Halifax Visa Debit card - cheque guarantee?

calibrax

Having sorted out my debt problems and got my credit rating back up to a decent level, I recently opened a Halifax high interest current account, and today I received my Visa Debit card... on the back it says "this is not a cheque guarantee card", which surprised me; I thought the Visa Debit cards were all cheque guarantee cards, even though I didn't ask for a chequebook. Is this normal? (I'm just wondering, I have absolutely no need for it anyway, as I don't have a chequebook!)

Note... It's defintely not a Visa Electron, it has Visa Debit in the corner, and the writing is properly embossed (not printed like on an Electron card). I'm actually upgrading from a Bank of Scotland Easycash account, so I have an Electron card on that account.

rb10

My Halifax Visa Debit Card has the Cheque Guarantee hologram in the bottom right hand corner on the back.

Possibly if you don't request a cheque book they won't put the cheque guarantee bit on the card. There would be no point.

456789

rb10 wrote: »

My Halifax Visa Debit Card has the Cheque Guarantee hologram in the bottom right hand corner on the back.

Mine does aswell

sutton111

My parents have a cheque guarantee on there Ultimate reward account, but i know someone you has the same account, who doesn't have a Cheque Guarantee so it's not a surprise, some card issued by the Halifax don't have a cheque Guarantee on. HTH

maxsquared

I have a current account and ultimate reward, the ultimate reward has a cheque guarantee sign the current account doesn't.

I think it's all depend on if you applied the overdraft when you applying (the default 100 pound overdraft), if you didn't appy, then it won't be cheque guaranteed.

Kavanne

My Hfax current account debit card has £100 cheque guarantee.

rb10

maxsquared wrote: »

I think it's all depend on if you applied the overdraft when you applying (the default 100 pound overdraft), if you didn't appy, then it won't be cheque guaranteed.

No, as when I opened the account I didn't get any overdraft, but still got the cheque guarantee card

opinions4u

The cheque guarantee element is dependent on credit score.

You scored high enough to get the debit card, but not the cheque guarantee.

It's a minor thing really, as I can't actually think of a time in the last 10 years when I've needed to guarantee a cheque.

cifpower

I have a cheque book and £3.5k overdraft with Halifax but a Visa Debit card with "This is not a cheque guarantee card" written on the back. When I rang a few weeks ago to ask to be upgraded I was told I was not eligible. Not that it matters

Extant

No, not all Visa cards have a cheque guarantee feature. You likely just have an all authorization debit card.

Most card issuers tend to throw in their cheque guarantees and card floor limits in to the same package. A floor limit is where the bank guarantees a transaction below a certain amount, if the bank can't be contacted to check if a transaction is authorized. It's sort of like a cheque guarantee for everything else.

But, not to worry, cheques are (thankfully) dying out.

Extant

cifpower wrote: »

I have a cheque book and £3.5k overdraft with Halifax but a Visa Debit card with "This is not a cheque guarantee card" written on the back. When I rang a few weeks ago to ask to be upgraded I was told I was not eligible. Not that it matters

A cheque guarantee card is potentially open to much more abuse than a large overdraft. An overdraft can be called in at any time, or sent to collections. We can actively monitor what you're doing with your overdraft, how often you use it, etc.

A cheque guarantee, however? Suppose you stock pile four cheque books at home. You have a £50 cheque guarantee card. It would take you a long time, and your hands would start to hurt, but you could go through and write out 112 guaranteed cheques for £50. You could do that with no money in your account and no agreed overdraft.

Total potential loss due to cheque guarantee abuse? £5,600. That's why.