Contactless Cards Are Here at Freedom

Your Debit card is being reissued for two reasons:

1. Freedom has made the switch to Visa from Mastercard. Your new Debit card will now be a Visa Debit card and will be enabled with all of the security and benefits that are associated with Visa. The switch to Visa will also allow us to better align with our Credit cards, as well as our current Business Debit cards, that have always been associated with Visa.
2. Your new Visa card will include Contactless tap-and-go technology. A Contactless Debit card allows you to complete a transaction without physical contact between your card and the contactless-enabled checkout terminal. You simply hold your contactless card close to the terminal and payment account information is transmitted wirelessly for authorization.

Freedom continuously looks for ways to improve our technology and security processes to serve our members better. The new Debit cards are a result of this continuous improvement process.

The new Debit cards will feature a brand new, simple, clean design that we hope you will like and be proud to use.

The new Debit cards have all been mailed and should have been received in the beginning of December. A separate PIN mailer has also be sent to you. Once you receive your new card, please activate it immediately.

If you have not received a new Debit card, and believe you should have, please contact us at 800-440-4120.

Any Freedom member who has a current MasterCard Debit card that has been used as of April 1, 2019 will receive a new card. Anyone who has a MasterCard Debit card that has not been used since that date will NOT receive a new card and their card will be closed on January 15, 2021.

Because of the transition from MasterCard to Visa, your new Freedom Debit card will have a brand new card number.  If you have any automatic direct debits or recurring payments attached to your current Freedom Debit card, please remember to update your card information anywhere it is stored (Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, etc.).

Integration with Digital Wallets for the new Debit card will be available at the end of the year.  However, if your current Freedom Debit card is saved in a Digital Wallet, it will continue to work until January 15, 2021.

In addition to receiving your new card, you will separately receive a PIN mailer, that has an assigned PIN for your new card. You can use the assigned PIN, or choose to set your own by calling 866-985-2273.

The PIN you were using on your old debit card will NOT carry over to the new debit card.  You can set it to be the same as your previous PIN, however you will need to actively set it again.

Please note you MUST set a new PIN for the new Debit card to use it at an ATM or for pin-based transactions.

In order to take advantage of all the increased security features that the new Visa Contactless Debit cards provide our members, your current Debit card will be turned off and unusable after January 15, 2021.  We encourage you to activate your new Debit card as soon as you receive it, and destroy your existing card at that time

Members are asked to follow three simple steps when you receive your new card in the mail:

1. Activate your new card, and set your new PIN number, by calling 866-985-2273, or you may choose to use the new PIN, which has been mailed to you separately.
2. Sign the back of your card immediately.
3. If you have not done so already, download the Freedom Card Manager App and register your new card.

Again, please be sure to update any recurring payments with your new card number and expiration date.

Please contact us at 800-440-4120, and we can reissue you a new Debit card.

Your current Debit card will stop working on January 15, 2021. Please destroy your old card immediately upon activation of your new card.

Yes, Freedom Business Debit cards will also be updated to Contactless technology and feature a new look and design.  Unlike the consumer cards, however, your Business Debit card number will remain the same, as it is already a Visa card.

We are very happy to announce that all Freedom Credit cards will be updated to Contactless tap-and-go technology too.  Look for more information on that early 2021.

No. You do not have to physically tap the card to the terminal. However, your card should be close (within 1-2 inches) to the Contactless Symbol.

The payment terminal reads the antenna best when the Contactless card is flat on the
Contactless Symbol, not at an angle.

You should hold the Contactless card to the terminal for 1-2 seconds.

Though similar, Contactless cards use Radio Frequency (RF) technology, a system comprised of a tag, a reader, and an antenna, as well as Near-Field-Communication (NFC) technology. Mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay and Android Pay require NFC-enabled mobile phones that incorporate smart chips that allow phones to securely store the payment application and consumer account information and to use the information as a contactless “virtual payment card.”

Yes. You can still use your Contactless card at an EMV payment terminal by inserting the card, or at a magnetic stripe terminal by swiping the card.

Yes. Contactless cards are accepted by tapping it at a Contactless-enabled payment terminal where they see the Contactless Symbol , inserting the card into an EMV chip terminal or swiping it in a magnetic stripe terminal. Many countries have already adopted contactless payments.

Yes. Contactless cards are safe for a number of reasons:

■ Each transaction is accompanied by a one-time code that securely protects a cardholder’s
payment information, just like a chip card.

■ Cardholders can’t pay accidentally. Their card or device must be within 1-2 inches of
the contactless-enabled payment terminal for the transaction to occur (and they won’t
be billed twice, even if they accidentally tap twice).

For every contactless transaction, a transaction-specific, one-time code is created that secures the cardholder’s payment information. The code cannot be re-used by fraudsters even if they were somehow able to access it. The information would be useless to them.