In message , at 09:31:36 on Wed, 21 Mar
2012, Mizter T remarked:
What we haven't yet uncovered is what the equivalent mechanism is for
the under-18's VISA Debit cards which have replaced them.

I do have a sneaking suspicion that to some extent it might work by
making kids believe their cards can't go into the red but without any
certain method of enforcing that while the card is used away from any
communication with the bank.

At least one bank *promises* them they can't. That's why we need to
understand the mechanism.

With such cards, I suggest that the card has a zero floor limit [1],
and will only work with online POS terminals (i.e. those that have to
get a real-time authorisation) - if the terminal is offline, the
transaction will be declined. I'm sure I've read something like that
somewhere.

I know someone with such a card, and will attempt to persuade them to
make a test purchase.

(This would make them functionally similar to Visa Electron cards, so
why the Electron brand has been deprecated in favour of Visa Debit I'm
not entirely clear on.)

Especially as the Electron branding warns all concerned that the
transaction might not work. Have we really given these under-18's a card
they can't use to buy railway tickets, without warning them in advance?
--
Roland Perry