When Marine veteran Luis Agostini tried to use his debit card Feb. 10, it was declined. He knew he had plenty of money in his account at Marine Federal Credit Union, but couldn’t reach anyone that night to get to solve the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next morning, he said, the representative asked if he had received a new debit card with embedded chip technology. He had received it in December, but hadn’t activated the new card by the deadline set by the credit union. Because he had missed the deadline, he was told, Marine FCU deactivated his old debit card as well as the new one. Thus, he was without a working debit card until another card arrived by mail \u2014 in seven to 10 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was unfortunate timing \u2014\u00a0just before Valentine’s Day, and he and his wife were traveling to New York City for the weekend. “Thankfully, I have a credit card,” he said. He still had access to his checking account, and could transfer money to his wife’s checking account through another financial institution so they could use her debit card; or he could find a branch of another credit union nearby that had a shared branching partnership with Marine FCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agostini says he doesn’t recall receiving a notice that there was a deadline to activate the new card, and believes the credit union should have been more proactive in sending out a notice before shutting down his card.\u00a0Marine Federal Credit Union officials say notices were sent along with the new cards, and at least one additional notification was sent to remind members of the deadline. There also have been reminders on the credit union’s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marine FCU and other financial institutions have been replacing debit cards and credit cards with those that have microchip technology. The\u00a0microchips make it less likely that your card will be used for fraudulent purposes for in-person transactions. The microchip contains the same personal information that is printed on the outside of the card. The chip changes the encrypted numbers for every transaction. Initially at least, cards will still have the magnetic strip\u00a0on the back; this gives merchants more time to upgrade their technology to accept the chip cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Marine FCU’s case, it has been replacing cards gradually, with the rollout of new debit cards expected to be finished by the end of March, said Tabitha Ernst-Chadwick, chief risk and compliance officer for Marine FCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We can’t leave cards out there that aren’t activated,” she said, because criminals could use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n