{"id":4961,"date":"2026-09-07T20:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T11:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/?post_type=news&p=4961"},"modified":"2026-10-06T13:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T04:17:12","slug":"vietinbank-sms-fee","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/news\/vietinbank-sms-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"VietinBank Sets SMS Notification Fee at 16,500 Dong a Month \u2014 How to Switch It Off for Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you receive SMS alerts for your account's deposits and withdrawals, your October bill will look different. VietinBank has revised its SMS balance notification (SMS Banking) fee to 16,500 dong a month (about 97 yen, calculated at 1 yen \u2248 170 dong; the same rate applies throughout) starting September 1, and Vietbank followed suit from October. It's a change worth noting for residents running living expenses through cards or local accounts, and for anyone checking incoming payments while on a business trip \u2014 though switching a single setting can bring the fee back down to zero. Here's a rundown of the numbers, when they take effect, and how to keep receiving balance notifications for free.<\/p>\n

\"SMS\u901a\u77e5\u304b\u3089\u7121\u6599\u306e\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u901a\u77e5\u3078\u8a2d\u5b9a\u3092\u5207\u308a\u66ff\u3048\u308b\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u306e\u9280\u884c\u5229\u7528\u8005\"<\/figure>\n

VietinBank revised its SMS balance notification fee on September 1<\/h2>\n

This applies to personal accounts at VietinBank (Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade), which send an SMS every time the balance changes. According to the bank's announcement, the new rate takes effect from September 1, 2026. Balance notifications already carried a fee, but this change introduces a new flat-rate framework aimed at low-volume users. The content of the notifications themselves doesn't change \u2014 only the way the fee is calculated.<\/p>\n

16,500 dong flat for 14 messages or fewer a month, 880 dong per message from 15 and up<\/h2>\n

The fee structure splits into two tiers based on how many notifications you receive. If your account gets 14 or fewer balance notifications in a month, it's a flat 16,500 dong (about 97 yen, VAT included), regardless of the exact count. Once you hit 15 or more, you fall out of the flat-rate tier and pay 880 dong (about 5 yen) per message actually sent. Accounts with fewer transactions feel the flat rate more, so even an account that moves just a few times a month still gets charged the full 16,500 dong. If you keep separate accounts for daily expenses and savings, it's easy to overlook that the low-activity account gets hit with the same fee.<\/p>\n

Charges begin in the first week of October<\/h2>\n

The fee applies from September 1, but the actual collection happens all at once in the first week of October. Since the charge for September's usage is automatically deducted from the account in early October, the money doesn't actually move until October. There's still time to review your settings during September to exclude yourself from the fee before the next billing. Checking your passbook or app statement in October for a deduction listed under \"SMS\" will help you catch any difference.<\/p>\n

Vietbank follows suit from October, with a monthly cap of 220,000 dong<\/h2>\n

The same move has spread to Vietbank. Vietbank charges 16,500 dong a month (VAT included) for up to 20 messages, and for anything over 20, it's 15,000 dong (about 88 yen) a month plus 800 dong (about 5 yen) per extra message. The surcharge is capped, topping out at 220,000 dong a month (about 1,300 yen, VAT excluded). Collection starts in the first week of October, around the same time as VietinBank. This isn't a one-off move by a single bank \u2014 several banks are revising SMS notification fees around the same period. For high-transaction corporate or business accounts, the monthly burden can multiply several times over depending on message volume.<\/p>\n

Behind it: telecom carriers raising their SMS rates<\/h2>\n

As the reason for revising the fee, the announcement points to an adjustment in SMS delivery rates on the telecom carriers' side. Banks pay a fee to carriers for every message sent, and the rise in that underlying cost is being passed on to users through the fee.we previously put together a rundown with a quick-reference table on bank fee changes starting in August<\/a>, and alongside maintenance fees for dormant accounts and account management charges, the introduction or increase of SMS notification fees has become a common theme across several banks. Banks are pushing users to shift from SMS to app notifications, and this revision fits into that same trend.<\/p>\n

Switching to the app's OTT notifications makes it free<\/h2>\n

The banks are clear about how to avoid the fee: switch from SMS to receiving balance updates through the app's built-in notification feature (OTT notifications) instead. With VietinBank iPay Mobile for VietinBank, or each bank's own official app for Vietbank, push notifications for balance changes are free. The timing and content are nearly identical to SMS, and there's no limit on the number of notifications. Here's how to set it up.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Update the official app to the latest version and log in<\/li>\n
  2. Open the Settings or Notifications menu (C\u00e0i \u0111\u1eb7t \/ Th\u00f4ng b\u00e1o)<\/li>\n
  3. Under balance change notifications (Bi\u1ebfn \u0111\u1ed9ng s\u1ed1 d\u01b0), switch the delivery method from SMS to app notifications (OTT)<\/li>\n
  4. On your phone's own settings, allow push notifications for that app<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Already,OCB has discontinued SMS balance notifications and consolidated everything into free app notifications<\/a>, so getting used to the same steps now means you won't be lost when other banks follow.<\/p>\n

    Things to check before switching<\/h2>\n

    App notifications depend on your device's settings. On airplane mode, in an environment without Wi-Fi, or on a phone with notifications turned off, delivery can be delayed \u2014 a different condition from SMS, which reaches you as long as you have signal. If you swap between a foreign and a local SIM, it's worth checking that push notifications for the app stay enabled. The balance notification itself doesn't disappear \u2014 only the delivery route shifts from SMS to the app \u2014 so there's little risk of losing track of incoming payments or charges. If you're worried, the surest way to check is to send a small transfer right after switching and see if the notification arrives.<\/p>\n

    What residents and business travelers should do<\/h2>\n

    If you hold multiple accounts, switching the low-activity ones to app notifications first makes the benefit easiest to see. Leave SMS notifications on for an unused account, and even a single monthly deposit will rack up 16,500 dong. For accounts with heavy business transactions, staying on SMS means the burden grows with message volume, so switching to app notifications should be a higher priority. Using a banking app increasingly requires identity verification as a prerequisite, sothe changes various banks are making around account maintenance and fees<\/a>are worth checking alongside this \u2014 getting your app login details and biometric authentication set up now will make procedures after October go smoothly.<\/p>\n

    Summary<\/h2>\n

    From September 1, VietinBank's SMS balance notifications cost a flat 16,500 dong a month for 14 messages or fewer, and 880 dong per message from 15 up. Collection starts in the first week of October, and Vietbank followed in the same month. To avoid the charge, all you need to do is switch the official app's balance change notifications from SMS to OTT. The content stays the same and only the fee drops to zero, so reviewing your settings during September will make a difference on your October bill.<\/p>\n

    Sources:
    \n    afamily.vn (September 6, 2026)<\/a>
    \n    VietinBank official notice<\/a>
    \n    VietNamNet<\/a>
    \n    D\u00e2n tr\u00ed (September 4, 2026)<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    VietinBank has revised its SMS balance notification fee to 16,500 dong (about 97 yen) a month starting September 1. Collection begins in the first week of October, with Vietbank following the same month. A rundown for residents on how to switch to the app's OTT notifications and keep receiving balance alerts for free.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"swell_btn_cv_data":"","ssp_meta_description":"VietinBank\u304c9\u67081\u65e5\u304b\u3089SMS\u6b8b\u9ad8\u901a\u77e5\u306e\u624b\u6570\u6599\u3092\u670816,500\u30c9\u30f3(\u7d0497\u5186)\u306b\u6539\u5b9a\u3002\u5fb4\u53ce\u306f10\u6708\u7b2c1\u9031\u304b\u3089\u3002Vietbank\u3082\u540c\u6708\u8ffd\u968f\u3002\u5728\u4f4f\u8005\u304c\u30a2\u30d7\u30ea\u306eOTT\u901a\u77e5\u306b\u5207\u308a\u66ff\u3048\u3066\u7121\u6599\u3067\u6b8b\u9ad8\u901a\u77e5\u3092\u53d7\u3051\u53d6\u308b\u624b\u9806\u307e\u3067\u6574\u7406\u3057\u305f\u3002","ssp_meta_keyword":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1034,1035,597,1036,1033],"purpose":[],"keyword":[],"location":[],"class_list":["post-4961","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-sms","tag-vietinbank","tag-597","tag-1036","tag-1033"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4961"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6161,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4961\/revisions\/6161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4961"},{"taxonomy":"purpose","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purpose?post=4961"},{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=4961"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=4961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}