Some Bank of Butterfield account holders have been left high and dry with their purchasing power cut off.

The Royal Gazette understands that up to several hundred local consumers have lost the ability to make debit card purchases with their Butterfield cards.

The bank (BNTB) issued new debit and automated teller machine (ATM) cards to its clients ahead of an end of July expiry date on debit cards cards but some consumers have been left out in the cold after new cards went missing in the mail.

The bank said it did not know exactly how many clients have been affected, but it did concede that there are many clients who have yet to receive their new cards.

Bank management said new cards had been sent out at the end of June and given the situation, ATMs have been adjusted to accept the expired cards for a limited time longer.

The end result is BNTB consumers who have not received the new cards can, for the moment, access cash through cash points but cannot make purchases from a shop or restaurant.

One irate bank customer told The Royal Gazette her attempt to pay for a meal out with her Butterfield card had resulted in the eatery cutting up the card as it had technically expired.

She is now left with no electronic means of accessing cash, and the bank has said it will take a minimum of ten business days to replace the card as they are processed and sent from the US.

Another source said several hundred cards had been mistakenly delivered to a US address but the bank said this was not true.

Lloyd Wiggan, senior vice president for banking, said yesterday: "We are aware that a number of our customers have not received their ButterfieldCard debit and ATM cards.

Although all of our reissued debit cards were mailed on the 28th of June, in plenty of time for the customers to receive their cards before the old cards expired at the end of July, we have found that many cards have not been delivered.

He continued: "As of today, customers are still receiving their cards by mail, but many were returned to us. In some cases this was because customers had moved and not advised us, and in some cases the customer's address was verified as correct, so the reason for returned mail is unclear.

"When we realised that the cards were not being delivered on time, we extended the expiry date of the old cards (for Bank of Butterfield ATM and PIN-based debit transactions only) to help minimise inconvenience to our customers.

"We have also inserted a message on our ATM screens to tell our customers to check with us if they had not received their cards.

As for what customers can do if they have not received the new card by mail, Mr. Wiggan said: "When customers come in to check for their cards, we first check to see if the mail has been returned. If this is the case we simply verify their address and give them their new card.

"In cases where a card has not been returned to us, we have to block the customer's old card and make them a card with a new number, and this takes a little longer.

"We have added extra staff to help our customers and are also working overtime to ensure that customers who still need new cards get them as quickly as possible.

"We appreciate our customers' patience and would like to assure them that their accounts are safe and we are doing everything possible to make sure that they receive their debit cards.

"In the meantime, the old cards will work at all of our ATMs," Mr. Wiggan concluded.