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Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday June 27, 2014 at 9:18:52:

One of the benefits of using an Automated Teller Machine(ATM) is that it gives you access to the money in your bank account on a 24 hrs basis. To have access to an ATM, you need to at least have a card since they work with card numbers and PINs.

Most people who use an ATM card normally don't have any problems doing so but there are rare occasions when using your ATM card might not be so smooth as always. At times, an ATM can simply seize a card and they do this as part of their security features.

ATMs are not designed to seize ATM cards arbritrarily or all the time but they do this when the user uses the wrong input when using tnhe machine. One wrong input an ATM user can use on a machine is the wrong PIN. Most banks in Nigeria normally issue their customers a default ATM PIN which they would use with their debit/credit cards when using an ATM and they are at liberty to change it to another 4 digit PIN which should be known only to them and which they can use to make operations on ATMs anytime they want. If, however, they use the wrong PIN on several occasions on an ATM, then that card is most likely to be siezed by the machine.

Personally, an ATM has seized my card more than once and it wasn't a good experience but it taught me some lesson on how to handle these kind of situations.

One of the things you can do when an ATM seizes your ATM card is to simply wait for it to be returned to your bank. This may take several weeks and that's why it's normally good to have multiple ATM cards from more than one bank so you don't get tied up. You are only advised to wait only if the ATM you used was not your bank and that's why some people prefer using only ATMs that are operated at their bank's branch. If the ATM is operated by a branch of your bank,. you can just walk into the bank and report to them that the ATM has been seized and a bank staff could help you to bring it out from the machine from the inside.

A second thing you can do is to simply cancel the old card and apply for a new card. The benefit of this is that it saves you the time you have to wait for your card to be returned to your bank since it is not predictable. It may cost you some more money but it is a faster way of getting an ATM card from your bank especially in cases where the operating bank cannot immediately help you to retrieve it from the machine.

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Comments:

Comments:
Re: When an ATM seizes your card Reply by Alozie Allen Chibuike on Wednesday November 26, 2014 at 10:43:47:

I withdrew money with a Stanbic I btc card from UBA machine after the transactions, the card was unable to come out . what should I do?

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Re: When an ATM seizes your card Reply by Felix Okoli on Wednesday November 26, 2014 at 10:43:47:

Just go to your Stanbic bank and ask them to cancel the card and also request a new one. If you were using a stanbic atm, then you could easily get it back by walking into the banking hall ans asking them to retrieve it for you but sine it's another bank, they won't give it to you. So in order to simply save time, just request for a replacement.

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