I’m a journalist investigating a growing problem where UK-issued bank cards (and PIN letters) are failing to reach customers in the EU.
Since Brexit, all mail from the UK to the EU must include customs declarations (CN22/CN23) unless it’s simple correspondence. Many banks use third-party fulfillment partners (like IDEMIA) to dispatch cards and PINs, and there’s growing evidence that these secure mailings are being blocked, destroyed, or returned due to improper customs handling.
Have you personally experienced:
• A UK-issued bank card or PIN that never arrived in the EU?
• Repeated re-issues that also failed to show up?
• Delays, missing tracking, or lack of response from your bank?
• Cards arriving months later with customs marks or damage?
Any details you can share — what bank, how many times, which country — would really help shine a light on what appears to be a systemic issue.
I did have issues initially. I was (and am still) with First Direct. In 2021, living in France I needed a new card which was sent but not received after 8 weeks so that was cancelled and another sent. The next week the canceled card did arrive but the PIN notification never did. The second card never arrived and we only had success on the third attempt after the card and PIN were sent separately via DHL. First Direct were actually very helpful and responsive and did send it me via DHL on the third attempt as my card was due to expire imminently. The year after (I think) First Direct started sending out our statements from within the EU and when my OH needed a card it came very quickly with no issues. Can’t remember whether that to was sent from the EU or UK. So, First Direct did obviously have problems initially but they seemed to sort them out successfully.
Personally I would think it fair that cards and pins sent through the post should count as Printed Matter (these days on plastic) and therefore not be subject to customs duties. Not sure about VAT as istr France may charge 5% on books so unsure if they let printed matter through
But there are 2 issues.
The first is the reach of government. Under the guise of prevention of crime, whether money laundering or potential access by their residents or citizens to money the government doesn’t know about (or more truthfully, might not get the chance to charge tax on), I cannot see governments agreeing to bank machine cards being treated like 0 value printed matter - if sent into the EU or from ex-EU - as zero value printed matter - which they are, till used.
The bigger issue for a financial provider is that if they do not have passporting rights to serve customers in the destination country then sending a bank card to a foreign address might count as doing business in that country. Personally if it’s a replacement card (pr possibly fudging, also if it’s a renewal card) i would have thought financial institutions should be able to. But the incentives to cover their own a$$ will generally outweigh most things except the needs of extremely wealthy customers
It’s the same issue as phone sim cards. UK bank accounts usually want to send verification codes by SMS usually only to UK phone numbers and since roaming restrictions on phones returned to become quite tight it can be complicated for some to always have an active UK SIM at all, or for a reasonable cost, or to obtain one without it being fetched from the UK (and activated first in a phone in the UK by doing a call or sending a message with the SIM in the UK).
Yes, I’ve had this happen to me with “Fire for Business” - now at two cards that never arrived. Fire are also particularly unhelpful when it comes to trying to change anything such as the registered address or delivery address to which to send the cards. I’m probably going to shut down the account and switch to Revolut instead.
Just to say I received a new Nationwide card without any problems last week. I was getting slightly twitchy because the old one was due to expire end of May but in fact the replacement turned up in good time.
No issues with security codes because Nationwide also lets you use the card reader for verification.
Same here with my NW VISA debit but in the UK - they do tend to wait until you’re into the last month of validity before sending out the new one!
My replacement card has a different last three digits in its long number, and a different three-digit CVV2 security code on the back, but works with the same PIN as the old one. I just had to use it physically in a card machine once, using the PIN, before I could use it for contactless payments.
I don’t suppose it would have mattered whether I was in the UK or France for that, unlike some mobile phone SIMs.
Lloyds know where I live and sent me a “We won’t send replacement cards automatically, so please request new cards if and when you need them.” letter a couple of years ago.
I keep one card up to date as I use it on return trips to the U.K.
