Debit Card / ATM Failure

JacksterD

Olipro wrote: »

the ATM system is effectively universal, it asks the card for a set of specific AIDs, in the UK it tries LINK first of course (unless the bank also have their own app on the card then it'll see if it's an own-card) then it'll try whatever else it's been programmed to do (typically Visa Plus or Mastercard Cirrus and then Amex) - they all conform to the EMV spec so it knows exactly what to expect. the bank's backend software will then route it through the appropriate network for authorisation purposes etc.

According to the Wikipedia article on Visa Plus (their ATM network) it can act either as a standalone network, or it can be linked to the local interbank network. I'm guessing the reason Visa Plus or Mastercard Cirrus didn't work is because they must just send requests for withdrawals to LINK.

LilacPixie

I used my A&L visa debit in Tesco saturday about 11am ish. worked fine but was a bit slow. seemed to take an age to authorise but it did eventually.

Olipro

JacksterD wrote: »

According to the Wikipedia article on Visa Plus (their ATM network) it can act either as a standalone network, or it can be linked to the local interbank network. I'm guessing the reason Visa Plus or Mastercard Cirrus didn't work is because they must just send requests for withdrawals to LINK.

Yes, if it's a UK card and the ATM tried to fallback to one of these then if the system just uses LINK then yes, it would fail.

for foreign cards however, it shouldn't fail because such a transaction can't go via LINK anyway... unless it's from say France in which case it could well fail as they also operate LINK over there.

crabyducky

pmduk wrote: »

Think on the positive side. How much money did everyone save as a result of this?

yeah i tried asking my four year old how nice it would be to save the money from the promosed zoo trip till another day, if looks could kill.....
Well i wouldnt be writing this now :rotfl:

JacksterD

Olipro wrote: »

Yes, if it's a UK card and the ATM tried to fallback to one of these then if the system just uses LINK then yes, it would fail.

for foreign cards however, it shouldn't fail because such a transaction can't go via LINK anyway... unless it's from say France in which case it could well fail as they also operate LINK over there.

Ah that makes sense then. And the reason bank cards were working at ATMs of the bank they belong to is because they bypass LINK. It's all becoming clear now....

EarthBoy

JacksterD wrote: »

Ah that makes sense then. And the reason bank cards were working at ATMs of the bank they belong to is because they bypass LINK. It's all becoming clear now....

Bank cards were also working at ATMs of banks they did not belong to.