Imagine the frustration of knowing you have overdue bills and a government stimulus check headed your way, but you can’t immediately access the funds because you don’t have an account tied to automatic deposit with a functioning debit card.

Step in – Instant issuance.

Preserving access to cash and credit has never been as important as it is now, as COVID-19 has forced at least a third of the world to stay at home and adjust to mounting expenses and tenuous incomes.

One of our customers, VyStar Credit Union in Jacksonville, Florida has quickly adapted its operations to meet social distancing guidelines, while keeping service going for its 700,000 members.

The credit union has closed lobbies in its 60 branches and expanded drive-thru services, to include among other things, issuing new and replacement credit and debit cards. It does this with the help of Financial Instant Issuance (FII) technology provided by Entrust Datacard.

“Instant issue is a vital service to our members to ensure they don’t have to wait for a card if they are opening a new account or have had a compromise,” said Melissa Thomas, Senior Vice President, Operations and Payments at VyStar. “Our members have been so grateful that we can still issue them a card and not have to wait for the mail.”

Banks and credit unions around the world have been using instant issuance equipment at their branches for over a decade as a way to speed up customer service. Instantly issued cards are permanent and personalized, and have the look, feel and features (including increasingly popular contactless technology ) found in any other payment card. They can be securely printed by a teller and immediately distributed to a consumer.

In the past, this service was typically done face to face inside the branch office, usually with a signature and pin pad.

Now, in the wake of COVID-19, we’ve received many requests from banks and credit unions like VyStar who are trying to service customers with Instant Issuance in the drive-thru. These financial institutions are developing policies for issuing cards that let consumers enable their new cards with voice-response, ATMs or smartphones.

VyStar and its members are benefiting now from instant issued cards. Click here if you’d like more information about setting up FII services at your institution.