Co-op Cashminder Visa Debit Card

Godiva500

I spoke to co-op earlier and mentioned the card. She said that all new visa debit cards will be accepted by all retailers, but its taking some sorting out - could take 6 months!!

matrix999

Ok, the update so far from the Cooperative Bank Card Operations Team is that the issue has been raised with Visa International and that the Cooperative Bank are still waiting on an update from Visa International.

The advisor suggests calling on a daily basis for a further update.

matrix999

**** suggestion for the board guides, can we do something with this thread and the same one over on the budgeting and bank accounts thread, maybe try and combine them if possible ****

Thea

I 'lost' my card and got this supposedly new visa debit starting with 4508. I begining to think its a bit of a con. Banks use their own scoring system to decide what kind of card there gonna let you have. The whole point of visa electron is that your account is checked first to see if you have the funds, whilst with a visa debit this does not always apply. So for people like myself i cant see co-op giving us that option. Since other banks and these newer pre-paid cards for abroad are electron surely co-op must have known that cards begining with 4508 would be processed as electron? I rang up when i got my card and asked this but was assured it would be accepted. Took it to a train station and surprise surprise rejected!

Thea

Oh i should mention that despite having a current account elsewhere with cheque book and paying more then £30k of wages, they still only let me have an electron card. I remember my student days when i could walk into the bank and walk back out with my overdraft doubled.

Silly that when all you wanna do is spend your own money how and where you want to you cant.

stclair

matrix999 wrote: »

Ok, the update so far from the Cooperative Bank Card Operations Team is that the issue has been raised with Visa International and that the Cooperative Bank are still waiting on an update from Visa International.

The advisor suggests calling on a daily basis for a further update.

Atleast it shows they are listening to its customers comments then :T

dvs

Thea wrote: »

I 'lost' my card and got this supposedly new visa debit starting with 4508. I begining to think its a bit of a con. Banks use their own scoring system to decide what kind of card there gonna let you have. The whole point of visa electron is that your account is checked first to see if you have the funds, whilst with a visa debit this does not always apply. So for people like myself i cant see co-op giving us that option. Since other banks and these newer pre-paid cards for abroad are electron surely co-op must have known that cards begining with 4508 would be processed as electron? I rang up when i got my card and asked this but was assured it would be accepted. Took it to a train station and surprise surprise rejected!

This may explain how Visa Debit cards can be issued to those with basic bank accounts:

Visa Debit cards have a floor limit which is a level at which an authorisation is required. This is set by the bank. Transactions below this floor limit can go through without checking funds.

Retailers also have a floor limit which is an amount they will accept before obtaining an authorisation.

It's likely that a Visa debit card issued for a basic bank account would have a low or nil floor limit, so an authorisation would be required if the transaction is over this amount - unless the limit set by the retailer is higher. In which case, the retailer will not require authorisation unless it's above their floor limit.

Train companies may not require authorisation for smaller amounts because it's low risk. In some circumstances it's also impractical, for example conductors on the train. So even if the card issuer requires an authorisation, the train company may still accept it without obtaining an authorisation.

The reason Electron cards are not as widely accepted is because they were designed to always require authorisation. As places, like train tickets offices, are not as well connected, they will not accept your card because they can't authorise every transaction as required. Even a company like Tesco could not authorise every transaction (which is why floor limits are in place). You may have noticed that using your Electron card takes longer to process than using a Visa Debit or credit card.

It's most likely that Co-op have made a mistake with the new Visa Debit cards. They probably should've allocated a new 4 digit code for their new cards but instead have used the original 4508 card numbers (which is recognised as an Electron card whatever the card has printed on it).

I found my Co-op card being refused at train stations most annoying. I got a prepaid card which stated it was accepted everywhere Visa was (but not at train stations!) I now have a Barclays Connect Card and that works just fine (even though it's for a Cash Card account).

k2nga

Well lets hope that co-op sort this quickly but im sure they will if they have stopped sending out the cards until its sorted although the whole things seems like a stupid mistake. Surely some highly paid person should have had to sign this all off. Bit of a costly mistake too with the amount of cards out there since the so called launch.

Godiva500

Tesco called me today, responding to my email.Very polite and pleasant but no authority!I referred him to this thread, and he promised to pass it upwards. He said that its the board that makes the decisions on the elektron card, and they are looking at it. They have had loads of complaints - I wonder where from !!

auldblerk

Just received coop card today and is 4508 ?! Can I withdraw money out of this account if i take the card to the post office or do I need a PIN number (havent received that yet)