ECAB unveils comprehensive plan for card replacement program

By Aabigayle McIntosh

The Marketing and Communications Manager for the Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank (ECAB) Michele Marshall is providing more insight on the plan by the financial institution to replace credit and debit cards from January 2023.

The bank has come under from primarily Scotiabank legacy customers about the inefficiencies of the systems following the merger earlier this year.

Marshall adds that the institution is equally concerned about the performance issues impacting the cards and after thorough investigations, the card vendor confirmed that an error occurred during the card production stage, causing the Chip in some cards to deactivate when performing specific transactions.

“So, the card replacement project is to resolve the chip issue with the cards. And in addition to that given our cardholders a reliable card for them to use,” Marshall said.

The card replacement program targets two specific groups: former Scotiabank customers who were issued cards during the integration process and legacy ECAB customers who received credit cards that expire between January and March 2025.

“They need to come in and collect their card. Some time has elapsed since these cards were issued initially. So, some customers would have come to the bank to say their cards are not working and they needed and they have got a card, those set of people do not need to come back”.

Customers collecting replacement cards will be asked to collect at a specified branch based on their last names. The process is also expected to span over 10 weeks.

“For this process, we will be utilizing four of the six branches. So, we’ve got the former Scotiabank at Woods, the High Street Branch, the Redcliffe Steet branch, and Coolidge. In addition to doing the distribution by the last names, we are doing it in groups, we want to control the number of people coming into the branch to make it comfortable and easy,” Marshall explained.

The bank has also hired additional staff that will deal specifically with the card distribution process. Those collecting cards will do so at one section and debit card holders will then proceed to another section to have pin their cards. This will not apply to credit card holders as they will be able to use their existing pins.