On Mar 28, 2:05*am, MIG wrote:
On Mar 27, 10:09*pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:





On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:43:15 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T

wrote:
One of the attractions of credit cards is that problems such as
fraudulent use can be sorted out easier using a credit card as opposed
to a debit card - and if your current account is cleaned out it will
likely cause you more grief *to get things sorted out than if it was
just your credit card that was fraudulently used. Credit cards also
offer extra legal protection for purchases of goods or services that
cost =A3100+.

This is exactly what I use a credit card for, and is exactly why I
avoid the use of a debit card where possible. *It always gets paid off
at the end of the month, and I have not yet omitted to do this, thus
the convenience comes to me free of charge[1].

I noticed that TheTrainLine now charges for credit cards but not debit
cards.

That's a good reason not to use TheTrainLine I suppose, because I
always used my credit card in the way described above.

Would they actually know if you quoted a Debit Card number in place of
a Credit Card one?

Adrian

On 28 Mar, 15:59, Adrian wrote:

On Mar 28, 2:05 am, MIG wrote:

On Mar 27, 10:09 pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:43:15 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T

wrote:
One of the attractions of credit cards is that problems such as
fraudulent use can be sorted out easier using a credit card as opposed
to a debit card - and if your current account is cleaned out it will
likely cause you more grief to get things sorted out than if it was
just your credit card that was fraudulently used. Credit cards also
offer extra legal protection for purchases of goods or services that
cost =A3100+.

This is exactly what I use a credit card for, and is exactly why I
avoid the use of a debit card where possible. It always gets paid off
at the end of the month, and I have not yet omitted to do this, thus
the convenience comes to me free of charge[1].

I noticed that TheTrainLine now charges for credit cards but not debit
cards.

That's a good reason not to use TheTrainLine I suppose, because I
always used my credit card in the way described above.

Would they actually know if you quoted a Debit Card number in place of
a Credit Card one?


Yes. AIUI debit cards use a different number range to credit cards.
Whether companies elsewhere in the world would be able to instantly
tell the difference between a UK issued debit and credit card is
another question.

Several companies (in the UK and elsewhere in Europe at least) either
charge a premium for using a credit card (notionally to cover the
extra costs), such as TheTrainline, easyJet and Ikea, or don't accept
them at all, such as the discount supermarket Aldi (and Wikipedia
states that this is the case for Aldi stores in the US as well [1]).
Until only a few years ago Marks and Spencer didn't accept credit
cards.

-----
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi

Yes. AIUI debit cards use a different number range to credit cards.
Whether companies elsewhere in the world would be able to instantly
tell the difference between a UK issued debit and credit card is
another question.

Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world. Prior to that it wasn't possible to use a UK-issued debit card
for online transactions processed abroad as foreign systems wouldn't
accept our account numbers.

On 28 Mar, 16:36, Ianigsy wrote:

Yes. AIUI debit cards use a different number range to credit cards.
Whether companies elsewhere in the world would be able to instantly
tell the difference between a UK issued debit and credit card is
another question.

Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world. Prior to that it wasn't possible to use a UK-issued debit card
for online transactions processed abroad as foreign systems wouldn't
accept our account numbers.


I think the issue you're referring to on concerns Switch debit cards,
which have now been rebranded Maestro, which used a different
numbering system but I believe are now 'switching over' to the
worldwide standard (16 principal digits).

Visa debit cards (aka Visa delta) have always complied with the global
standard, as have their online authorisation only sibling Visa
Electron.

I'm not quite sure what the story is with regards to Switch's online
authorisation only sibling the Solo card and their compliance or
otherwise with regards to the worldwide standard.

Mizter T (Mizter T ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world. Prior to that it wasn't possible to use a UK-issued debit card
for online transactions processed abroad as foreign systems wouldn't
accept our account numbers.

I think the issue you're referring to on concerns Switch debit cards,
which have now been rebranded Maestro, which used a different numbering
system but I believe are now 'switching over' to the worldwide standard
(16 principal digits).

It's going to be a while yet until that's complete...
looks at own Maestro (not Switch) card
Expires late 2010, 18 digits.

The long digit, in my card's case at least, is just the four-digit issuer
prefix, then the sort code and account number...

Trivia time - it's easy to identify a card type by the first digit.
3-Amex/Diners/JCB, 4-Visa, 5-Mastercard, 6-Maestro.

On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:27:01 +0000 (UTC), Adrian
wrote this gibberish:

Mizter T (Mizter T ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world. Prior to that it wasn't possible to use a UK-issued debit card
for online transactions processed abroad as foreign systems wouldn't
accept our account numbers.

I think the issue you're referring to on concerns Switch debit cards,
which have now been rebranded Maestro, which used a different numbering
system but I believe are now 'switching over' to the worldwide standard
(16 principal digits).

It's going to be a while yet until that's complete...
looks at own Maestro (not Switch) card
Expires late 2010, 18 digits.

The long digit, in my card's case at least, is just the four-digit issuer
prefix, then the sort code and account number...

Trivia time - it's easy to identify a card type by the first digit.
3-Amex/Diners/JCB, 4-Visa, 5-Mastercard, 6-Maestro.

hmm, I have a savings account card which starts with a 5, I wonder if
it'll work paying for stuff...

--
Mark.
www.MarkVarleyPhoto.co.uk
www.TwistedPhotography.co.uk
www.TwistedArts.co.uk
www.BeautifulBondage.net

On Mar 28, 11:10*am, Mizter T wrote:
On 28 Mar, 16:36, Ianigsy wrote:

Yes. AIUI debit cards use a different number range to credit cards.
Whether companies elsewhere in the world would be able to instantly
tell the difference between a UK issued debit and credit card is
another question.

Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world. *Prior to that it wasn't possible to use a UK-issued debit card
for online transactions processed abroad as foreign systems wouldn't
accept our account numbers.

I think the issue you're referring to on concerns Switch debit cards,
which have now been rebranded Maestro, which used a different
numbering system but I believe are now 'switching over' to the
worldwide standard (16 principal digits).

Visa debit cards (aka Visa delta) have always complied with the global
standard, as have their online authorisation only sibling Visa
Electron.

I'm not quite sure what the story is with regards to Switch's online
authorisation only sibling the Solo card and their compliance or
otherwise with regards to the worldwide standard.

Thank you for the interesting responses. Most of my cards are with US
institutions, others are with UK banks. I had been using Credit and
Debit cards for similar transactions, both domestically and
internationally, without problems.

Adrian

On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 09:36:05AM -0700, Ianigsy wrote:

Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world.

Uhh, the only card I've ever had that didn't have 16 digits was ... a
visa credit card (Barclays, 13 digits), many years ago.

Methinks you misunderstood something.

--
David Cantrell | Nth greatest programmer in the world

You can't spell "slaughter" without "laughter"

On 1 Apr, 12:47, David Cantrell wrote:

On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 09:36:05AM -0700, Ianigsy wrote:
Yes again- having spoken to somebody who works in the fraud risk
department of a bank, the UK is only just moving to a system of having
the same number of digits in a debit card number as the rest of the
world.

Uhh, the only card I've ever had that didn't have 16 digits was ... a
visa credit card (Barclays, 13 digits), many years ago.

Methinks you misunderstood something.


I strongly suspect he is referring to UK Switch (now branded Maestro)
cards which until very recently were issued with (I think) a 19 digit
principal number. UK issued Maestro cards are now being switched over
to the 16 digit standard.

I can't remember the details but this has caused a number of problems
- I think it was that holders of the old-standard UK Maestro cards
could run into trouble using them abroad.

Mizter T (Mizter T ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

I strongly suspect he is referring to UK Switch (now branded Maestro)
cards which until very recently were issued with (I think) a 19 digit
principal number. UK issued Maestro cards are now being switched over to
the 16 digit standard.

My UK Maestro-branded debit card (expires late 2010, issued last year
IIRC) is on 19 digits.

I can't remember the details but this has caused a number of problems -
I think it was that holders of the old-standard UK Maestro cards could
run into trouble using them abroad.

I know I have in the past, but it's not exactly a Maestro-standard thing.
We got the third degree in a Carrefour trying to use a UK Visa card over
Easter... And don't even go near French automated petrol pumps... groan