Co-operative bank cashminder debit card

Mark_In_Hampshire

Just a clarification - perhaps I'm the only one who wants to keep the Electron card and not have it "upgraded" to a Visa debit, because of one key feature the Electron card has - it stops you going overdrawn since it won't authorise transactions you don't have enough money to pay. OK that might not be true 100% but I'm sure it's saved me money in the past.

It's not as if that happens regularly, but it's an extra piece of protection. If the cards "become" visa debit cards, is that protection removed or are they sort-of-visa-debit-cards-but-flagged-to-always-auth visa debit cards?

Toe-Jam

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

Just a clarification - perhaps I'm the only one who wants to keep the Electron card and not have it "upgraded" to a Visa debit, because of one key feature the Electron card has - it stops you going overdrawn since it won't authorise transactions you don't have enough money to pay. OK that might not be true 100% but I'm sure it's saved me money in the past.

It's not as if that happens regularly, but it's an extra piece of protection. If the cards "become" visa debit cards, is that protection removed or are they sort-of-visa-debit-cards-but-flagged-to-always-auth visa debit cards?

Yes they are flagged as Always Authorise Visa debits. There is a code in the card called the "positive mandatory authorisation" code.

here is the blurb from visas website

Service codes are three-digit values which issuers encode in the magnetic-stripe of a card. These codes are used to convey instructions to merchant terminals on how a card should be processed. The second digit is used to specify authorization instructions. "X0X" indicates normal authorization and that transactions below floor limit can take place without authorization. "X2X" indicates that a transaction must be sent online for authorization always.

You cant "See" the code and there is no way of telling by looking at the card.

But it is essentially the same as visa electron in that it has to authorise for funds or else declines. Which is why they don't work on Planes etc.

samjef11_2

Toe-Jam wrote: »

That was true last year, however, visa DID reassign 450875 to visa debit in September last year and it still doesn't work.

Here is an updated list of all the card BINs and their functions

http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/business/documents/pdfs/bin_rules.pdf

The problem is 2 fold.

(1)Some of the retailers arn't using the most up to date list and therefore as far as they are concerned its still electron.

(2)The Chip in the card is still being programmed as a visa electron. You can see this on your receipt it says AID 321010 (visa electron) and should say 31010(visa)

The cards have issue expiry of 2012 and i've heard that co-op won't have this fixed until next year.

So we have to wait untill next year when our visa so called debit cards expire mine ends on the 8/12

Mark_In_Hampshire

Toe-Jam wrote: »

Yes they are flagged as Always Authorise Visa debits. There is a code in the card called the "positive mandatory authorisation" code.

here is the blurb from visas website

Service codes are three-digit values which issuers encode in the magnetic-stripe of a card. These codes are used to convey instructions to merchant terminals on how a card should be processed. The second digit is used to specify authorization instructions. "X0X" indicates normal authorization and that transactions below floor limit can take place without authorization. "X2X" indicates that a transaction must be sent online for authorization always.

You cant "See" the code and there is no way of telling by looking at the card.

But it is essentially the same as visa electron in that it has to authorise for funds or else declines. Which is why they don't work on Planes etc.

Might explain why it wouldn't work on South West Trains when I had to board without a ticket as the station machine was broken. The electron card simply came back "declined" immediately. On arrival at Waterloo I put the same card in a ticket machine, it works fine, and I then hand the guy the ticket.

stickman

So does that mean then that if co-op change their AID number to 31010 then they would be like any other visa debit card and could they be used at pay at pump.

Thanks

pqrdef

Toe-Jam wrote: »

You cant "See" the code and there is no way of telling by looking at the card.

Doesn't quite solve the mystery, because anybody shopping online gives only information that is visible on the card. So on what basis would a website reject certain cards?

System

The website may be programmed not to accept a certain number range known to be a particular card type e.g. Maestro or Visa Electron.

Also all card details are sent for authorisation when used online. If the bank says no, then the website would also decline.

pqrdef wrote: »

Doesn't quite solve the mystery, because anybody shopping online gives only information that is visible on the card. So on what basis would a website reject certain cards?

stickman

Heng_Leng wrote: »

The website may be programmed not to accept a certain number range known to be a particular card type e.g. Maestro or Visa Electron.

Also all card details are sent for authorisation when used online. If the bank says no, then the website would also decline.

So do you think co-op will re-programme the chip in their cards so that the AID reads 31010 (visa) and not 321010 (visa electron), also if they do would you be able to use them at pay at pump garages,

FCUnited

I had a Coop Visa Card and was cheesed off that it was sometimes hit and miss if it was accepted so after doing some research I applied for a Barclays cashcard account that comes with a Visa Debit.

Did a small purchase at B&M who do not take Visa Electron and hey presto it works.

My Coop BIN and AID is 450875 and 321010
My Barclays BIN and AID is 465858 and 31010

SimIsOnTheUp

cd36uk wrote: »

I have recently opened a cashminder account with the co-op. I have been sent a card which says 'visa debit'
I am unable to use the card with tesco online groceries, but they did allow me to use it with tesco direct (over the phone) orders.

I have read pages and pages on various websites which say that the electron card was being changed to a regular visa debit card (ie dropping the electron side of things). I phoned co op today who said the card is still an electron despite the card not saying that and that there were no plans to change this.

This means I cannot buy my shopping from tesco online as they do not accept electron.

I am somewhat confused by all this, seems odd that they accept it over the phone but not online (tesco)

Hiya,

Have you tried selecting a different 'card type' from the drop down menu on the Tesco.com site?

ie - Visa Debit or Visa Electron ?

When I had a 'rebranded Electron card', I put it through as a standard 'Visa Debit Card, and it went through ok.

Good Luck!