Is HSBC going to Switch from Maestro to V Pay?

skyrider007

I really hope HSBC will switch to VISA Debit and not V-Pay or anything that restricts the use to only within Europe.

PROLIANT

I maybe wrong but as far as I am aware the UK Debit card system is not going to be replaced or superseded by V Pay, double check other sources and smithja seems to be on the ball with this subject, watch this space I guess.

smithja

Ah, I was just looking up to see what was going on with it at the moment and found details of exactly what you mention. I had stated at the beginning of the thread to that UK customers would not accept it if it was not co-branded Visa Debit or Visa Electron so you could use it outside of Europe.

This is what the offical Visa line is:

For banks that prefer to provide worldwide POS acceptance to
their customers, there is also the possibility of co-badging V
PAY with Visa Electron. This would mean that, whenever a chip
and PIN device is encountered, transactions are secured
accordingly. Elsewhere, transactions would revert to the card’s
magnetic stripe.

So it seems if they do issue V-pay we are going down the 100% authorisation route as I thought. I know non-UK Maestro must be authorised and I think it wont be long before they all need authorised merging it with SOLO the point of which seems strange now given that prepaid Maestro cards are all 100% authorisation and customer are very focused on which branding they have on their card.

James

smithja

For some reason I have always had a rather strange fascination with plastic cards since I was about 12 and I got my first TSB Speedbank card. When I was 16 I did my work experience in a large branch of the Midland Bank then got a Saturday job with them were I worked on the cards desk. That was the year they lauched Switch. I used to spend the day putting cards in to the holders and envelopes as they all just came in in a huge brown envelope, recalling and cutting up cheque cards (mainly students) and credit scoring applications for Access Cards using their in-house credit scoring system and what was then CCN and now Experian. Then when I was 18 I stated work with Equifax and so it goes on....

James

mattdickinson

Vpay isn't necessarily 100% authorisation.

See http://www.vpay.com/bank_benefits.html

"Through V PAY, banks maintain total control over every aspect of their debit card operations. You choose the level of risk control, with offline or online authorisation. You choose how each transaction is processed. And, through local and regional governance bodies, you retain control of product management and evolution."

"You" being the issuing bank..

smithja

It will only work like that within the EU when you are outside of it it reverts to Visa Electron if the card is co-branded. Well that is what I found on one of their sites which states it can be co-branded with Electron "for worldwide POS acceptance".

I have just been reading more about it and it certainly will be accepted here in the UK, however it would appear the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) for which this card has been created as compliance in mandatory I think from 2010 (Maestro is already compliant) will only be issued by countries using the Euro. So it looks like when HSBC migrate to using Visa for debit cards it will not be branded with V-Pay. I am still looking I suppose I could just send an email to Visa Europe and ask their Head Office listed on the V-Pay website is in London.

James

ShelfStacker_3

I asked in branch about this; apparently HSBC won't be switching any time soon, but it will be happening in the future, as MasterCard are switching emphasis from Maestro to a new debit MasterCard.

Make of that what you will.

smithja

Did they mention if it was V-pay or did they just mention Visa. Mastercard debit has been around for about as long as Visa Debit has especially in the US and South America. I was going to say for some reason Maestro is popular in Europe and then I rememebered it is fully SEPA complaint already which is the main reason why it has most of the market at the moment and why Visa had to make their own compatible product i.e. V-pay.

KxMx

Found out today that HSBC will be issuing Visa Debit from Jan/Feb 2009 to replace my Solo card.
Not too bothered as long as I can still use it like I use my Solo.
Really hope I won't have to re-register on SecureCode as it was a nightmare to set up!

sutton111

yea most likely re register because securecode is run by mastercard visa is verifed by visa