Barclays Cash Card Account

mattlfc79

Hi all,

I have just opened a Barclays Cash Card account in branch and have been accepted for the Visa Debit Connect card. From what I gather it is still essentially a Visa Electron in terms of all transactions are pre-authorised. The question I have is will foreign airports that dont take electron be able to accept this card?

Thanks

Matt

sutton111

well i believe so, it says it can be used in x million places in the litachure which comes with the card.

Extant

It's the same style of card in that it runs off the Electron back-end, but it's not always recognized as an Electron - some people have had problems using it for Ryanair and stuff.

KILL_BILL

actually i think it differs - if you take an electron card it says on the back that it is for electronic use only and the writing on the card like account number etc are not raised

however the barclays cash card visa connect card - does not say its for electronic use only and can be used in one of those old swipe over retailer machines before all the elctronic ones came in

savagej

The card Barclays are issuing has nothing to do with the Visa Electron network, it is an "Embossed Visa Debit with a positive authorization mandatory service code".

This means a merchant must check the code on all cards it receives (this came in to affect in April of this year) if there is no positive authorisation code the card can be processed under the floor limit of the retailer (there is also no limit on the card itself, that is another mistake, the limit lies with the retailer).

If there is a positve authorisation code authorisation must be sought and granted. If later it transpires this did not happen, either it was declined but still presented as if accepted or no authorisation was sought, it allows the banks to bounce the Visa transaction, this is why LTSB gave them to 11 year olds. I dont know what the lower age limit at Barclays is for the issue of such a card.

This can cause problems for retailer who only have a manual imprinter since the card will work in one (people at card boot sales, many overseas locations) but they cannot read the magstripe or the chip to find out if it has a code on it or not. I dont know what Visa rules are for bouncing such transactions where the merchant has a floor limit and the transaction processed was under it.

This is some information from Visa themselves:

"Embossed Visa Debit encoded with a positive authorization mandatory service code (X2X)
This is a standard Visa-embossed card with enhanced issuer risk control through a code in the magnetic stripe that instructs the terminal to always request an online authorization. This product is directed at getting the widest acceptance base while increasing the issuer’s opportunity to see more authorization requests."

Below is what a card must have to make it an Electron card which neither Barclays not LTSB issue on current account and hence their cards are not Visa Electron. I think this is what is mixing up the bank staff as the bank call it electronic (because of the positive code) and this is being misinterpreted as Visa Electron. Also all cards types can be indentified by the first 6 digit (their INN, the first 4 digits is called the BIN) I can post a link to a list where you can see the Barclays card is not an Electron card.

"Visa Electron
Visa’s global electronic acceptance mark offers unparalleled and secured customer utility at more than 21 million physical locations worldwide, including more than one million ATMs.

Always authorized against the cardholder’s account balance, Visa Electron offers superior risk control through secure point of sale utility to customers at little or no additional risk.

The identifying features and characteristics of Visa Electron cards include:

Mandatory features:

• Account number either partial or full (if partial, the last four digits of the account number must be printed and the first four digits displayed)
• Expiration date
• The legend “Electronic use only” printed on the front of the card
• The old Visa Electron symbol with the microprint code border or the new Visa brand mark with the Electron identifier
• Pre-printed BIN below the account number on the front of the card
• Signature panel with CVV2 on the back of the card (only when full account number is used)

Features not present:

• The Flying “V” symbol

Optional features:

• The dove design hologram
• Printed cardholder name
• Printed generic cardholder identifier
• No cardholder name or generic identifier

"

scorpian81

I have a Barclays visa debit connect card, and havent beren restricted in any way. from what i can see is its a proper debit card. Though the first year i opened the account i was given an electron one though, but they kindly upgraded me. must have been a loyal customer or something ha ha.

savagej

There is also a third type of Visa card which is unembossed (like electron, but it is not an Electron Card) and can be made with either a postive authorisation code present or absent, just to confuse the issue. These are what Paypal are issuing as their prepaid card.

sutton111

Barclays cash account now gives full access on on-line banking ( well it does with me)

hippey

Embosed card used in manual imprinters should always be treated as ZERO floor limits in the UK, imprints are now a fallback device only. Not a first line acceptance. Car booters doing this with 'force online' card application risk a chargeback of the value due to not following the processing rules.

Basically on the Barclays Visa Debit cards, the electronic machines will work out what to do, they must always seek authorisation if the card forces it. As a basic rule, it's Chip Read first + pin, mag read if that fails (but online authorisation forced) or if that has failed it's a voucher and a manual authorisation call.

savagej

hippey wrote: »

Embosed card used in manual imprinters should always be treated as ZERO floor limits in the UK, imprints are now a fallback device only. Not a first line acceptance. Car booters doing this with 'force online' card application risk a chargeback of the value due to not following the processing rules.

Basically on the Barclays Visa Debit cards, the electronic machines will work out what to do, they must always seek authorisation if the card forces it. As a basic rule, it's Chip Read first + pin, mag read if that fails (but online authorisation forced) or if that has failed it's a voucher and a manual authorisation call.

Someone knows what they are talking about!

savagej

Any comment from BarclaysManager r.e. this and other posts on the subject of their Visa Debit card. I feel a corrigendum is due as his/her knowledge is not "up to scratch" and a technically person at BMS could given advice, to be posted to sort this out.

I only say it as there are so many threads on the same subject riddled with errors buy BarlcaysManager. I am not getting at BarclaysMnager I just want people to know what the real situation is, if you worked for Merchant Services then I would would have a go.



Cheers

James