Anyone having to replace their chip cards often because of chip issues?

[Anonymous]

I do not know if I am simply managing to ruin my chip cards by having them in my wallet or whether the chip only has a certain transaction life span? For instance maybe after being inserted 200 times the chip just cannot take it anymore?

It is strange to me because the chips will mess up on some of my cards but not the others (seems to be the ones I use the most).

Today in line my Marvel Card was declined after inserting it twice because it said "chip malfunction" I have had the card for a year and use it almost daily. I guess I am trying to say that the pitiful thing is all scratched up but not on the chip, only on the mag stripe.  If I request a replacement will Sycnrchrony screw me over with a new open date?

I had my Redcard chip mess up a few weeks ago it was an ordeal.  

The chip on my Amex seems to be messed up as well, last time I inserted it I also got the "chip malfunction/ unable to read chip message" (I just threw it in the sock drawer because I could not be bothered) come to think of it I ended up using my Marvel Card that day when I got the chip malfunction on my Amex. I highly doubt it is connected since I have used my Marvel Card since, or maybe I have not since Discover is in the restaurant category?

I am down to my Disco, Amazon Visa, and Sears Mastercard at this point.

My main question is do you all have chip issues as well? Do you run through chip cards as quickly as I do? Is there any way to better protect my cards?

[warofkraid]

I haven't had a chip failure yet myself on any of the cards I commonly use.  Where do you store your wallet?  I always have mine in a front pocket and don't sit on it so maybe that could be a reason for failure/damage.

[Anonymous]

I haven't had any problems with chips either. Use cards everyday. Keep them in my wallet and in the back pocket so it gets sat on a lot too. Never any problems. 

[Anonymous]

No problems with any of my cards either. The issues I've had I blame terminal issues for.

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I do not know if I am simply managing to ruin my chip cards by having them in my wallet or whether the chip only has a certain transaction life span? For instance maybe after being inserted 200 times the chip just cannot take it anymore?

It is strange to me because the chips will mess up on some of my cards but not the others (seems to be the ones I use the most).

Today in line my Marvel Card was declined after inserting it twice because it said "chip malfunction" I have had the card for a year and use it almost daily. I guess I am trying to say that the pitiful thing is all scratched up but not on the chip, only on the mag stripe.  If I request a replacement will Sycnrchrony screw me over with a new open date?

I had my Redcard chip mess up a few weeks ago it was an ordeal.  

The chip on my Amex seems to be messed up as well, last time I inserted it I also got the "chip malfunction/ unable to read chip message" (I just threw it in the sock drawer because I could not be bothered) come to think of it I ended up using my Marvel Card that day when I got the chip malfunction on my Amex. I highly doubt it is connected since I have used my Marvel Card since, or maybe I have not since Discover is in the restaurant category?

I am down to my Disco, Amazon Visa, and Sears Mastercard at this point.

My main question is do you all have chip issues as well? Do you run through chip cards as quickly as I do? Is there any way to better protect my cards?

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I would first suspect the card reader, or that the chip malfunction is a fluke, unless you use the same card at multiple merchants over a range of days and they all say Malfunction while other chip cards at those same merchants are working fine.

One instance of chip malfunction is not enough, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

I usually keep my wallet in my front pocket or in my bag.

I can see what you mean about blaming the terminal. I am going to lean toward the fact that it's a terminal issue it is just irritating. I ended up inserting my Amazon Visa and it went through fine. I will try my Marvel Card at another store along with the Amex and see what happens.

I had my Redcard decline on multiple days at multiple cash registers in Target which is why I ended up having to get a replacement.

I just find it rather embarrassing because the terminal makes that God awful noise and the cashier has to say try again or try another card. 

[Anonymous]

That is a bummer that you're having so much trouble. I did have to replace my debit card because the chip somehow got messed up, but so far so good on my other cards. 

[Schwartzinator]

I keep my AmEx, Disco, and Chase card in a metal money clip in my front pocket so they do get worn down a bit due to the constant friction but knock on wood I haven't had any issues with my chip cards yet..

[Man-Of-Steel]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I do not know if I am simply managing to ruin my chip cards by having them in my wallet or whether the chip only has a certain transaction life span? For instance maybe after being inserted 200 times the chip just cannot take it anymore?

It is strange to me because the chips will mess up on some of my cards but not the others (seems to be the ones I use the most).

Today in line my Marvel Card was declined after inserting it twice because it said "chip malfunction" I have had the card for a year and use it almost daily. I guess I am trying to say that the pitiful thing is all scratched up but not on the chip, only on the mag stripe.  If I request a replacement will Sycnrchrony screw me over with a new open date?

I had my Redcard chip mess up a few weeks ago it was an ordeal.  

The chip on my Amex seems to be messed up as well, last time I inserted it I also got the "chip malfunction/ unable to read chip message" (I just threw it in the sock drawer because I could not be bothered) come to think of it I ended up using my Marvel Card that day when I got the chip malfunction on my Amex. I highly doubt it is connected since I have used my Marvel Card since, or maybe I have not since Discover is in the restaurant category?

I am down to my Disco, Amazon Visa, and Sears Mastercard at this point.

My main question is do you all have chip issues as well? Do you run through chip cards as quickly as I do? Is there any way to better protect my cards?

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Regarding the blue text above:  I don't think Synchrony Bank will screw you over with a new open date, but there might be a risk of ending up with an additional tradeline for that account.  I kinda got screwed over with a similar scenario recently.  I requested a new Marvel card image last month and the new card got lost in shipping.  I had heard about the 'quirky' reporting behavior of Synchrony Bank when it comes to replacement cards and actually considered closing the account right then and there.  However, I decided to report the card missing and now I have 2 tradelines on my report for this single Marvel account: 1 open and 1 closed.  I pulled my full Experian report and the closed account has a status of "credit card reported lost or stolen" and it shows "On Record until June 2019."  The new open account does have the original open date for this account (Dec. 2016).  The closed account has all of the balance history and the new open account has no balance history yet.  It makes no sense to me why they didn't merge all of this data into the new account without an actual (second) closed account reporting.  Needless to say, I'll be closing this account soon and have no plans to open any new Synchrony accounts in the future.  If you need to request a replacement card and your account number isn't changing, and your replacement card doesn't get lost in transit, I think you will be fine.

Regarding the question you asked about chip cards:  I haven't had an issue with any of my cards. They have all been very durable and reliable.  However, some of my cards are still getting swiped.  This seems to be the case at most sit-down restaurants.  And some of my purchases are made with Apple Pay, so the chip isn't always used for my purchases.

[Anonymous]

Very likely its the card reader terminal that could be the problem. I've had a "chip malfunction" error on the terminal thing about once or twice before.