Money deducted from your bank without notice? How to check your UPI subscription mandates

You are at the counter, the payment fails, and you check your balance. ₹499 is already gone, debited to an app you barely remember signing up for. Nothing was stolen. A UPI subscription mandate simply did its monthly job.

Step 1: Read the SMS properly, not casually

Every AutoPay debit is followed by a post-transaction notification, and by rule it must contain the merchant name, the amount, the date and time, the transaction reference number, the e-mandate reference number, the reason for the debit, and your bank's grievance redressal details. Two of these matter most: the merchant name and the e-mandate reference number. Write them down.

A pre-debit notification is also sent before the money is pulled. If you never saw it, check your spam or blocked messages folder.

Step 2: Open the full list of mandates on your account

1. PhonePe — profile icon (top-left) → Manage AutoPay.
2. Google Pay — profile picture (top-right) → Autopay.
3. Paytm — profile icon → UPI Automatic Payments, or Settings → UPI & Payment Settings → Manage.
4. BHIM — Mandate → My Mandates.

You do not need the app that created the mandate. Any UPI app linked to that bank account will show it. Match each entry against the merchant name from your SMS.

Step 3: If the debit was genuinely wrong

1. Keep the merchant name and mandate reference number from the SMS ready.
2. Raise a complaint inside the UPI app itself: Help → Report an issue on that transaction.
3. If it is not resolved in three days, complain to your bank. Banks must resolve within a set turnaround.
4. If it is still unresolved after 30 days, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman at cms.rbi.org.in.

A refund is possible where the debit was unauthorised or the mandate had already been revoked — not automatically otherwise.

One important note

Any single AutoPay debit above ₹15,000 must pause for your UPI PIN under the AFA rule, so a large silent debit is worth questioning. The exceptions are insurance premiums, mutual fund SIPs and credit card bill payments, which go up to ₹1,00,000 without AFA.

FAQ

Will cancelling hurt my credit score? No, unless it is a loan EMI mandate — a missed EMI does damage your score.

The debit stopped. Is my subscription cancelled too? No. Cancel with the merchant separately or you may still owe them.

Conclusion

An unexpected debit is almost always a forgotten mandate, not fraud. Check the list, cancel what you do not use, and escalate only if the money truly should not have gone.