Nationwide customers have been warned they may be left with red faces if they try to use their new debit cards in shops or online.
The building society has admitted that thousands of cards sent out to customers whose existing cards expire at the end of this month are not working. The rogue cards were posted Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 May, so customers will receive them either last week or at some point this week.
They're replacing old ones due to expire at the end of June – none of the cards sent were replacing lost or stolen ones. The new cards should have been able to be activated right away, but an issue has meant customers have been unable to use them. However, Nationwide has told Moneysavingexpert.com that the new cards should be able to be activated next week and has confirmed that it will be contacting affected customers.
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However, customers have been trying to use their cards and have taken to social media to try to find out what's going on.
@ledredman said on Twitter : "If you get sent a new debit card by Nationwide B.S. do not cut up your old one until you are sure the new one works. There is a general fault with new cards being sent out that are not active on the system. They don't have a fix yet," while @SarahStone5 s aid: "I received new debit card and tried to use it but it’s been declined twice, contacted helpline & it’s 24 hours til sorted, I need to know when it will work."
And @AlanB_UK said: "I'm trying to make an online debit card payment to an insurer and the payment is being rejected when I have adequate funds - and it is not coming up on the app as requiring my approval. I called the card helpline and it said the lines are closed!"
The good news is that if you have been sent a card that does not work, your old card will continue to work until the end of June, and you should continue to use this one. If you've already thrown out your old card before using your new one, you can visit a Nationwide branch to have your new card manually activated. You can find your nearest branch here.
Once the cards are activated, customers will be able to use them as normal – you do not need to do anything to activate them yourself.
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