New TSB Debit Cards

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

So your saying banks should give people that have basic accounts or poor credit histories and have been irresponsible with the way they run there accounts a card that doesn't check to see if funds are available in an account before authorising a payment. That would be called being irresponsible!!

If RBS gave you the offline card then that means they trust you with having a card that doesn't always seek authorisation from the bank, thats usually the best card to have as it can be used on planes trains and places where they cant connect to the bank to check funds.

If you have an online card then it will always dial home to check to see if you have funds before authorising a payment, if it cant then it will in most cases decline the card.

Why were you so annoyed they gave you an offline card??

Sorry I mean they gave me an online one. That dials home as you say.

Car showrooms should only sell cars with governed engines just to make sure the new owners can be responsible with driving the car and wont crash into someone at speed. This is even if you have had a fast car before. Once they are satisfied - say in 6 months and you have had no prangs - you can go back and have the car "upgraded" so you can drive faster than 30 MPH.

The bank I was going to transfer from to RBS - I had a full offline card therefore I expect the same of where I joined. What's the point of changing?

The worrying part - the sneaky RBS people didn't even tell me. Not once did they tell me that - sorry we can open you an account but the debit card is "governed". I had no option to choose to refuse.

It was only when I tried to buy a rail ticket on a train and the card wouldn't work and I was left in a very embarrassing position.

No bank (especially one I am helping/helped to prop up with my higher rate tax) will do that to me.

The comical thing was that I also had £33,000 in savings with them. So they lost that too. But with QE the probably didn't want it.

Fortunately the train guard was sympathetic but if I had incurred a fare penalty RBS would have been sent the bill.

redcard

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Sorry I mean they gave me an online one. That dials home as you say.

Car showrooms should only sell cars with governed engines just to make sure the new owners can be responsible with driving the car and wont crash into someone at speed. This is even if you have had a fast car before. Once they are satisfied - say in 6 months and you have had no prangs - you can go back and have the car "upgraded" so you can drive faster than 30 MPH.

The bank I was going to transfer from to RBS - I had a full offline card therefore I expect the same of where I joined. What's the point of changing?

The worrying part - the sneaky RBS people didn't even tell me. Not once did they tell me that - sorry we can open you an account but the debit card is "governed". I had no option to choose to refuse.

It was only when I tried to buy a rail ticket on a train and the card wouldn't work and I was left in a very embarrassing position.

No bank (especially one I am helping/helped to prop up with my higher rate tax) will do that to me.

The comical thing was that I also had £33,000 in savings with them. So they lost that too. But with QE the probably didn't want it.

Fortunately the train guard was sympathetic but if I had incurred a fare penalty RBS would have been sent the bill.

Information on their debit cards is here - http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/g2/debit-cards.ashx

You also would have got a guide in your welcome pack telling you which type of card you had. They don't really hide it very well.

stclair

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Sorry I mean they gave me an online one. That dials home as you say.

Car showrooms should only sell cars with governed engines just to make sure the new owners can be responsible with driving the car and wont crash into someone at speed. This is even if you have had a fast car before. Once they are satisfied - say in 6 months and you have had no prangs - you can go back and have the car "upgraded" so you can drive faster than 30 MPH.

The bank I was going to transfer from to RBS - I had a full offline card therefore I expect the same of where I joined. What's the point of changing?

The worrying part - the sneaky RBS people didn't even tell me. Not once did they tell me that - sorry we can open you an account but the debit card is "governed". I had no option to choose to refuse.

It was only when I tried to buy a rail ticket on a train and the card wouldn't work and I was left in a very embarrassing position.

No bank (especially one I am helping/helped to prop up with my higher rate tax) will do that to me.

The comical thing was that I also had £33,000 in savings with them. So they lost that too. But with QE the probably didn't want it.

Fortunately the train guard was sympathetic but if I had incurred a fare penalty RBS would have been sent the bill.

The T&Cs would have covered this when you opened the account.

15.3.4 If you have a card that displays the Visa Debit logo and starts with the numbers 4751 16, 4762 30, 4762 31 or 4762 34, you will only be able to use your card at a retailer or supplier of services where they can the transaction with us at the time of the transaction being made. If this is not possible the transaction will be declined.

If it makes you feel any better. I never had a full authority debit card for 3 years when I joined the bank and I worked for them :rotfl::rotfl:

Maestro.

pmduk wrote: »

Yes, and also those who will choose an account on the appearance of the card.

Guilty as charged. I generally don't like opening accounts if the card looks like a turd. I also hate the current Visa logo, but I live with it as my two Visa cards are actually better by a country mile than my MC...

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Fortunately the train guard was sympathetic but if I had incurred a fare penalty RBS would have been sent the bill.

To be honest I've never seen a card payment work on a train, ever. Their machines must be crap or a lot of people only have online cards. It even happened to me when I had no credit cards and only a crap Maestro debit card, would never authorise on trains.

I shouldn't have that problem anymore as I only use credit cards (I assume all credit cards are offline - my barclaycard works on the ferry, it's a swipe machine!), but I imagine my bank card is also offline as it's a Mastercard, and they don't give you Mastercards unless you meet certain criteria.

EarthBoy

Maestro. wrote: »

.. I imagine my bank card is also offline as it's a Mastercard, and they don't give you Mastercards unless you meet certain criteria.

Banks don't give you any cards unless you meet certain criteria, but this criteria varies from bank to bank. Visa and Mastercard are payment processing systems, no more than that. Some banks prefer one brand, some another, some issue both, but there's no reason why one brand should be harder to get than the other.

Maestro.

EarthBoy wrote: »

Banks don't give you any cards unless you meet certain criteria, but this criteria varies from bank to bank. Visa and Mastercard are payment processing systems, no more than that. Some banks prefer one brand, some another, some issue both, but there's no reason why one brand should be harder to get than the other.

I think you misunderstand, the bank only gives Maestro cards now if you have a basic account or a really crap credit rating. I upgraded to a debit Mastercard because I was eligible and have an overdraft on my account. I can also withdraw £500 from ATMs. What I'm saying is that they don't even give you an option of having the debit Mastercard unless you are holding an account of a certain level or above, so I'd be surprised if the card didn't work on trains etc.

EarthBoy

I take your point. I didn't realise that you were talking about your own bank in particular and not banks in general.

Herbalus

Maestro. wrote: »

What I'm saying is that they don't even give you an option of having the debit Mastercard unless you are holding an account of a certain level or above, so I'd be surprised if the card didn't work on trains etc.

There's a reason for that. If you only have a basic bank account it may be because you've had financial difficulty before, and the bank wants to make sure they are contacted for every single transaction to make sure the money is there. It's to stop them running up large amounts of debt.

And as for trains, I've seen countless people have their cards declined on trains (the last time it was a Santander and RBS I think), while First Direct works every time.

reclusive46

Maestro. wrote: »

Guilty as charged. I generally don't like opening accounts if the card looks like a turd. I also hate the current Visa logo, but I live with it as my two Visa cards are actually better by a country mile than my MC...




To be honest I've never seen a card payment work on a train, ever. Their machines must be crap or a lot of people only have online cards. It even happened to me when I had no credit cards and only a crap Maestro debit card, would never authorise on trains.

I shouldn't have that problem anymore as I only use credit cards (I assume all credit cards are offline - my barclaycard works on the ferry, it's a swipe machine!), but I imagine my bank card is also offline as it's a Mastercard, and they don't give you Mastercards unless you meet certain criteria.

Sometimes the train conductor is nice though, if the transaction declines they can swipe the card through and it will then let them call for an authorisation code.

All UK credit cards are offline, although this is not the case in all countries, the US is a good example. This is not usually because they don't trust the customer its more to prevent fraud (Mainly as the cards are magnetic stripe only). Pretty much all US transactions are online though, even on domestic flights using the onboard WI-FI.
This does cause problems though when they want to use their cards on tolls in Europe, for example.

reclusive46

Herbalus wrote: »

There's a reason for that. If you only have a basic bank account it may be because you've had financial difficulty before, and the bank wants to make sure they are contacted for every single transaction to make sure the money is there. It's to stop them running up large amounts of debt.

And as for trains, I've seen countless people have their cards declined on trains (the last time it was a Santander and RBS I think), while First Direct works every time.

I completely agree with online and offline cards to an extent. As if they didn't issue both it would mean a lot of people just wouldn't be given a debit card at all.

Although with chip cards the chips are programmable enough that a bank could set a very small offline limit/transaction limit rather than none at all, especially for customers with little credit, as opposed to bad credit. The only major problem is that the service code on the magnetic stripe is obviously not programable so the customer could do unlimited offline transactions in those instances.

Issuers should make more use of issuer scripts, as far as I know Santander (My son always had his card declined when he was on an under 18 account and a couple of days after it was upgraded the train would work) is the only issuer who can and do change a card to offline without replacing the card (Ie. Changed during a transaction). This obviously only helps in chip card countries as the magnetic stripe will still say online only until the card is replaced.