Debit card upper limit?

steveteach

Hi All

I am about to buy a car and wish to pay by debit card (A&L) is there an upper limit, providing I have the cleared funds in my account? I checked the A&L website but could not find any info on limits apart from cash withdrawals.

frepol

Ring and inform them in advance. However you will probably find that the transaction goes for authorisation and you will be asked questions that only you could know - eg recent transactions using your card etc.

YorkshireBoy

steveteach wrote:

...is there an upper limit, providing I have the cleared funds in my account? I checked the A&L website...

I asked A&L the very same question recently, and they wouldn't tell me - for "security reasons".

I have previously used a Yorkshire Bank Maestro/Switch card for a £12K payment, but had to do 3 consecutive sub-£5K transactions to get it through.

realaledrinker

I put through a £15K debit on smile without a problem when I bought a car recently. Best to try calling the bank if in doubt. I can't believe A&L wouldn't tell YB their limit. Maybe best to move to a decent bank.....

realaledrinker

Reminds me, I saw a note on our intranet at work which pointed out that there is a VISA limit (would include Visa debit cards) of $99,999.99 which equates to somewhere in the region of £51,000. If you were buying an Aston Martin, as was the case with the transaction concerned, you could process two or more transactions one after the other to complete the sale.

Kilty_2

Whoever you are buying the car from will need to phone A&L for authorisation and you'll be asked some questions related to your account but I believe a debit card can be used for the balance of your account (perhaps with the exception of the limits above) as long as you gain authorisation.

YorkshireBoy

realaledrinker wrote:

I can't believe A&L wouldn't tell YB their limit.

Nor could I, so I phoned back - twice! - and still they fed me the same "security reasons" line.

Maybe best to move to a decent bank.....

LOL, I never "moved" to them in the first place. Like many others, I'm only abusing using them for their referral scheme and interest rates (all 3 accounts are top payers for the time being), and fully intend to close the accounts down in March/April 07.

Just on the earlier Maestro issue, I never got to the bottom of the 'apparant' £5K cap. Egg blamed YB for not releasing the funds, YB said they didn't have a cap and blamed the Maestro network provider for the transaction failure, and the Maestro network provider was not contactable!

Hazzanet

I seem to remember something I read years ago that a Visa debit card is unlimited within banking hours (assume because they'll want to do some kind of enhanced security check) but outside banking hours, expect transactions over £24,999.99 to be declined.

Dunno if that's any help.

AndyR_3

The $100,000 limit mentioned is a VISA limit so will apply to all VISA cards, and is about £50,000.

Other than that, banks may have their own limits, but they should tell you what they are. There is no real secuirty risk in doing this.

sgx.saint

Realistically, there are two or potentially more systems involved.

The VISA network or Maestro network which is provided by obviously Visa and Mastercard/Maestro. They obviously have set their own "limits" on maximum size transactions.

However, the VISA or Maestro network through whatever Merchant service/Bank will connect directly to your own Banks network.

The bank will have their own transaction limit and authorisation criteria and it is those limits and requirements that matter. It does not matter if Visa say "Yes thats fine, I will authorised £500000000000 pounds". If your banks network says 'no' then thats the end of it.

So the best thing to do is ask your bank what their debit card transaction limits are (that is if they will tell you).

steveteach

Thanks one and all. Lets see what happens. £2000 deposit paid with no problems.