MSE News: Mystery new debit card charges revealed

martin2410

We don't have a problem with the post office charging to pay the bill, the problem we have is, if this new card had not been introduced, my wife could carry on paying her bill online. But because the Avon system does'nt recognise her card, she is forced to pay at the post office. The retailers need to get their online payment systems sorted out, given that it looks like its the banks blaming the retailers instead of accepting the blame themselves.

glider3560

martin2410 wrote: »

We don't have a problem with the post office charging to pay the bill, the problem we have is, if this new card had not been introduced, my wife could carry on paying her bill online. But because the Avon system does'nt recognise her card, she is forced to pay at the post office. The retailers need to get their online payment systems sorted out, given that it looks like its the banks blaming the retailers instead of accepting the blame themselves.

Do they not accept a bank transfer?

wendywoo4u

Yorkshire Bank customer for over 19 years and have been issued with the new Mastercard debit card - we encountered numerous problems with these cards including some internet sites not recognising the card at all, while others inc amazon and paypal incurred a fee of £1.50 per transaction. Not all Yorkshire bank customers are affected by this as not all customers were issued with these cards, we were, but they re-issued my husband back with an old style maestro card for on-line shopping etc and kept me with the new mastercard as eventually every YB customer will have these, like it or not! Yorkshire bank refunded the £1.50 fees incurred from amazon etc, they have not however paid out anything for my inconvenience of having to ring there internet/telephone banking premium rate line and call costs to amazon to try to sort the problem out. It just goes to show, loyalty counts for nothing, I am thinking of changing to the A&L current account and getting £100 for doing so!

dzug1

Lokolo wrote: »

The Post Office should not be charging you as you are not using a CC and I believe thats why they charge when making payments. I would kick up a fuss next time.

(someone correct me if I'm wrong)

You can't pay bills with a CC at the PO anyway.

And it's Avon charging you, not the PO. Where the PO charges for bill paying it's because the company you are paying refuses to subsidise them.

YAM_3

I don't get it. Who is incurring these fees? The merchant or the bank?

It's been a while since I used my (Luxembourgian) Credit Card on amazon.co.uk, but there was no payment fee from Amazon and (as they doesn't charge a fee for foreign transactions) none from my bank either.

So if it's a fee from the bank it should not matter who the merchant is - and the bank should know their own cards. But if it's a foreign paiment fee from some merchants -like amazon uk- they should at least mention it on their web site. But I have some doubts if such a fee is legal by European law.

So, does anybody understand the system behind these problems?

Martin

buzby316

martin2410 wrote: »

My wife received a new Mastercard debit card from Yorkshire bank and has found she cannot pay her Avon account online. Instead she has to pay it at the post office which incurs a 50p charge every time. She never had this problem with the old maestro card. I think this is because Avon does'nt seem to be accepting Mastercard payments. Has anybody else got this problem with Avon?

Instead of paying at the post office counter, try paying at your banks counter. Most payment slips state on the bottom that a "standard fee payable (or may be payable) at PO counter" These fees are charged whether you pay by cash or card. There is no fee if you pay at a branch of your own bank, or a branch of the bank the payee uses.

buzby316

dzug1 wrote: »

You can't pay bills with a CC at the PO anyway.

I've used plastic to pay bills at the PO many times, never had a problem.

dzug1 wrote: »

And it's Avon charging you, not the PO. Where the PO charges for bill paying it's because the company you are paying refuses to subsidise them.

It's actually the PO charging you the fee, states on payment "standard fee payable at PO counter"

To avoid PO fees, see my post above.

Alfie_E

YAM wrote: »

I don't get it. Who is incurring these fees? The merchant or the bank?…

So, does anybody understand the system behind these problems?

Looking at the MSE news article and this thread, it appears to be affecting only online transactions. If this is the case, it would offer an explanation.

Here’s an example. I was in country A. I bought something online from a seller in country B. The amount was in the currency of country C. I paid through PayPal, using a credit card that was issued in country D. Countries A, B, C and D are all different, and PayPal operates in all of them. In which country should the transaction be processed?

As far as I can tell, PayPal processes the card in the country in which it was issued. In the same way, PayPal offers to convert any foreign currency into the currency local to the card. Other large international companies and payment processors likely do the same.

How does the company know which country the card was issued in? From the BIN. If your card’s BIN isn’t known to their payment system, there’ll be a problem. The payment system may refuse the card, believing it to be invalid. I would guess that, where such a card is accepted, the system will use a default, and that default is likely to be that the card is American.

julip_2

Alfie_E wrote: »

Looking at the MSE news article and this thread, it appears to be affecting only online transactions.

This is not happening online only. Just 2 days ago my husband was 250 miles away from home and needed to fill up his car. He put £50.00 of diesel into the car and went to pay - this was a big name petrol company - to be told that they could not accept his new Yorkshire Bank Mastercard Debit card. They were displaying all major credit card symbols on the door of petrol station - including Mastercard. My hubby said that he didn't have any other method of payment or any cash on him. The member of staff told him he was unable to leave the station until payment in full had been made. I could not have paid for the petrol over the phone because I too have the Mastercard debit card!! What is happening here?? We are changing back to Maestro and have complained very strongly to our bank. We are told it is the fault of the merchant for not getting his systems set up but the merchant did not have any signage to say they didn't accept these new debit cards. It is all very badly managed to leave someone stranded 250 miles away from home because he can't pay for petrol with what is apparently a valid method of payment.....not pleased!

Buzby

This would all be laughable if it wasn't such a pain for those consumers affected. What some people are forgetting is Maestro (previously known as 'Switch') IS Mastercard. So changing from Maestro to Mastercard is simply a a fresh coat of paint and a new logo, nothing more (except perhaps the new BIN code, which is the cause of the problem).

Banks are cutting down the time period they used to previously give to promulgate new codes (which have to be specifically enabled at the Merchant Terminals) I noticed previously new codes were added almost a year before ever saw a card bearing a 'new' code.

Now, it appears if MCs unseemly urge to blow their own trumpet, they've initiated a new BIN AND launched the cards simultaneously, expecting merchants and processors to have the new codes updated within a week or so.

Boy, were they wrong!

Incidentally, this also opens up a new slant on the previous situation where petrol stations require you to 'have a valid card' in order to fill. The failing here is that the breach isn't with the driver, but the garage - so the onus is on them to resolve the issue PDQ (pun intended). But as we've seen, ignorance of the problem has attempted to push this burden on to the consumer, so watch of for this and refuse to take this responsibility. (The solution is for the garage to call their Merchant Services hotline and get authorisation).