Ongoing issue with bank cards – Transactions are fine, but ATMs won’t read them

Hi all,

Bit of an odd situation – I’ve seen in other threads people mentioning how the chip on their cards got dirty or damaged and prevented them from working. With Yucho, my cash card stopped working within the first month of having it and I moved on to using the passbook, as the bank staff kept outwardly refusing to let me pay for a new card. They would polish the chip, it would work for 1 read in the bank, and then immediately stop working as soon as I left the door. I visited 10+ times before resorting to only using the book. I kept the card safely in my wallet, away from any magnets, dirt, or moisture.

At the 6 month mark of being here I could finally open a 7-bank account and have a debit card like the standard in most countries, rather than a cash card. I received the card and immediately when putting it into an ATM, the ATM did not even attempt to read it, stating that the card was invalid – however, it works absolutely fine for transactions, just not ATMs? I got a replacement card from 7-bank, it worked once in an ATM and now I’m back in the same situation.

Is there something obvious I’m missing here? Why do my cards keep failing in ATMs but not for purchases at the counter? For context all my cards from my home country that are years old still work fine in both.

tl;dr ATMs keep being unable to read my cards from Japanese banks, and I can’t figure out why.