Bank card broken: These are possible reasons
Anyone who's ever accidentally washed a debit card knows: payment cards can take a beating. The chip and antenna are well protected inside the plastic card. Nevertheless, they sometimes malfunction. Why is this? Myths and facts at a glance:
Magnets can render payment cards unusable.
Myth. Magnets have absolutely no effect on the chip in payment cards. They only affect the magnetic stripe, which is hardly used for payment transactions in Germany anymore because the process is too insecure, explains Mikko Kähkönen of security technology manufacturer Giesecke+Devrient. The German company, based in Munich, produces around 600 million payment cards a year. The magnetic stripe typically only stores data that is found on the card and in the chip, such as the account number and expiration date.
The situation is different with hotel key cards, which often work via a magnetic strip. Magnetic fields can cause the data on the card to be erased, making it impossible to open the room door. Hotel guests should therefore avoid keeping their key cards in their phone cases due to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by smartphones, Kähkönen advises. However, this isn't a problem with debit cards.
If the chip is scratched, the card will no longer work.
Myth. The small golden area on the card is not the chip, but a contact surface made of precious metal. Payment terminals also have precious metal contacts. When the card is inserted, the contacts slide over each other, allowing data to be exchanged. "The contact surface can have many scratches, but this usually doesn't affect its function," says Kähkönen. The actual chip is located inside the card, encased in cast resin. It cannot be scratched during normal use.
Contamination can interfere with data transmission.
Myth. If the contact surface is dusty or slightly dirty, data transmission will still work. So, rubbing the debit card clean on a T-shirt is pointless. "For this to cause a malfunction, the contact surface would have to be heavily contaminated, perhaps by adhesive," explains the payment card specialist. "But even then, contactless payment would still work."
A broken card no longer works.
Fact – at least when it comes to contactless payment. Most cards contain a copper wire. The wire, also called the antenna, runs in a rectangle along the outer edges of the card and connects to the chip on both sides. If this wire is severed, contactless payment no longer works. This isn't just problematic for debit cards, but also for canteen cards or public transport cards, for example. Torn, bent, or punctured chip cards can therefore no longer be used contactless. However, a punctured debit card could still be inserted into a chip reader and thus read.
A debit card can have a loose connection and sometimes work, sometimes not.
Fact. The copper wire running inside the card is connected to the chip via a small solder joint. "If this point is loose, there could be some kind of loose connection," explains Kähkönen. However, he emphasizes that the cards from Giesecke+Devrient undergo various tests to ensure they can withstand at least five years of daily use. They are bent a few thousand times, must withstand pressure and impact tests, and are exposed to extremely high and low temperatures in a climate chamber.
Tip: If a debit card no longer functions properly even though the account is fully covered, most banks offer the option of ordering a new one free of charge. By default, a card is exchanged for a new one after its expiration date anyway.
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