Solo v Electron

Not quite sure but The Bank Of Scotland seem to be avoiding this change as they are moving away from Switch to Visa debit cards in the summer.

Hmm. One of the reasons I asked is because Halifax are too.

They are all eftpos cards. (eftpos = electronic funds transfer at point of sale).

A few years ago it was not unusual to find a retailer who accepted Visa credit cards but not Master Cards (or vice versa), particularly abroad. It is the same with eftpos cards. Most retailers accept either all eftpos cards or none of them, but if you look hard enough you can find someone who accepts one type but not another.

As long as your eftpos card has one of the major logos on it you shouldn't have many problems. Remember that more retailers accept eftpos cards than credit cards.

Probably because Halifax and BoS are the same group! ie. HBOS.

Doesn't necessarily follow that they will adopt the same strategy, though.

Does really, as since early last year, their current account offerings have been amalgamated in all but name. New BoS customers can login to online banking via the Halifax, and vice versa.

So if one changed to Visa Debit, I think the other would have to follow suit.

Seems that Halifax are now the driving force in HBOS when it comes to personal banking. Wheras BoS are the brains behind the business banking.

In message , freddy writes

True, but it is likely though. The two seem to be aligning their systems and to have two separate card systems would buck their current trend.

In message , DP writes

What does this sentence mean?

Credit Cards are a subset of eftpos cards.

That site is useless, it has no official capacity and is just owned by some pea brain hoping somebody involved with eftpos will buy it.

eftpos cards transfer funds at the point of sale (the pos in eftpos) straight from the customer's account to the retailer's account. Credit cards pay the retailer from the bank's money and the customer pays the bank at a later date (hence the name "credit"). Credit cards and eftpos cards are different. With one you pay now, with the other you pay later.

If you had understood the contents of the site on

In message , DP writes

You misunderstand the term. EFTPOS is named from the retailers point of view. They get dosh, electronically, at point of sale. The source of funds is immaterial. Whether the card is a debit or credit card is immaterial.

f you had understood the contents of the site on

I recall getting a flyer about this change in October with my Halifax statement, And looking back via Google I see I posted:

-- Quote --

"The illistation of the new electron on the leaflet looks more like a normal Visa card, gone are the words "for electronic use only" and it looks like embossed numbers, So I tkae it this means that they cam be used over the phone/internet?

-- End Quote --

So does anyone know if this is so or will the Electron card be as useless for mail order transactions as it is today?

John.

Without a hint of irony, "DP" astounded uk.finance on 05 Feb

As do credit cards. The funds are just transferred from the CC company rather than the customer.

No, credit & debit cards are both EFTPOS cards. In fact, unless the merchant is using APACS 40, it's unlikely that the transfer is actually done at the POS whether using debit or credit cards.

In message , Alex writes

You are right, but DP doesnt realise that a CC account is just the same thing as a Bank Account.

Crocodiles and alligators are actually the same animal and donkeys are really just horses with shortened legs.

In message , DP writes

Never mind, I'm sure you will get over it.

Without a hint of irony, john boyle astounded uk.finance on 05 Feb 2004 by announcing:

They're actually quite different under both law and practice. Pay for something with your credit card and you have certain protections under the Consumer Credit Act. Pay with your debit card, and you don't. Then there's charge cards and store cards, both of which are also EFTPOS cards and both of which are different again.

In message , Alex writes

That is true, that is why I defined the terms of reference in my other post as legal & accounting in relation to the accounts.

They are just credit cards. The accounting procedure is just the same.