Bankcard Technophage

July 23, 2015 5:07 PM

I am with Scotia Bank in Canada, and between every 3 and 6 weeks, my bank card just stops working. Scotia has prevented people from swiping it. It leaves me without cash. I cannot take money out, and I cannot use it on POS terminals.

Today, i bought dinner, and 40 minutes later, I bought something at the deli. I call, and they keep selling me services that I don't want (taps), and have no answer to why the card will not work. They either say that it obviously is, or that it must be something I have done, but do not describe what that is. I just cancelled evening plans, and I don't know what I am going to do about it tomorrow. They offered to send one out, but it's quicker for me to go and get one, but I don't want to do this monthly. Does anyone else have this problem, are other banks better?

posted by PinkMoose to Work & Money (12 answers total)

Odd question: When you say "swipe," do you actually mean "take the card and move it through a card reader" or do you mean "insert the card, chip side up, into a reader and leave it there until the transaction is done?" As I recall, Canada's card payment system is fully converted to using chips on cards. If your card has a chip, perhaps it is being locked out as a security measure because swiping is less secure and the bank would rather that you didn't swipe versus inserting the chip?
posted by fireoyster at 5:37 PM on July 23, 2015

Unless you're doing things that might set off fraud prevention warnings, this shouldn't happen on a regular basis - and even then, they should be able to tell you approximately what the issue is.

Here in the US, banks are notorious for questionable levels of customer service that often range from bad (on the high end) to atrocious. Not all banks are equally bad, though. Most often, a smaller bank tends to have an easier time with customer service issues (because the organization is smaller and you're not dealing with a call center in Nowhereville, Someotherpartofthecountry). We also have credit unions down here, which, because they're owned by the members, tend to be much more responsive to member service issues.

In short, you're getting signs that it might be worth contemplating other options.
posted by jgreco at 5:39 PM on July 23, 2015

Are you using the same non-bank-owned ATM over and over, like in the lobby of a work building or at a convenience store? Or at outdoor terminals (gas station, etc.) a lot? I went through a phase with TD where my card was compromised a couple of times and it was this one ATM that was pretty insecure. I stopped using it, problem solved.

Agreed about the swiping -- if you are not inserting the chip into the chip reader that can cause issues.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:54 PM on July 23, 2015

I'm with TD, not Scotia, and I have that issue from time to time. It's always when the merchant swipes instead of inserting the chip.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:58 PM on July 23, 2015

Response by poster: i am talking about inserting. swiping never works. Montreal has few Scotias, and i rarely take cash out.
posted by PinkMoose at 6:04 PM on July 23, 2015

You're sure the bank is locking down the card? I had a similar sounding issue with BMO a few years ago and it turned out to be a bad batch of cards that were demagetized really easily.
posted by peppermind at 6:24 PM on July 23, 2015

Response by poster: the bank isn't locking it, i am sure it is a physical malfunction, but its happened so often and over such a long peroid of time, with all kinds of wallets and all kinds of replacements.
posted by PinkMoose at 6:38 PM on July 23, 2015

In my case it was the magnetized clasp on my purse doing it. It eventually stopped. I'd ask someone at the branch if they'd been having trouble with cards lately
posted by peppermind at 6:43 PM on July 23, 2015

If you're inserting the card, the chip is being used, which means magnetic fields have no effect. But maybe try a merchant that swipes to test the magnetic stripe - maybe the chip is getting damaged.
posted by ShooBoo at 7:28 PM on July 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

My guess is that Scotia isn't being quite straightforward with you.

Check your agreement, and if Scotia indemnifies you for fraudulent charges above a certain amount, look at activity right before the card stops working.

I suspect you'll find a pattern wherein there's a burst of actvity, and then the first transaction that fails is one that would have put the recent total over the indemnification limit.

In short, I think Scotia may be protecting itself from even a remote possibility of loss at your expense and then lying to you about it.
posted by jamjam at 9:14 PM on July 23, 2015

You might want to see if you can talk to their fraud prevention agents, rather than a frontline general call center agent. The fraud prevention agents should be able to see all transactions attempted, whether or not authorized, and be able to give you a better idea of where the problem is. If that doesn't work, next step is a visit with the manager of your local branch.

If they honestly have no record of the attempted charges, it may be a bad batch of cards, as others have noted, but this would probably resolve itself with a replacement card.
posted by jgreco at 3:30 AM on July 24, 2015

I agree that it sounds like a physical problem- demagnetization- and that the magnet culprit might be some place nonintuitive. A watch? A belt? Some electronic device? I would think about what you're wearing/carrying on the days it stops working and see if you can pinpoint it. I had a similar problem and it turned out to be the clasp on my diaper bag, which I didn't realize was magnetic (thought it was a snap), but I went throughh half a dozen cards before I figured it out.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 4:29 AM on July 24, 2015