Debit Mastercard® declines with some merchants

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Servus was an early adopter of the new Debit Mastercard, which provides the latest debit card technology and enhanced security features to our members.

However, being among the first to adopt a new technology has also brought some challenges. In the past year, members have occasionally been experiencing card declines when making purchases at certain merchants and some automated fuel dispensers.

Though it may seem like a problem with the card itself, it’s actually a problem with specific terminals at the point-of-sale that Interac® is working to resolve.

While many merchant terminals work just fine, there are a few that continue to pose issues for our members, and other financial institutions, when they attempt to pay for their purchases by inserting their card and entering a PIN. The Interac Flash® (tap) feature does still work for our members in these instances.

While we work through these challenges with the specific merchant terminals, we have increased the Interac Flash (tap) limit for our members to $250.

There are a few things you can do if you experience this problem:

  • If available, use Interac Flash (tap).
  • Set up and use digital wallet payment options.
  • If possible, try a different Interac terminal with the same merchant.
  • Carry an alternative form of payment like your Servus Mastercard® or cash.
  • If you’re certain you’re using the correct PIN, try an alternative payment method before the third attempt with your Debit Mastercard to prevent your card from being blocked.

We didn’t anticipate these issues when we launched our new cards and certainly did not expect them to continue for as long as they have. Unfortunately, these problems and their required solutions are beyond our control. We continue to work with Interac to resolve these problems as we know how challenging they’ve been for our members.

Thank you for your patience, understanding and continued loyalty as we work with Interac on this matter.

Please contact our Member Contact Centre at 1.877.378.8728 or contact_us@servus.ca for support at any time.

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