ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-First Financial CU says it is phasing out its traditional ATM cards in favor of debit/credit cards, one of the fall-outs of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill.
"Due to changes with regulations relating to the Dodd-Frank Act we are making changes to our CU Anytime ATM card," the credit union told members in a letter explaining the move.
The $380-million credit union said the CU Anytime ATM card will continue to work at cash machines but will no longer work to purchase items as of March 1, one of the victims of the Durbin amendment's provision requiring that cards have more than one processing network. Most members already have a MasterCard debit/credit card which can be used for both consumer purchases and cash withdrawals.
The Durbin amendment to Dodd-Frank, which capped debit interchange fees for the biggest card issuers, also bars issuers from using an exclusive card processing network, like the Visa network used by First Financial's CU Anytime ATM card, and requires at least a second network. Credit unions must now include two unaffiliated processing networks on its debit cards.
First Financial is already in the process of adding another processing network to its debit/credit cards. But instead of upgrading ATM and debit cards to meet the new regulations, the credit union decided to phase out the ATM cards.
