Debit Card Declines at Online Merchants

Starting yesterday, we began to receive reports of Evergreen Credit Union VISA debit cards not working with online merchants or third party bill pay services. This error is related to the tokenization of our Debit Card BINs. A token is a secure way of passing information back and forth without exposing your debit card numbers. Changes happen in the payment processing landscape. Some merchants have switched to payment processing that requires this token to be present.

We are currently investigating the debit card declines with online third party processors and are working with our debit card vendor to expedite the tokenization process. If you have a debit card that is being declined online (unrelated to non-sufficient funds, expiry, or fraud alerts), we suggest one of these alternatives:

  • Use your Evergreen Credit Union Mastercard
  • Pay bills directly using online Bill Pay included in online banking (new vendors must be added on desktop)
  • Mailing a cashier’s check
  • Ask if they accept ACH payments and provide your full account number and routing information
  • Use PayPal to complete the transaction if offered

We are not aware of any issues using your card in person. Members using their EMV chip at a point of purchase, with or without their PIN, should not experience declines related to tokenization.

Prior to this issue, Evergreen Credit Union began the process of tokenizing our debit cards. That process is scheduled to be completed by the end of September. Once it is completed, our cards will work with tokenized merchants, and be eligible for use in Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay.

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working diligently to get this issue resolved. Please call us at (920)729-2999 if you need assistance making your payments.