Still 85 million euros left on dying Chipknips

With only 8 weeks before the plug is pulled on the Chipknip, 12 million debit cards still have money on the chip. This amounts to an estimated 85 million euro. On December 31st the final charging points, where the chip can also be emptied, will be permanently shut down. Chipknip will no longer exist. After that it will only be possible to remove money from the chip at a bank counter. "That's much more cumbersome", warns the Dutch Payment Association, the organization that regulates payment transactions. Banks will offer this service for the next few years. In the last couple of months banks and the Payment Association have run an campaign to make people aware of their chip balance, but without much result. On average there is about 7 euro on each chip. "85 million euro is a lot of money. But 6 or 7 euro for yourself? People are nonchalant," says deputy director Gijs Boudewijn of the Dutch Payments Association. In coming weeks the banks are going to meet again to discuss new efforts to get as many people as possible to empty their chips before the end of the year.