CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Many Truist customers can’t use their credit cards right now.
The bank issued new credit cards around Sept. 18, but they can’t be activated. In addition, some customers are saying their current cards are getting declined.
Truist told WCNC Charlotte a small percentage of customers were sent new cards this week that they need to switch over to as part of a system update. However, the rollout has been anything but smooth.
"We're in limbo right now," Shannon Farmer said. "We can't use our current card, we can't use our new card."
Farmer and her family exclusively bank with Truist. Due to "service disruptions" as the company works on system updates, she can't activate her new credit cards.
Truist issued the following statement to WCNC Charlotte:
“To ensure the best client experience, we're encouraging those clients to continue using their existing credit cards for now. Once the new cards are fully functional and ready for use, we’ll provide updates when activation is available.”
However, Farmer said her original credit cards aren’t working either.
"It was embarrassing when I went to the grocery store and my card was declined," she added. "It's very frustrating."
Several customer complaints on Facebook detail the same issues. Truist is telling customers they hope to fix the problem soon, but they don’t have an exact timeline.
"They said it should just affect credit cards, but we should be able to use our debit card, but she wasn't confident in that," Farmer said while detailing her customer service call.
Farmer hopes the problem is fixed before automatic bills are charged to her credit card that now doesn't work. She also hopes her debit card continues to work in the meantime, but worries about others who don’t have backup options.
"There may be people out there who have no other choice but to use their Truist credit card and that may be their only card," Farmer said.
Truist offered Farmer $50 to her checking account for the trouble. WCNC Charlotte asked the bank how many customers are affected and why existing credit cards aren’t working but we have not heard back beyond the already shared statement.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.