Declined...

Tesco seem to change their system every other bloody week. I never know whether to hand them my card or put it in the machine. I've had quite a few requests for a signature as well.

What does my postal code have to do with the matter?

Neil

If you go by American telephone W=9

You would put in 91212 or 912122

I still am not sure if that would work. It would not work online.

I am surprised your bank can not fix that problem.

I got some theories on why the chip & pin card won't work at some pumps. Both U.S. and U.K. have address verification but work differently. I am not positive but your post code may not be stored anymore on the magnetic strip but may be stored on the chip.

Maestro card may also work if the merchant takes them and your bank support foreign pin transactions.

Greg Rozelle

Nevermind, I thought you were asking something else.

In message , at 11:20:49 on Sat, 17 Nov 2007, Greg Rozelle remarked:

Seems unlikely it would work.

So why would it work in the real world.

My bank is in the UK, and is likely to be powerless to fix a problem caused by a petrol pump in the USA.

I'd be very surprised if it was stored in either. When I move house I am not issued with a new card.

If all that's required is a PIN, then probably. It's this ZIP-code thing that's the issue.

"Greg Rozelle" wrote

Are either of those valid US Zip codes? If so, where for?

"Greg Rozelle" wrote

Isn't it up to the merchant requesting the silly info to "fix" it, rather than their bank?

"Greg Rozelle" wrote

Are you sure it's stored on the card at all?

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:13:05 +0000, Tim wrote

All base ZIP codes are 5 digits so 912122 wouldn't be valid.

The first 3 digits 912 represent Glendale, CA. So 91212 would be in Glendale but the USPS haven't issued that particular ZIP.

Overseas post/zip codes do not "work" in our shop terminal in the UK. I am not suprised it does not work the other way either.

I said it was a theory but I would have to ask my bank.

Greg Rozelle

Sorry for the long post

Financial cards

There are up to three tracks on magnetic cards used for financial transactions, known as tracks 1, 2, and 3. Track 3 is virtually unused by the major worldwide networks such as VISA, and usually isn't even physically present on the card by virtue of a narrower magnetic stripe. Point-of-sale card readers almost always read track 1, or track 2, and sometimes both, in case one track is unreadable. The minimum cardholder account information needed to complete a transaction is present on both tracks. Track 1 has a higher bit density (210 bits per inch vs. 75), is the only track that may contain alphabetic text, and hence is the only track that contains the cardholder's name.

The information on track 1 on financial cards is contained in several formats: A, which is reserved for proprietary use of the card issuer, B, which is described below, C-M, which are reserved for use by ANSI Subcommittee X3B10 and N-Z, which are available for use by individual card issuers:

Track one, Format B:

• Start sentinel one character (generally '%') * Format code="B" one character (alpha only) * Primary account number up to 19 characters * Field Separator one character (generally '^') * Name two to 26 characters * Field Separator one character (generally '^') * Expiration date four characters * Service code three characters * Discretionary data may include Pin Verification Key Indicator (PVKI, 1 character), Pin Verification Value (PVV, 4 characters), Card Verification Value or Card Verification Code (CVV or CVK, 3 characters) * End sentinel one character (generally '?') * Longitudinal redundancy check (LRC) ? one character

LRC is a form of computed check character.

The format for track 2 was developed by the banking industry (ABA). This track is written with a 5-bit scheme (4 data bits + 1 parity), which allows for sixteen possible characters, which are the numbers

• Start sentinel one character (generally ';') * Primary account number up to 19 chars * Separator one char (generally '=') * Expiration date four characters * Service code three characters * Discretionary data as in track one * End sentinel one character (generally '?') * LRC one character

"Tim" wrote:

"Greg Rozelle" wrote

So - it probably isn't stored on the magstripe, then!