Yes, that’s right: it’s another comment piece based on a personal anecdote. This time around we highlight the perils of being without something you very rarely are without, your debit card. If you don’t have time to read until the end: the moral of the story is ‘banks are still very reliant on plastic’, writes Billy Bambrough
A few weeks ago I noticed that my main bank account debit card wasn’t working every time. Sometimes it would be unexpectedly declined (this is different from when it is expectedly declined when I either don’t have any money or when RBS systems are down), sometimes the ATM or POS would display the ominous message Card Read Error.
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Fearing the worst, that I might have to re-enter my card details into my Amazon account, I headed to my local branch and asked for another card to be sent out. At the same time, as I had moved some weeks previously, I changed my address.
"Uh, the card may go to your old address."
"Why," I asked, "I’ve just changed it."
"It can take 30 days for a change of address to go through," she explained.
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By GlobalDataAfter recovering from my incredulity I leave. Days pass. Still no word from my previous housemate of a letter arriving from the bank for me. Nothing appears through my letter box either. The old debit card becomes even less reliable, and stops working altogether. The days become shorter and summer fades to autumn. I get by using the Get Cash feature on my mobile banking app.
On the day I am unable to use the card even online, around a week after I first reported a problem, I trek back to the bank branch. I queue. I speak to the same teller as before, giving her the same information as I had previously, complete with the same witty wordplay I sometimes (every time) use when I tell people my name.
If she remembers me she gives no outward signal. We eventually conclude that the bank doesn’t know where it sent the replacement card and she cancels it, declaring it lost. She tells me I should have asked for the card to be sent the branch, where I could collect. I accept her rebuke in silence.
She tells me the new card will be at the branch in 3-5 days and I should come in to collect it then. How will I know when it has arrived, I ask. You can come in and ask whether it has arrived, she tells me.
I leave and log into my mobile banking app, intending to use the cardless cash feature at the ATM. "Get Cash is unavailable as there is no active debit card linked to this account," the app tells me. The queue for the cashier is even longer than before. I resign to borrow money from a friend until my card arrives in 3-5 days’ time.
