Austin FCU cards come with daily processing limits and geographic restrictions to help protect you from fraud.

Most members have daily limits of $1000 for POS transactions and $500 for ATM transactions. In addition, there is a “swipe limit” of 20 POS transactions and 5 ATM transactions. (If your limits are different, you would’ve received notice of that when you opened your account). We can always raise your limit for you if you need to spend a little more in a specific time frame. Give us a call or send us a message to have this done.

If you plan to travel outside the US, please let us know so that we can place a travel notification on your account to keep fraud monitoring from triggering due to the different location. If you’ll be taking a road trip (even in the US), it’s also a good idea to let us know since using your card in different cities on the same day can trigger a fraud case.

We utilize a service called FALCON to monitor member transactions for fraud. Each time you swipe your card, your transaction is assigned a fraud score based on amount, location, type of terminal, and many other factors. If that score is high enough, you will receive a call or text from our Fraud Department asking you to verify the transaction. In special cases, if the fraud score on a transaction is high enough, your card may be shut down immediately.

If your card has been restricted after-hours, please contact the Fraud Department directly to resolve the case at 888-241-2440. Unfortunately, if your card has fraud on it, we are unable to re-activate the card and will need to order you a new one. Please note FALCON will score transactions high if they are outside your geographical area, see Travel Notice for more info.

In order to receive Text Alerts Austin FCU must have your cell phone number on file. Log into online banking  in order to update your contact information.

If a transaction has cleared your account that you did not authorize, or you have attempted to dispute a transaction with a merchant but have been unsuccessful, please click the link below to initiate a debit card dispute.

If a transaction has cleared your account that you did not authorize, please call (888) 241-2510 immediately to cancel your debit card. Then proceed to the debit card dispute form.

An Austin FCU MSR will contact you via email in one to two business days regarding your responses to the form, and let you know what your next steps should be. Please keep in mind that a dispute with Austin FCU does not supersede any agreement you may have made with a merchant, and should only be used in situations where no authorization was given, or where you have already communicated with the merchant regarding the dispute.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call at (512) 444 – 6419 or (800) 950-8143.

In April of 2022, MasterCard issued a Mandate to require financial institutions to begin the process of moving their debit card numbers from the current 6-digit BIN structure to an 8-digit BIN structure.

What is a BIN (Bank Identification Number)?

A BIN is the initial digits on your debit, credit or ATM card. These digits help the debit card network identify the issuer of the card, what brand it was issued on and what type of card it is. This identification scheme helps merchants be sure they are dealing with valid cardholders and helps to route payments to the appropriate financial institution and member account.

What is the 8-Digit BIN Mandate?

Back in 2017, the International Standards Organization (ISO)—an agency that establishes clear policy and industry standards regarding new technologies—created a new 8-digit BIN standard for the financial community. In particular, the ISO held concerns regarding the rapid increase in financial institutions over the past decade. And it feared that the potential for running out of available BINs would soon become a reality. With two additional digits though, the industry gained access to a much larger pool of potential BINs.

Both Visa and MasterCard—two of the world’s largest credit companies and therefore two of the largest creators of BINs—have embraced this new standard and mandated that their respective payment systems be updated to accommodate the added digits. As of April 2022, Visa and MasterCard now require that all acquirers and processors in their networks be able to accommodate 8-digit codes. In addition, all new BINs assigned by either business will feature 8 digits.

Existing Financial Institutions with their own BINs were allowed to move to the new structure on their own timeline. Austin FCU has chosen April of 2025 to begin this transition.

What does this mean for members?

Since your existing card was issued under our previous 6-digit BIN (510784), you will be issued a new card under the new 8-digit BIN (51078400). If your card currently begins with 51078400 there will be no change. If your card has any other digits but 00 in the 7th and 8th position, you will be getting a new card number.

We will begin issuing new card numbers in March of 2025 or cards expiring in April of 2025, 2026 and 2027. Cards will be issued each month for the next 12 months until all of our cards are on the new structure.

We will be using the MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater (ABU) to help ease the burden of receiving a new card number. Read the tab below this one for more information on the ABU. 

What is Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater?

MasterCard’s Automatic Billing Updater is a service participating merchants can use to retrieve cardholder account changes, like new debit card numbers, to ensure as little disruption as possible for your account-on-file transactions and automated payments.

What are card-on-file automated payments?

Account-on-file transactions are payments processed using a card number you’ve stored with a merchant and websites with whom you’ve created an account and saved your card information.

For example:

• Online retailers (Amazon, etc.)
• Movies/music/eBook download services (Netflix, Spotify, etc.)
• Online payment services (PayPal, etc.)
• Transportation services (Uber, etc.)
• Prescriptions

Will all my payment information be automatically updated?

No. Automated Billing Updater is only available to participating merchants and they choose the frequency at which they check for updated payment information. To avoid late payments and penalties, you must check with your merchant to ensure your card information is updated.

Why is this service being offered to cardholders?

To help ease the burden of your card number being updated as a result of our new 8-digit BIN (see tab above).

What are the benefits of the MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater service?

Benefits of Updater service:

• Reduces “card not present” declines
• Helps to ensure on-time bill payment
• Prevents late fees and service disruption

Can members decline this service?

Yes. A member can request to opt-out of this service for their debit or credit card by notifying us by phone at 512-444-6419 or by email via the Contact Us page of our website.

Need this: We will be live with ApplePay, Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet on 5/6/25 so can we add something to this page about that? The rest looks good.