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ASB fixes a few first world financial problems with update to mobile app

The way the world is going, it probably won’t be too long before the mobile phone renders cards obsolete. But until that happens, ASB is using the phone to make using cards easier by allowing customers to set temporary locks and restrictions. 

As it has been doing for a while now, ASB has once again embraced the utility that the digital/mobile realm can provide—and continued to focus on being more customer centric—by combining security with ease through updates to its mobile app (the same features were made available last year with ASB’s parent bank, Commbank).

“Customers have been telling us for some time that security is of the utmost importance to them, but we also know that they not only want, but have come to expect convenient ways to manage and control their money,” says Glen Martin, ASB’s head of credit cards. “Customers are no longer constrained to a one-sized fits all approach to how they use their credit and debit cards. Through ASB Card Control, the users of hundreds and thousands of ASB credit and debit cards will have the ability to customise their cards quickly and easily through their smartphone.”

Having to cancel your card when it’s lost is a major first world problem. And one of the key features is the ability to place an instant temporary lock on a credit or debit card the moment you release it is missing. In 2014 ASB replaced around 55,000 credit and debit cards that were reported lost. So it seems like one of those ideas that is well-overdue. 

Martin expects the New Zealand experience to be similar to Australia, where research has indicated more than a quarter of Australian credit card holders have been unsure whether they actually lost a card or just left it at home or work and that the majority find cancelling and replacing a credit card a frustrating process.

“We all know the frustration of realising your credit card isn’t where you expect it to be. You then drop everything to frantically retrace your steps to work out what might have happened to it,” says Mr Martin. “Now, instead of going through the process of immediately cancelling a card only to find it later, customers can use the ASB mobile app to instantly place a temporary lock on the card’s use. This gives them peace of mind while they look for it with the ability to instantly unlock it again if they find it.”

In addition to temporary lock, ASB credit and debit card customers can use the app to lock, block and limit their card for contactless, online and international payments, knowing ll functions can instantly be turned back on when they are needed.

When a blocked function is used, a real time notification alerts customers on their mobile phone, which can remind them to instantly turn the lock off via ASB’s Mobile app or to contact ASB if they are concerned about fraudulent use. 

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