Personal Products & Services > Card Services > MemberCard
Members can obtain a MemberCard®‚ debit card which provides convenient access to your account(s) and provide you with an additional method of payment across Canada and most places worldwide.
Your MemberCard‚ is accepted at any ATM displaying The Exchange®, Interac®, Cirrus® and Maestro® symbols.
Using your MemberCard means:
- An easy way to save time and money with 24-7 ATM access
- NO FEES while using over 1,350 ATM’s across Canada (*regular account service fees still apply) featuring THE EXCHANGE‚ logo
- Did you know you are protect by Buyer Protection - Extended Warranty
To report a lost or stolen MemberCard‚ call 1-800-LOST-111 or 1-800-567-8111.
European vacation
British Columbia's Majid Khoury loves crossing the Atlantic once or twice a year to visit Europe and the Middle East, exploring out-of-the-way places that are below the radar of most tourists.
These excursions offer piquant snapshots in time. "I was in Grenada, in the south of Spain, sitting on a hilltop patio, with the whole town spread out before me," Khoury reminisces. "Another time, I was in a cemetery in downtown Munich. It was like a park, with people relaxing on benches or walking their dogs. It was a serene and calm oasis in the middle of this hopping German city," says Khoury, a BC credit union member who switched from a bank several years ago.
Khoury relies upon his credit union Member Card® debit card during these international jaunts. He happily reports the card has been trouble-free in every European city visited, dispensing cash at almost every ATM. Khoury was initially tentative, however, about the card's dependability in Beit Meri, a 3,000-strong, isolated mountain village in Lebanon that is home to his parents, George and Samia Khoury. As a precaution, he took cash along just in case his new Member Card® debit card wasn't accepted at the town's few ATM outlets. He needn't have worried. "It worked brilliantly," says Khoury, senior vice-president of Ipsos ASI, a global advertising research firm.
One incident that could have caused chaos in his travels was deftly stick-handled by his credit union, Khoury recalls. While he was in Lebanon, a credit union representative called Khoury on his cell phone to report that someone may have had fraudulent access to his Member Card® debit card. The rep went through all of Khoury's transactions over the telephone, and arranged to have a new card waiting for him when he returned home. One thing Khoury is pleased that he doesn't return home to is a large surcharge for the foreign transactions on his statement. "I don't pay a cent," says Khoury.
"I've had nothing but pleasant experiences," he adds. "My colleagues call me a walking billboard for credit unions and my Member Card® debit card."
®MEMBER CARD is a registered trademark of Credit Union Central of Canada and used under license.
The Italian Job
Italians are passionate about many things: pasta, wine, football and amore, to name just a few.
It's not as well known, however, that the famous Italian verve spills over even into the financial sector. British Columbia's Colleen Colonna discovered this following a run-in with Italian bankers during a July, 2004, holiday. As it turns out, the silver lining to this unfortunate incident was a new-found respect for her credit union Member Card® debit card.
Colonna was in Italy with her husband, Giuseppe Colonna, visiting family in ancient Bari, a 2,000-year-old port and university city on the Adriatic sea. "You see laundry hanging from the balconies, just like in the old Sophia Loren movies," Colonna recalls.
A British Columbia credit union member, Colonna had prepared for the three-week summer trip by packing clothes appropriate for the 45 C summer heat and buying $5,000 worth of travellers cheques. A few days after arriving in Bari, Colonna set out with her husband to a bank to exchange travellers cheques for euros. Everywhere they went, the couple's request was met with rejection.
The couple tried eight bank outlets before seeking refuge from the heat in a tiny café. Desperate for euros, they asked the owner if he might exchange their travellers cheques.The proprietor did better than that. He called the Bari police force, which has a special finance division to deal with such complaints. A uniformed polizia arrived at the café and accompanied the couple to a nearby bank, where he ordered staff to cash their cheques. More counter slamming and negative gesticulations ensued. Forty-five minutes later, the Colonnas left the bank, clutching a handful of euros and what was left of their dignity.
"The policeman had to stay with us the whole time. It was unbelievable," says Colonna. It was an experience the couple was loath to repeat. They decided to use their credit union Member Card® debit card for the rest of trip. It worked throughout Italy, as the couple took in the sights of Venice, Milan and Florence.
®MEMBER CARD is a registered trademark of Credit Union Central of Canada and used under license.
