Recently a person had received a call from his bank regarding a suspicion about his card’s usage. They suspected that the data on his card had been compromised so they had to take precautionary measure of blocking his debit card. Though the said person appreciated the bank’s adeptness he realized that he would not be able to withdraw cash anytime/anywhere from ATM machine till his card is replaced, as his was a combined card (ATM cum DEBIT card). He could withdraw cash from a bank branch but that would mean going out of the way as well as more time and even the limitation of banking hours.

Thus this article will discuss the pros and cons of having one card (ATM cum DEBIT card) or two separate cards, an ATM card and a DEBIT card.

Firstly the decision is dependent on the nature of the individual and how careful one is. Instead of blindly accepting cards from the banks, individuals need to assess their behavior and payment needs and use that to decide whether they want combined or separate cards.

Many people are careless enough to leave their ATM card in the machine slot even after the money is withdrawn, which means by the time they would realize their account balance could be zero! On the other hand there is the possibility that the ATM card is retained by the machine. In this case a combined card will mean that you can neither withdraw money nor use your debit card for further purchases.

The chance of misuse of an (separate) ATM card is only while cash withdrawal through an ATM but these days most of the ATMs have CCTVs that can help in identifying the culprits if the need arises.

The ATM-cum-debit card is an evolving product so it will take some time to be perfected, as and when they are identified. For instance, you could always opt for PIN-based ATM-cum-debit cards instead of signature-based debit cards (meaning that each time you need to make a transaction at an outlet, you will have to key in this particular number).

If you have decided to keep two separate cards then it is better to get this done at the time of opening your account or taking the card as it may be free of any charge. There is an option of separating it later on. All you will need to do is to visit a branch and fill out a form and give the bank about 3-4 working days to complete the process. But you have to pay a one-time replacement fee of about of Rs 100 (plus taxes) that you will need to pay for the ATM card and another Rs 100 and taxes, for a debit card.
There is a chance that you may not be able to separate the cards as a large number of banks do not offer this facility to its consumers. Bank officials say that issuing each card comes at a cost which is borne by the bank. But issuing two separate cards means increase in cost that the banks would have to incur. Since few years, banks have adapted their technology to dealing with the needs of ATM cum debit cards and so they would also need to modify to issue separate cards.

The bottom line is loosing a card, is loosing a card be it one or two. One just has to choose if he/she wants to carry one card or two.

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