than the one you registered with. The username is
tied to the phone. Also, one phone will accept only one user ID. So it is practically impossible for anyone to
access your account unless you lose your mobile. Then of course, there’s your MPIN. It is advisable not to
store the MPIN on your phone and delete the SMS containing your User ID. You are notified of almost all
transactions immediately via SMS.
Bonus Tip: If you lose your mobile phone, go to an SBI ATM and deregister from mobile banking
immediately.
For further information and FAQs, visit SBI website. The FAQ links towards the bottom of the page are
actually PDF files but for some reason they appear as HTML files. Save the file, change the extension to
PDF and then open them.
If you have any question, leave a comment below and I will try to answer it. If you liked this post, tell your
friends about it.
Download State Bank Freedom
Update 1: SBI Freedom is available for Android Phones in the Android Market and for iPhone in the
app store.
Update 2: If your device is not listed, try any other device from the same company and/or platform with a
matching screen resolution. Find out the platform and screen resolution from www.GSMArena.com
Update 3: It seems sometimes you may need to register in ATM twice before the application is registered
with your account. So if it doesn’t work after one registration, try registering again in the ATM.
smartphones are replacing laptops as our preferred gadget on the move. So it
makes sense to be able to do some form of banking from your cell phone. Many
banks have introduced Mobile banking services. Initially it was restricted to balance
enquiry and cheque enquiry via SMS. But now it has expanded to funds transfer
and bill payments too.
However, in India these services haven’t gained much acceptance yet. As a result, a
lot of confusion follows for those who want to use mobile banking. So here is a
guide to activating and using Mobile banking for the largest bank of India i.e. State Bank of India.
SBI has designed a system where you can register for mobile banking without any intervention from your
branch. It is a completely automated procedure.
Registration;
Update: To register just send MBSREG to 9223440000 OR 567676. You will receive an SMS with your
username and default password in it. Now install the SBI Freedom app.
Launch the app and enter the username. It will ask you to change the password. The password has to be
six characters long and can contain only numbers. Change the password. It will again send an SMS which
will cost another Rs. 3.
Now you will need to register your mobile number for mobile banking in an ATM, because it still doesn’t
know which account you are going to use the app with (it never asked for your account number,
remember). Go to an SBI ATM. Insert your Debit card and select the Mobile Banking option. Then select
register. It will ask for your phone number. Enter your phone number and confirm. That’s it, you are now
ready to use Mobile banking
SBI Freedom running on Symbian S60V5
However, seeing that an SMS costs Rs.3, not many would be willing to use this service through SMS. To
use it through GPRS, do the following:
Launch the app and enter your User ID
Go to settings>channel
Select GPRS, enter your pin and confirm
This SMS will be the last one! So it will cost you a total of Rs. 9 to activate the service to be used via
GPRS
Usage:
After you have registered for mobile banking, the question arises, what you can use it for. Here are the few
things you can do with it:
Funds transfer – You can transfer funds to any account in India. It can be and SBI account or
any other bank’s account through RTGS or NEFT
Balance and mini statement enquiry – You can make a balance enquiry at any time. You can also
request a mini statement of last 5 transactions. The information is shows on screen and also
sent via SMS
Check Demat account – if you have a Demat account with SBI, you can check your balances etc.
Make a cheque book request
Pay bills – You can pay phone bills, DTH bills, electricity bills etc. Here is a state wise list of
supported billers.
Mobile Topup – Almost all service providers are supported. That’s what makes this the most
useful function of State Bank Freedom. Recharge your mobile anytime, anywhere. Just select the
mobile topup option, enter the name of the service provider, your mobile number, amount you
want to recharge with and select the account to be debited. Most of the time, the balance is
received within a minute. It must be noted that you can recharge any mobile phone, not just your
phone.
M-Commerce :
You can pay the premium for SBI Life Insurance
A transaction uses just 1KB data, so even if you are not using any data pack, this won’t cost you much.
After every transaction, you’ll receive a confirmation with a reference ID. Write this ID if you need. If you
have a smartphone, you can take a screenshot.
Multiple Phones and Number Change
If you want to change your mobile number, there is an option for this under settings. Enter the new mobile
number and get a confirmation from the branch to enable. You could also deregister at the ATM and
register a new number from there itself following the process explained above. This way you will be able to
avoid branch intervention.
If you want to use SBI Mobile banking from multiple cell phones, there is a sync option under settings. Go
to options>get sync key. You will receive a key. Enter this key in your other phone and it should work
(couldn’t try this).
Security
All communications from your mobile phone to the server are encrypted with 128-bit AES encryption
algorithm. However, the SMS messages are not encrypted. This is one more reason to use GPRS as the
channel.
Of course, this is not all that security means. There has to be security on the user front too. So, it is not
possible to use mobile banking from any other phone than the one you registered with. The username is
tied to the phone. Also, one phone will accept only one user ID. So it is practically impossible for anyone to
access your account unless you lose your mobile. Then of course, there’s your MPIN. It is advisable not to
store the MPIN on your phone and delete the SMS containing your User ID. You are notified of almost all
transactions immediately via SMS.
Bonus Tip: If you lose your mobile phone, go to an SBI ATM and deregister from mobile banking
immediately.
For further information and FAQs, visit SBI website. The FAQ links towards the bottom of the page are
actually PDF files but for some reason they appear as HTML files. Save the file, change the extension to
PDF and then open them.
If you have any question, leave a comment below and I will try to answer it. If you liked this post, tell your
friends about it.
Download State Bank Freedom
Update 1: SBI Freedom is available for Android Phones in the Android Market and for iPhone in the
app store.
Update 2: If your device is not listed, try any other device from the same company and/or platform with a
matching screen resolution. Find out the platform and screen resolution from www.GSMArena.com
Update 3: It seems sometimes you may need to register in ATM twice before the application is registered
with your account. So if it doesn’t work after one registration, try registering again in the ATM.
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