Synergy Credit Union is informing Lloydminster residents that they may be experiencing some declines when using a card in the coming weeks.
Manager of Retail Administrative Services Lisa Castle says it isn’t a problem with the cards but with the machines reading them.
“There is an issue in the software in the terminal unable to read some chips. It’s not all chips so that’s why members and customers are having trouble identifying why it’s happening some times and not others.”
Not all cards are affected and Castle noted that Interac is aware of which chips are unreadable. She recommends shoppers to take out some cash, use the tap function on the card or use a different card in the coming weeks.
“The chip is unreadable in certain machines but it’s readable in an ATM so they can access funds through any ATM. The other option is the tap function which is also called contactless payment.”
While using tap, Castle is reminding people that it does have a limit set by the provider and it accumulates purchases.
“An example is if you went to Tim Hortons and spent $5. The next time you use that tap you’ll only have $95 [on it.] It resets every time you use your chip in either an ATM or point of sale machine that’s working for you.”
Castle says shoppers should reach out to their bank or credit union to learn more about their card limits. She also says any retailers having the problem should also contact their machine provider.
“We want to encourage merchants to let their provider know of that point of sale machine and reach out to them and let them know that they’re having trouble. If it goes unreported they may not know there’s a problem with their machine.”
Castle says Interac has informed them that they are working on fixing the software and could take a week or two to fix. Anyone having problems with their cards should call their financial institution to make them aware of the problems.