New Zealand holders of ASB cards are now able to manually restrict how and where a card can be used, including limiting overseas and online purchases and ATM withdrawals.

New temporary lock features erase the need to immediately cancel a misplaced card.

ASB has launched a suite of new features via the ASB Mobile app, allowing customers to manually lock their credit or debit card temporarily and impose a range of restrictions on how and where their card can be used.

“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 size 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,” Martin said.

In 2014 ASB replaced around 55,000 credit and debit cards that were reported lost.

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 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 ASB Mobile app to lock, block, and limit their card, with all functions able to be turned back on when they are needed.