I recall having a Solo card and, unlike Switch, authorisation was done at the point of sale. I'm not sure that it couldn't be used for fallback transactions, though; how many retailers would know that it wasn't to be used with the old manual card machines, though?
My Switch card functioned as a cheque guarantee card up to £100, if I recall correctly. My Bank of Scotland credit card also guaranteed cheques from my current account. I think Barclaycard offered a similar facility.
That caused problems in the other direction with many ex-switch machines not accepting continental Maestro cards.
At IBM, many years ago, we had them as corporate credit cards. We laughed because we could hardly ever use them, especially not for dining, although I think rail tickets were OK.
Or indeed, how many people would assume that it was just rounding up the bill to £4.
RBS had a scheme where they issued you with five miniature (credit card sized) Hollerith cards each of which gave you £5 from their ATM.
And a coconut slice!
Ooh yes!And a coconut slice!
Cheese and pineapple burger.
IIRC the money (5 x £1) came in a sort of rigid plastic case. Remarkably, my Dad, who has never exactly been an early adopter of modern technology (think that’s polite enough!) used that service very early. I should imagine it was very quickly superseded by something more flexible and less wasteful.
Perhaps it was dependent on the bank that issued the card. My Solo card was embossed, and I'm fairly certain that most of the cards that I handled when working in retail were too.
A local outlet specialising in Thai cuisine offers banana fritters served with maple syrup and condensed milk, but apart from something which is listed as "Coconut Bingchu", whatever that is, almost nothing else that might remotely be described as a 'Dessert'. Anyhoo, think we are maybe drifting off topic as regards "Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now".
A normal cheque could be encashed by the payee. What’s more, the payee could endorse it and make someone else the payee. “Crossing” the cheque with A/C payee written in the crossing meant it had to be paid into the payee’s account. Eventually, cheques came pre-crossed.
For as long as nandos do them I don't think they're quite anachronistic!
Don’t know whether it was all banks - but the cheque book came with a calendar at the back and the teller would cancel the day on which you cashed a cheque - thus restricting you to once a day. Presumably the idea that a cheque book would last more than 12 months was unthinkable!
Which is at least the same principle as postal orders, which can be crossed (payable only to the named recipient), or uncrossed (as close to cash as you can get without being cash probably). Has to get a postal order for Companies House last year. That was a novelty.
By 1972, when I opened my first bank account, magnetic stripe cards were in common use, but before then I can recall two bank's versions.
Solo and Maestro cards were embossed but Solo had "electronic use only" printed on the front of the card. Visa Electron cards weren't embossed.
We're these ever actually formal rules?
Yes, I think it was just to act as a reminder to the recipient on when to pay the cheque in.
I think some banks did honour it (and some banks didn't even allow them), but it was very much a case that you'd have no recourse as the cheque writer if the other person cashed it early, which I imagine some dodgy landlords do.
The date mattered. Many post dated cheques were issued, not just advance rent. Birthday or Chistmas present cheques were routinely post dated to mark the day for the recipient and to ensure the writer would still have funds when presented. If presented early they would be returned "Post dated". They'd also be returned if over 6 months old "Out of date"
