Debit cards can be a useful way to pay for goods and services, but sometimes a debit card needs to be cancelled. This can be done and there are a number of methods to do so.
A debit card may need to be cancelled for several reasons. Firstly, a debit card may be issued for joint accounts, such as a club account or a shared household account, where it’s simply not useful. With such accounts, all cheques must be double signed and all money paid out by cheque. There is no way to double sign a debit card, as debit cards, although associated with a transaction account, are assigned to individuals and only have one pin number.
Debit cards also leave less of a paper trail. With a cheque, it must be written, recorded, signed, and countersigned by the recipient. With a debit card, the money goes straight from the account, and while there will be a description of the shop or service provider that charged the debit card on the statement, the description isn’t always as clear. Even when the description is clear, the line on the statement doesn’t always specify what was purchased. With a chequebook, the purpose and object of the transaction can be described and noted down at the time.
Another reason why a person may wish to cancel a debit card is when it’s perceived as a security risk, e.g., it’s either easy to steal or harder to keep track of. Still other debit card holders may find themselves overspending their account due to the ease of the transactions, and want to remove that temptation.
If a bank account is cancelled, then the associated debit card will be cancelled with it. There are some debit cards associated with two or more accounts, and these cards may survive one account’s cancellation, but generally one card is attached to one account, and when the latter is closed the former dies with it.
However, many people are perfectly happy with their current account and only wish to get rid of the debit card. In these cases the debit card must be cancelled separately.
It is not enough to simply cut up a debit card. If the card’s details are still available, perhaps noted down in a journal or chequebook, then it can still be used for internet and phone transactions. Cutting up a debit card will also not stop it from being replaced after it has expired. To cancel a debit card it is necessary to ring up the financial institution that issued the debit card and ask the customer service representative to cancel the card while keeping the account running otherwise as normal.
