Additional cardholder: different card number

stork_2

I've just given up using my Capital One (formerly 1% cashback) card, and I've started using my M&S credit card (0.5% back in M&S vouchers) instead for most spending. However, I've got a problem.

On the old card, I sometimes used to buy goods (e.g. clothes) which my wife would then return to the shop under their returns policy having decided she didn't want them. This was never a problem as the main and additional cards had identical card numbers.

On the M&S account, the two cards have different numbers, and retailers are refusing to deal with returns without having the original payment card there (even though we know that the two cards are on the same account).

Has anyone had this problem and found a way to work round it? Or do any other card issuers supply additional cards with the same card number as the main card?

grumbler

stork wrote: »

Has anyone had this problem and found a way to work round it? Or do any other card issuers supply additional cards with the same card number as the main card?

Is this really a *problem*?
How often do you return goods and why is it your wife who has to do this?
Barclaycard's numbers are different.
Nationwide's numbers are identical. So are Aqua's and (IIRC) Halifax's.

stork_2

Well, it's not the biggest problem in the world, but it is annoying.

Typically, I get asked to order items from a retailer website, often where I already have an account myself. Items arrive and then she decides not to keep some/all of them (e.g. I order 2 sizes because she's not sure which will fit).

I could return the items myself, but often it's more convenient for us (particularly for me!) if she returns them.

This also happens just when we buy from a high-street store. The other one of us is then expecting to be near the store, so it's easier that they return the item.

For the online purchases, I guess I just need to make a mental note for them to go through her card, not mine. For the high-street ones, it's just a nuisance not having the option that either of us can return it. I suppose an alternative is that the person returning the goods just needs to carry the relevant card with them.

eagle

Just buy the goods on the wife's card in the first place. This is why I have a supplementary card for my wife. She has it for use on large purchases (for cashback or other loyalty points benefits), but can return anything by herself, without me having to be there.

Ultimately though, our "cards" are charged to one account, with one direct debit being used to pay the card off.

Only challenge I have with this is making sure she keeps receipts as I check mine every month - she has a bad habbit of not doing this.

SuperHan

MBNA give the same number on all cards, and I'm about 95% sure Halifax do too (I can check when I'm in the same place as my additional cardholder!).

Santander definitely don't.

Another point to note re: shopping on additional cardholder cards is the chain for S75. There has been some discussion that a potential break in the chain happens when additional cardholder makes a purchase for themselves on their card as there is no benefit to the account holder. I don't know if this is bypassed by the main cardholder making the purchase for the additional card holder, but I always make big purchases on the primary card just in case. There are more discussions about it on some other posts - I don't entirely understand!

Gizmo247

Halifax use different card numbers which I consider an absolute must.

Different numbers allow you to use separate online verification credentials such as "Verified by Visa", otherwise you have to share passwords.

If you have a fraudulent transaction on an account with duplicate additional card then the issuer can blame both of you, complicating matters.

Duplicate cards also cause an issue when abroad. Both can only be used in the same country at the same time. I was once called up at three in the morning after just arriving at San Francisco that day to be alerted that my card had been used in the US and the UK simultaneously. I had to explain to the less than bright operative that both cards have the same number and that I was in the US and my wife was in the UK. Not what you need with jet lag.

grumbler

Gizmo247 wrote: »

Halifax use different card numbers which I consider an absolute must.

My two Claritys are identical except the names.

Another thread on Halifax (and other cards): Halifax Clarity Card: Additional Cardholder

SuperHan

Weirdly, where I am the additional cardholder, the number is different on Halifax Clarity. I am so sure however that the new card that I have just ordered as an additional cardholder on my account is the same number. I will need to check when the other cardholder comes home, but the older ones are definitely different.

InsideInsurance

Having a wife who has a habit of losing cards, normally throwing them out with receipts, then the Cap1 method of a single card number is a pain as they cannot cancel just one card but have to cancel all of them.

AmEx, Barclays etc having separate numbers, being able to track spend by card, cancel one but not all, individual passwords etc all make much more sense to me.

agrinnall

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Having a wife who has a habit of losing cards, normally throwing them out with receipts, then the Cap1 method of a single card number is a pain as they cannot cancel just one card but have to cancel all of them.

Throwing out receipts is not a very MSE thing to do, I'd have thought you'd have got her trained in the right way to do things (although even as a bachelor I realise that normally the training goes the other way...).

Vortigern

grumbler wrote: »

My two Claritys are identical except the names.

My two Clarity cards were identical until re-issued earlier this month.