New Style Debit Cards

gary1312

Sarahspangles said:

MikeyPGT said:

Years ago NatWest used to give the option of choosing (at a charge) for a variety of designs including (from memory) a kingfisher and butterflies ... a bit naff but at least you could stand out from the crowd!

I've forgotten about those!  It must have been early 90s?  Did you also have one of the NW chequebooks with designs?  I had the field mouse one.  You had to make the joke "Here's a cheque, we're poor as church mice" every time you wrote one.

I have no recollection of wildlife cards but my NatWest Student Account came with the wildlife designs on the chequebook! Lovely designs as I recall!

GenieBoy said:

I much prefer the new style cards with flat details on the reverse. Old school embossed numbers on the front are a throwback to the old zip zap carbon copy card contraptions. 

I was surprised (and annoyed) that Nationwide BS stuck with the embossed numbers when they redesigned the cards. No need at all for them these days. 

GenieBoy

Although if you had flat details on the front of your Visa Electron card back in the day it meant you were poor and deemed too high risk for offline card payments. 

Alex9384

gary1312 said:

I was surprised (and annoyed) that Nationwide BS stuck with the embossed numbers when they redesigned the cards. No need at all for them these days. 

I'm more annoyed by the colour change. My Select credit card used to be nice shiny silver. Now it's a dull dark blue, almost identicel to my FlexDirect debit card, so now I always need to double check if it's a NW debit card or NW credit card in my hand.

Btw, to me personally, flat cards have a cheaper feel. Like a toy version of a real card or something like that.

[Deleted User]

GenieBoy said:

Although if you had flat details on the front of your Visa Electron card back in the day it meant you were poor and deemed too high risk for offline card payments. 

Santander gave me one of those as a teenager. I remember being chuffed when I eventually got a proper card. 

WillPS

GenieBoy said:

Although if you had flat details on the front of your Visa Electron card back in the day it meant you were poor and deemed too high risk for offline card payments. 

Untrustworthy ≠ poor

adindas

GTR_King said:

So which banks have the new Style Debit cards where all your details are on the Back

the banks I know of so far that have done it,
TSB 
Halifax
First Direct 
RBS 
Chasse 
Starling

Are there any other banks that are likely to change their debit cards in the near future,

Do you guys/girls like the new design cards?

To me it is not about the design it is all about the benefit I could get by having that debit cards.  A debit card is not like an art design on your living room. It is staying either in the locket or in your wallet.

IMO the new design makes more sense. It is thinner, lighter and not embossed so it is highly unlikely to get stucked in the cash machine.

Also the new features of allowing people using the banking app on your phone are not helpful as you have to install the app and you also need to find those particular Banks ATMs to be able to withdraw cash.

gary1312

WillPS said:

GenieBoy said:

Although if you had flat details on the front of your Visa Electron card back in the day it meant you were poor and deemed too high risk for offline card payments. 

Untrustworthy ≠ poor

I never owned an Electron, although I had a Solo card with a NatWest Step account. I'm not sure if Solo and Electron were directly comparable and I don't actually recall which of Switch's features I missed out on as a Solo holder, I don't remember anything being restricted in any way. I also preferred Solo's purple logo!

Rob5342

I wonder why they still have chips on them. Maybe there is a technical reason but contactless and pin seems better to me as it should be more reliable..

[Deleted User]

Rob5342 said:

I wonder why they still have chips on them. Maybe there is a technical reason but contactless and pin seems better to me as it should be more reliable..

I can't see chip and pin going for a long while yet.

Eco_Miser

Rob5342 said:

I wonder why they still have chips on them. Maybe there is a technical reason but contactless and pin seems better to me as it should be more reliable..

The chip is necessary for contactless - it holds the identification data and encryption etc. Perhaps you are confusing the contacts with the chip?

Why do you think contactless and pin (if that's even possible) would be more reliable than contact and pin? Serious question.