We're looking at no longer offering strictly an ATM card and only offering a debit card instead. Any issues with eliminating the single purpose ATM card?

Will the Debit card also give them access to withdraw funds from the account?

We recently did the same thing. We put an advance notice on all bank statements that as of a certain date, all ATM cards would be invalid and that debit cards would be issued upon request. Customers and Bank both like the debit cards better. Our debit cards are Visa and can be used anywhere a credit card can be used. You can also withdraw funds from an ATM machine with them.

Yes, all of our debit cards act as an ATM card or as a debit card. I'd see little impact to our customers. Just want to ensure I've not missed anything that would not allow us to do this.

Yes, all of our debit cards act as an ATM card or as a debit card. I'd see little impact to our customers. Just want to ensure I've not missed anything that would not allow us to do this.

I am not in retail, so I'm not sure about all of the details of the ATM vs. Debit Card issues, however, I was surprised to learn recently how many of our customers still have only ATM cards, and don't want debit cards. When I asked why (since it makes sense to me to just have a debit card) I was told that we have some customers who only have savings accounts, and that to issue a debit card, a customer has to have a checking account (though you can still attach the savings account to the card for ATM transactions; but debit transactions will come out of the checking account).

I'm not sure if this is a MasterCard rule, or our ATM processor's rule, or perhaps it's only our internal bank policy... but that's the only issue I can think of.

At a preious bank I worked for, we mandated a debit card(with ATM access) to be issued on each new checking account opened.

We did offer ATM cards, but only on a savings account, and they could not be linked to a checking account.

At this bank, we will offer either. They have been hesitant to go to a sigle card for checking as we still look at each ATM/Debit card appliaction pretty conservatively.

Thanks for the feedback!
It appears that nothing prohibits us from this practice. To take it one step further, we're also looking at charging a fee to a customer if they choose to maintain an ATM card instead of a debit card. I see nothing that prohibits us from doing this either, although I can see customer service concerns.
Any additional thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks again.

Some customers prefer to have an ATM card because they feel the PIN requirement gives them greater security over their money. (even after explaining zero liability for debit cards) Most these customers are elderly.

Just keep in mind that under Reg. DD you would need to advice a consumer 30 days prior to the effective date of charging them a new fee for having the ATM versus the Debit Card. Nothing stops you from allowing a consumer to have access to their savings using their DB card. Then ony thing is to make sure you capture all POS transactions to comply with Reg. D excessive transaction monitoring requirements.

Rather --
Reg. E has a 21 day notice period, and Reg. DD allows you to use the Reg. E rule for information that has to be disclosed under both (but I agree it's simpler and safer to use 30 days for all such changes).

M&M is your bank "real time" where balances via ATMs and merchants are always current? Our bank only updates a few times a day so there would be more risk if we only offered debit cards. We still check credit before issuing a debit card.

I can see why a customer would not want a debit. If it is lost or stolen, someone can do some major damage using it to shop online or by phone before you realize it's gone. The customer may not want the hassle involved if that were to happen.