MSE News: Visa protection bonus for Natwest/RBS debit card holders 5 September 2009 at 11:16AM in Budgeting & bank accounts 20 replies 4K views

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Customers will soon have their Maestro cards replaced by Visa, which may help compensation claims if anything goes wrong ..."

Read the full story:
Visa protection bonus for Natwest/RBS debit card holders


This topic was already being discussed before the news story was written. Thanks to Det Dawson for the original post

greyster

With HSBC also doing a migration to Visa Debit, it means the UK won't be seeing many Maestro cards in the near future.

The banks are clever to put such as positive spin on such changes but in the background it has probably come down to the fact its cheaper for the card issuer to use Visa. Visa is by far the largest card transaction processor.

natweststaffmember

"Every Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) debit card holder is set to have their Maestro, Solo or Cirrus plastic replaced by a Visa card over the next few weeks"

very Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) debit card holder is set to have their Maestro, Solo or Cirrus plastic replaced by a Visa card over the next few weeks"

Guy, I have emailed earlier this morning, can you confirm that every customer is having their card replaced in the next few weeks rather than when their card comes up for renewal that it will be replaced by VISA. The forums here seemed to indicate that it was not every single card in one go but a phased stage, ie that new accounts will now get VISA, replacement cards(either lost or stolen) would get VISA and renewals would get VISA when their card expired and a new one was sent out.
I would appreciate a clarification, thanks.

natweststaffmember

greyster wrote: »

With HSBC also doing a migration to Visa Debit, it means the UK won't be seeing many Maestro cards in the near future.

The banks are clever to put such as positive spin on such changes but in the background it has probably come down to the fact its cheaper for the card issuer to use Visa. Visa is by far the largest card transaction processor.

The reasoning behind it is that VISA offered a better deal than MasterCard that owns Maestro

Absinthe_Fairy

natweststaffmember wrote: »

"Every Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) debit card holder is set to have their Maestro, Solo or Cirrus plastic replaced by a Visa card over the next few weeks"

very Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) debit card holder is set to have their Maestro, Solo or Cirrus plastic replaced by a Visa card over the next few weeks"

Guy, I have emailed earlier this morning, can you confirm that every customer is having their card replaced in the next few weeks rather than when their card comes up for renewal that it will be replaced by VISA. The forums here seemed to indicate that it was not every single card in one go but a phased stage, ie that new accounts will now get VISA, replacement cards(either lost or stolen) would get VISA and renewals would get VISA when their card expired and a new one was sent out.
I would appreciate a clarification, thanks.

I'd like to know too, my Maestro card isn't due to expire until August next year, I'm going down to Sheffield in a couple of weeks to go to uni but keeping my parents' address on file with the bank, if I'm getting a new debit card in the next couple of weeks I'll have to ask my parents to keep an eye out for it and send it down for me!

greyster

natweststaffmember wrote: »

The reasoning behind it is that VISA offered a better deal than MasterCard that owns Maestro

Yeah I agree with you.

chambta

Absinthe_Fairy wrote: »

I'd like to know too, my Maestro card isn't due to expire until August next year, I'm going down to Sheffield in a couple of weeks to go to uni but keeping my parents' address on file with the bank, if I'm getting a new debit card in the next couple of weeks I'll have to ask my parents to keep an eye out for it and send it down for me!

You won't automatically get one any time soon. It would be a logistical impossibility to replace literally millions within a few weeks. However, if you want a Visa debit card ring your local branch and tell them that your card is damaged and your replacement will be one.

456789

greyster wrote: »

With HSBC also doing a migration to Visa Debit, it means the UK won't be seeing many Maestro cards in the near future.

True however one bank is introducing DebitMastercard

kavomix

Im a bit confused by some of this, because taking HSBC, they own around 5% of mastercard, so surely using mastercard products..like maestro, and promoting it would earn them more money as a shareholder. Unless, by some crazy mixed up way mastercard doesn't pay dividends to its numerous bank owners (yeah right lol)

Also I thought RBS also had a share in mastercard....also what does this mean for the mastercard contactless payplus trials that were running in London and in rbs headquarters? Will they switch to the visa standard?

greyster

kavomix wrote: »

Im a bit confused by some of this, because taking HSBC, they own around 5% of mastercard, so surely using mastercard products..like maestro, and promoting it would earn them more money as a shareholder. Unless, by some crazy mixed up way mastercard doesn't pay dividends to its numerous bank owners (yeah right lol)

Also I thought RBS also had a share in mastercard....also what does this mean for the mastercard contactless payplus trials that were running in London and in rbs headquarters? Will they switch to the visa standard?

Both VISA and Mastercard are owned by a group of banks. You'll find HSBC has a share in both.

brewerdave

There's absolutely nothing about this on NatWest web site -I've just been reissued with a Maestro card!