SINGAPORE - Commuters holding on to expired ez-link cards will lose $1 every month from the stored value of the cards two years after it has expired, said travel card issuer EZ-Link on Thursday (Oct 17).

The sum is to pay for the maintenance cost of these expired cards, it said.

The company was responding to a Facebook post on Wednesday by former opposition politician Teo Soh Lung, who said that expired ez-link cards that did not have their value transferred to another card would lose $1 monthly.

Citing her own card, she said it expired two years ago and subsequently lost the $16 it held in stored value.

"I think this is cheating commuters. What service did it provide to deduct $1 a month. It should refund every single cent," she added.

The post has been shared more than 100 times, with about 100 people commenting on it.

EZ-Link, in response to queries, said the deduction will not start immediately, but two years after the expiry of a card.

It added that "there is a cost to maintaining a card that has expired after two years in the system".

"We encourage cardholders to replace their expired cards within two years from the date of expiry," its spokesman said.

Commuters can check the expiry date of their cards at various places, including the Add Value Machines in MRT stations, the EZ-Link mobile app and the EZ-Link website.

To get refunds for expired cards, commuters can submit a refund request form to any TransitLink ticket office. Refunds will not be given in cash, but are credited directly into the card owner's bank account.

Another option is for owners of expired cards to transfer the remaining sum to a new card sold at a subsidised rate of $3 or another active ez-link card they may own.