Visa Debit or Electron?

Plxply

pqrdef wrote: »

Thanks for the correction.

Isn't competition law supposed to be good for consumers?

There was a law made about this a while ago, Visa and Mastercard used to enforce the no fees rule and still do in many countries but it was decided to be unfair for merchants.

After long searching it has been found:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1990/2159/contents/made

pqrdef wrote: »

They might call it a Visa Debit card, but it will be an Electron-equivalent. They're phasing out the name Electron, but the distinction between the two types of card remains.

Essentially, the basic or online or full-authorisation card, formerly known as Electron, offers no credit. It will be issued without a credit agreement or a credit search, but it can't be used without checking your balance and putting a hold on the funds.

The problem is that there is no difference to the card holder especially as both the offline and online cards are identical, the only way you can tell is to test it yourself with an offline only merchant or to use a card reader. But they all carry the Visa Debit brand name, which I think is a little stupid as it causes confusion, keeping Visa Credit, Visa Debit and Visa Electron makes sense.

Toe-Jam

pqrdef wrote: »

They're phasing out the name Electron

.....and can be used up to a point without checking your balance, so you can run up an unauthorised overdraft with it.

Electron is not being phased out.

It is extremely rare for cards not to be authorised on-line these days. I haven't seen a Zip-Zap machine in 10 years. Most places have 0 floor limits.

When you travel outside the UK, All transactions are authorised online irrespective of the kind of card you have.

Plxply

Toe-Jam wrote: »

It is extremely rare for cards not to be authorised on-line these days. I haven't seen a Zip-Zap machine in 10 years. Most places have 0 floor limits.

When you travel outside the UK, All transactions are authorised online irrespective of the kind of card you have.

A lot of the time when I'm abroad I've seen wide usage of the zip zap, I've even seen it once in a UK store when their terminals went down. I was surprised they actually kept them.

giblet10

I've had both online and offline Visa in the past. Most transactions are authorised online nowadays - the difference is that the offline Visa Debit cards can be used where immediate auth simply isn't available (like buying drinks / food aboard an easyjet flight). Using an Electron/online card will simply result in repeated declines..

pwuk

Presumably the ways that banks now have packaged accounts could suggest online or offline status if a credit check is involved prior to acceptance?

No idea, but perhaps this could be a gauge as to card functionality....

giblet10

Not sure pwuk but think you're right - if you're offered a basic bank account with debit card then I'd reckon theres a 99% chance it'd be a quasi electron card..

However, full debit cards will no doubt involve a credit check..

George_Mainwaring

I suppose my worry isn't directly my credit rating. I've never been in debt nor have any CCJs etc, so I should be a clean slate.

My worry is that a bank would refuse me a normal current account on their own internal scoring system, purely on the basis that I'm unemployed despite having savings with them that would easily cover any overspending on the card.

This would affect my credit rating, meaning the only credit record I would have would be completely negative - That I applied for credit once and was refused. That means that if I went to a more friendly bank, they might then refuse me not because of being unemployed, but because of bad credit rating!

A basic bank account seems to cover most things, I'm just left wondering whether this online/offline thing, or the notion that a 'full' debit card is taken as proof of being 18, will have any real effect on me, such as websites refusing to sell me 18-rated DVDs or buying alcohol in a supermarket etc.

Plxply

George_Mainwaring wrote: »

A basic bank account seems to cover most things, I'm just left wondering whether this online/offline thing, or the notion that a 'full' debit card is taken as proof of being 18, will have any real effect on me, such as websites refusing to sell me 18-rated DVDs or buying alcohol in a supermarket etc.

As I said before, I've never seen a website (or Redbox type thing) take offline debit cards as verification of being 18 they all require that you use a credit card. Also as far as I know the only way to tell if it's online or offline with a CNP would be by the BIN but this isn't always reliable as the service code is only on the magnetic stripe and the chip.