Malauzai Software, a provider of mobile banking SmartApps for community FIs, has reported that between November and April, the company saw a 450-percent increase in the use of its debit card management features — and specifically, a rise of 850 percent in the use of the app’s debit card on-off feature.

Introduced in 2012, the debit card management feature allows the accountholder to:

• activate or de-activate a debit card with the swipe of a finger;
• change ATM and POS transaction limits; and
• adjust international access settings.

“The increase in card management use since the Target breach is staggering,” said Robb Gaynor, CPO for Malauzai. “Even though the breach happened in late 2013, we continue to see increased use of debit card on-off and other card-management features each month as end-users take control of their own data security right from their smartphone.”

Malauzai also reports that consumers requested increases to ATM and POS limits via their mobile device 900 percent more often from November to April, indicating that end-users are also taking advantage of the app's other card-management features.

“Credit unions and banks deploying card management are not only helping consumers fight fraud, but are adding a huge cost savings by turning card management into a self-service application within mobile banking," Gaynor said. "These community financial institutions are reducing calls to the call center and visits to the branch related to simple tasks like transaction limit increases by moving these services to a more cost-effective channel.”