Train Companies and Card Payments???

[Cundy66]

Strange one Northern don't except my Visa card it hasn't got embossed numbers (raised) but Crosscountry do, both on train why is this?

Cheers

 

[maniacmartin]

Flat numbers on a card indicates that it is for online use only. I'm surprised that Cross Country accept it onboard - do they swipe it or use Chip+PIN?

 

[ert47]

Flat numbers on a card indicates that it is for online use only. I'm surprised that Cross Country accept it onboard - do they swipe it or use Chip+PIN?

Not nessassarily (.sp) true, a friend of mine from the Netherlands has a flat Chip+Pin Card and I think a number of Santander debit cards have flat numbers on them now.

 

[Ediswan]

Strange one Northern don't except my Visa card it hasn't got embossed numbers (raised) but Crosscountry do, both on train why is this?

Do Northern try to use it and find it is refused, or do they decline to try ?

 

[Gemz91]

Travelling with my friend to Torqauy last summer on Crosscountry and the guard refused his card because it wasn't raised numbers, said they dont accept them. Not sure of the type of card tho.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Flat numbers means 'electronic use only', usually stated on the back of the card. Whilst it can still be swiped or used for chip & pin the card must be authorised via an internet connection, thus they aren't usually accepted on train. Normal cards can be charged without obtaining prior authorisation and can thus send your account overdrawn.

 

[TG]

flat numbers are the replacement for "visa electron" cards which are not accepted on on-train chip and pin devices and normally will decline

 

[Ediswan]

I am begging to suspect this 'not embossed' => 'online only' is no longer true. Rather like 'all swans are white', until the black swans were found.

See 1.1.4 here http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/business/documents/pdfs/procedure_guide.pdf

That describes a card which is "acceptable for electronic and paper fallback transactions". It also says the account number may be embossed and goes on to mention that if the card number is not embossed, the expiry date will not be embossed.

 

[Lewisham2221]

I am begging to suspect this 'not embossed' => 'online only' is no longer true. Rather like 'all swans are white', until the black swans were found.

See 1.1.4 here http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/business/documents/pdfs/procedure_guide.pdf

That describes a card which is "acceptable for electronic and paper fallback transactions". It also says the account number may be embossed and goes on to mention that if the card number is not embossed, the expiry date will not be embossed.

However, from page 58 of the same document:

11. All unembossed Visa Electron and Maestro (issued
outside the UK) transactions must be processed
electronically and must be authorised. In the event of
terminal failure, or if the card reader does not read the
required details, return the card to the customer and ask
for an alternative method of payment.
12. Remember that an Electron card number must never
be key-entered for a sale transaction.

I also take this as implying that the only unembossed cards should be Electron/Maestro type.

 

[IanXC]

My understanding is that:

An unembossed card issued in the UK will require all transactions to be authorised individually online.

An embossed card ought to have some degree of offline capability encoded, however these can also be online only cards.

Historically the reason for unembossed cards was to prevent use in the old fashioned paper imprint machines - which were offline transactions. My understanding is that now, if a merchant is having to use their imprinter as a fall back they are required to call for authorisations for everything above a very low floor limit, making this feature no longer relevant.

 

[Lewisham2221]

My understanding is that:

An unembossed card issued in the UK will require all transactions to be authorised individually online.

An embossed card ought to have some degree of offline capability encoded, however these can also be online only cards.

Historically the reason for unembossed cards was to prevent use in the old fashioned paper imprint machines - which were offline transactions. My understanding is that now, if a merchant is having to use their imprinter as a fall back they are required to call for authorisations for everything above a very low floor limit, making this feature no longer relevant.

From a quick scan of that Barclaycard document, I don't think they are required to call for authorisation, but they are advised to as they would otherwise be left short if the card issuer were to decline the transaction when it was presented afterwards.

 

[Ediswan]

I also take this as implying that the only unembossed cards should be Electron/Maestro type.

That clause starts by saying that it applies to "All unembossed Visa Electron and Maestro (issued outside the UK)" It says nothing about other cards.

The section I quoted was for a MasterCard. Different card, different rules.

I am not saying I know for sure that some unembossed cards are not 'online only', but it does look plausible.

A question to those who process cards. If you run a card through the onboard machine and the machine says OK, would you decline/cancel the transaction because the card is not embossed ?

 

[IanXC]

From a quick scan of that Barclaycard document, I don't think they are required to call for authorisation, but they are advised to as they would otherwise be left short if the card issuer were to decline the transaction when it was presented afterwards.

Ah, I'm a bit out of date to be fair - no longer involved! Barclaycard could also have different rules for their merchants.

 

[island]

As above, there is no Correlation between embossed numbers and whether the card requires online authorization for all transactions. You can have any of the four combinations of embossed/flat numbers and offline/online card. It is certainly more common that unembossed cards are online-only, but not exclusively so.