Got a strange debit/check card in the mail today...

[cheneyschernobyl]

from my bank. The expiration date on it is 2014, but the one I currently have doesn't expire until over a year from now! I haven't activated it; am rather suspicious if this is the banks way of changing the terms of use. Hmmmm...

Your thoughts please?

[flvegan]

1. My bank did that last year.

When I called to ask, they explained that these days folks use their debit cards so much (rather than cash, etc) the card strip things a wearing out long before they are to expire. No changes to the terms of the account though.

Again, that was my bank. You may wish to call as well.

[Suich]

2. I just went through this with Chase.

I went ahead and activated it...account number and everything was the same.

:)

[petronius]

3. Usually when I get a new card there is an insert detailing the terms

You probably want to read that over to see if there's anything unpalatable in there, but it also wouldn't hurt to just call up and ask if there's a change...

[lumberingbear]

4. Happened to me last week.

Still had a year left on expiration date. Bank changed from Visa to Mastercharge.

[HoneychildMooseMoss]

8. I've always wondered about Visa versus Mastercharge

Is there any difference between the two?

[Chan790]

10. Yes, they're different companies.

Most merchants domestically that take one, accept both...but not all. MC has a much larger international footprint than Visa.

The cards they service have different benefit programs; pay-structures for accepting merchants and provider financial institutions; etc.

[sarge43]

5. I had the same thing happen.

Talk with your bank. As memory serves, but never reenlists, the explanation is reasonable.

[applegrove]

6. They are changing all the cards to ones that have a chip on them and a pin number.

Is that the case here?

[Chan790]

7. What bank?

I work in banking and I'm in your area. Look @ the new card? Is it perhaps a Mastercard rather than a Visa? A lot of banks are fleeing Visa like immediately, the one I work for included. It's a sinking ship between:

The screwjob it's been putting on partner banks.
The increase in rates it's charging merchants.
Far-and-away it has had more client data-compromises than its' competitors over the past 18 months.
and MC is just offering better peripheral perks to card users than Visa is.

Edit: We're leaving for reasons # 1 and #4. #2 is not really our concern. #3 is just gasoline on the fire; we were likely going to change at the end of our current contract but it was bad enough that we just paid the breech fee...when Visa f's-up card-users take it out on the issuing bank typically.

[gmoney]

9. be careful... don't opt in to the "overdraft protection" scheme

The law has been changed so that if you don't have enough money in the bank for a debit card transaction or ATM withdrawal, the transaction is declined.

Banks are trying to get people to "opt-in" to the "protection" of allowing those overdrafts to occur, so the bank can zap you with a $35 fee plus interest on any overdrafts. Don't fall for it.

If you call to activate it, the operator may try to sell you on this "convenience" or otherwise mislead you into authorizing them to rip you off.

[Chan790]

11. Actually, it's illegal to trick you into it.

I work in a bank, I'm one of 4 people in my branch allowed to discuss overdraft services with clients because what we're allowed to say is so extremely regulated that it's scripted to the word "hello" and I had to sit through a 2-hour class for it. I generally advise my clients to decline it.

Also, it's overdraft coverage...overdraft protection is something else: any service program that backs up one's checking balance with a savings account or credit card to cover overcharges without assessment of NSF fees or transaction-declinations.

[gmoney]

12. Well, perhaps "entice" is a better word

and sorry for the misstatement of "protection" versus "coverage" -- not a distinction that most customers would recognize unless both were explained.

I've done marketing for a couple different banks over the years... even at my low level, the sneaky shit they would practice and approve still makes me a little sick to think about.

I remember when one bank I worked for introduced "Home Equity Lines of Credit" as if it was some wondrous new thing, rather than the dreaded "second mortgage" it really is. My boss basically said "everyone knows better than to take out a second mortgage on their house, so someone came up with this idea." That product was a huge factor in the housing bubble, and the resulting subprime mortgage market collapse -- that's a big way lenders were able to finance over 80% of a home's value, allowing people to buy with almost no money down, and buy more house than they could truly afford. All basically because someone figured out that calling it something besides a "second mortgage" would make it easy to let people suck all the equity out of their house and squander it.