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If you have a checking account with Wells Fargo and your debit card is lost or stolen, in the past you could go in-branch to obtain a temporary debit card as a replacement.
Travel With Grant reports that on his recent statement, Wells Fargo advised that this option will be ending after November 30, 2020. Instead, it says you’ll have to request a replacement online or over the phone, but that means waiting for it to arrive by mail.
That’s not very helpful though if this happens on your main checking account and you need to withdraw cash urgently. Grant notes that you might be able to go in-branch with ID to withdraw money and I suspect that would indeed work.
There is another workaround, but it’s something you have to proactively set up before your debit card is lost or stolen. It’s something I’ve noticed when using Wells Fargo ATMs in the past, but had never looked into it until Grant’s post prompted me to investigate it further.
When you use a Wells Fargo ATM, in the bottom corner there’s a button which says something like ‘Card-Free Access’. Their ATMs – and indeed their PIN pads in-branch – allow you to use a digital wallet on your phone in order to withdraw money. All you need to do is add your debit card to your digital wallet, then you can use your phone at the ATM or in-branch to withdraw cash.
There are a couple of things to bear in mind with this approach. First, it requires that you add your debit card to your digital wallet ahead of time, so I’ve just done that so I don’t get caught out in the future (thanks Grant!).
The potentially bigger issue is that if your card is lost or stolen, using this Card-Free Access option means delaying the reporting of that if you want to still be able to withdraw cash. That’s because cancelling your debit card will mean you won’t be able to use the digital wallet for Card-Free Access either. If you delay reporting your card’s loss, someone could use your card in the meantime. It’s therefore definitely a risk if you hold off on reporting its loss in order to be able to withdraw money at an ATM. Update: If you report your card as lost or stolen, Wells Fargo lets you add your new debit card to your Google Wallet once it’s been issued, even if you haven’t received it yet.
There’s thankfully a workaround for this too. When logged in to your checking account online, go to Accounts > Turn Card On or Off. As soon as you notice your card missing, you can turn your card off. You can then go to an ATM, turn your card back on, withdraw money using your digital wallet and then immediately turn the card off again. You can then report the card as being lost or stolen so that a new one is mailed to you.
Update: There’s been some great additional information and suggestions provided in the comments below – thanks to everyone who’s shared the following details:
- You can also get Card-Free Access codes to use at an ATM when logging in online or in the app. That gives you a one-time code you can use to withdraw money.
- If you report your card as lost or stolen, Wells Fargo updates your digital wallet with your new card number. It’d therefore be best to report it as lost immediately then rather than simply turning the card off unless you think you might’ve just misplaced your card around your house but aren’t certain.
- You can set up Card-Free Access codes ahead of time.
h/t again to Travel With Grant
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absolutely ridiculous that i can have my ID and log into my account right in front of them and still not get a card printed…. I will be moving banks because of this. Stay far away from Wells Fargo.
Yeah, after 10 years, I’m leaving Wells Fargo for this. It’s March 1, my cards were stolen with my purse last week, and my bills can’t be paid online because I don’t have a card to pay them with. Apple Pay doesn’t give you your full card number while you wait 10 days for your card. It’s the most inconsiderate thing ever and really puts people who are already stressed from literal THEFT to be even more stressed about the 10 emails I just got from different companies saying my payment didn’t process. Yeah, I know, because Wells Fargo won’t give me a temporary card, and my credit cards also won’t be here for another week. I just don’t see how they thought this was a well rounded solution.
I HATE THIS NEW STUPID ASS FUCKING RULE, MOST PLACES DONT FUCKING ACCEPT APPLE PAY
Well like everything else should a bought a Samsung. Androids do make iPhone apple makes the crap more involved
I can’t seem to find an option to give card-free access in the current version of the app. This wouldn’t be a problem if the digital wallet readers at any of the ATMs near me f*cking worked.
I had fraudulent activity on my card. Some tool ordered some online exercise program. LOL Anyway, the rep was very nice but only asked me if I used the card on ApplePay. He never told me he would update it to the new card so I deleted the wf card I had before I got the email saying they’d updated my ApplePay w the new card. Would have been brilliant if the rep had TOLD me he was going to update it. I never had the wallet through wf, I’ll def do that when I get my new card. But even w the updated card now in my Apple Wallet (c/s was no help, had to figure out how to add the new card on my own), I can’t buy or pay for a lot of things because not everyone uses AppleWallet. Amazon doesn’t, PayPal doesn’t, utility companies don’t, so I’m still stuck waiting for the physical card. FYI, Amazon let’s you remove the card & add a checking acct but you can’t use it to pay w Amazon Pay … so I’m not sure what good that does. ♀️ Getting rid of the temp physical card is a HUGE drawback. I know there are tons of scams but really? Why can’t a WF customer get a temp card or set up the new card in their wallet. Not sure why that has to be set up beforehand.
Update on 1/23/2021 I was able to get a temporary Debit Card at my local Wells Fargo branch. Took 5 minutes and the card is valid for 30 days or until official replacement card is activated.
They to me no more temporary cards. Where do you’ve that you got one. I’m in Cali
Not sure what the point of this article is when it’s almost all wrong. If you aren’t doing the ‘hard work’ of reading the fine print, what exactly are you doing and why are any of us reading your blog
….WELLS FARGO WHO…..I use BITCOIN BANK.
SORRY……BUT…IM moving up in the WORLD BANK THIEVES.
Hello! I was reading the article about delayed replacement Wells fargo if lost or stolen.you can always cash checks until card is received?or possibly this might not happen if you need debit card for identification to cash a check.
you definitely do NOT have to have this set up before losing the card. You simply have to have your cell # on file. You get a card free access code, good for 30mins and you can also load your new card # onto your digital wallet before the physical card arrives. its really simple.
Hi angel its david/dark how are you??
I work for Wells Fargo and you have to report the card lost or stolen right away and you still can use the method of card less ATM withdrawals because, it’s really just a link to the card as far as identifying the bank account as the common denominator that money is withdrawn and deposited from. So please don’t put misinformation out there; in any event that a clients card is stolen, or lost, and they hesitate to report it because of your personal rationale that is NOT ACCURATE…. THE CARD LESS ATM CODE NUMBERS GIVEN TO AN INDIVIDUAL AGAIN… HAVE NO LINK TO THE CARD… THAT IS EXACTLY WHY IT IS A GREAT OPTION, AND BANKS SUCH AS; CHASE, AS IN J P MORGAN CHASE, THEY DO NOT EVEN OFFER THIS OPTION… AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO RACE TO THE PHONE IN A PANIC TO CANCEL AND REPORT YOUR CARD… TRANSACTIONS WILL NEED TO BE VERIFIED IF ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL IS USING YOUR CARD BECAUSE, WF HAS THE GOLD STANDARD OF CYBER SECURITY TEAMS… THE COMPUTER IS GOING TO DETECT A STRANGE ALGORITHM AND BLOCK ALL PURCHASES UNTIL PHONE VERI.
why access bank debit card is not working in uae
They should develop a way for ATMs to accept a State ID or Drivers License instead if an ATM card and then use your pin number that you previously used with your card. That way if you lose your card, misplace it, it even forget it at home, you can still withdraw cash at the ATM without your card. I see no difference in security issues this way.
When you use your debit card it gives them all of your information not just your driver’s license number. That’s not enough alone to withdraw money unless you go inside the bank and answer token questions.
You can use card free access without. a debit card activated. Use the app to send a code to your phone, go to atm and enter it and you can withdraw cash
Here’s a better idea… Don’t use wells fargo.
Yes. WF Sucks! I’ve been waiting for a week for my new debit card.. out of town with No money. My girlfriend got hers from Huntington in 2 days..
If you report your card stolen and its already added to your wallet. In your digital wallet settings you can add the new card to your digital wallet to use before your new card arrives.
Also, card free access and digital wallet access are different. The little button at the bottom of the screen allows you to put in a one time generated code that you receive from your app to access your accounts.
Digital wallet is just NFC on the atm.