Debt Card Question

Ryan101

I have a debit card that I can use at [EMAIL="Pay@Pump"]Pay@Pump[/EMAIL] and at the Train Ticket Machines at unmanned railway stations, does this make it a 'Full Authorisation' card i.e. needs every transaction to be authorised and funds held first, or one that just authorises anyway ?.

I only ask as I could (I never would) fill up with £70 of fuel and only have £1 in the bank as I notice it only authorises £1 and then debits the correct amount from my Account a Few Days later, this seems very trusting of the bank !.

book12

Since you can use your card at those places, you don't have a 'full authorisation' card. You have an 'offline' card.

izools

Yes, if you had a full authorisation card it would not work at those machines, or on the train. And yes, it is trusting of the bank, but also a potential profit leader if you incur charges by being ruthless

sillystudent_2

Can someone explain this to me - I understand all about 'full authorisation' and offline/floor limit cards, but I've got a '4658' (i.e. 'full authorisation') Barclays Connect Card with my studdent account, supposedly with no floor limit, yet I've used it (with no problems whatsoever) on a number of planes and trains, as well as an AA van, which are all supposed to be "offline" terminals.

A bit confused by it all? Do I really have a floor limit card then or what?

savagej

You dont have a floor limit but retailers have them.

The first 4 digits of the card number dont matter it is a code programmed in the magnetic stripe and chip which tells a terminal if it "must" seek authorisation for that card.

However, the frist 4 digits maybe used by some banks so their staff know the difference between card from just looking at one without having to go onto the computer to check.

The concept of "on-line" and "full auth" are terms made up on this board, there is no such concept in Visa and Mastercard card processing procedures. They are used here a short hand.

When a card is dip in or swiped through a terminal the terminal is supposed to the check the card to see if it needs authorised. If the terminal in not able to connect to the banks server for an answer it should decline a transaction, but as with all technology there are problems and it does not always actually work. Not all terminals are up-to-date as they should be and hence able to look for this code.

So if your card has a postive mandatory authoirsation code but works in terminals which cannot connect to Visanet (this is the system which gives authorisations and stops blocked cards), these transaction as of April 2008 can be bounced by the bank if they take you overdrawn. This is why young childern can now have a Visa Debit card, it is because if an error is made the bank does not have to pay up.