Halifax Visa Debit Card - Beware of Issues

Having recently switched my current account to Halifax, I thought I was getting a "best of both worlds" debit card in the Halifax Visa Debit Card.

I was told it was accepted in all retail outlets which support Visa worldwide, and on the web, and could also be used for cash-back transactions where supported. Unfortunately, after using the card for 1 month, I am seriously considering switching back to Laser. The reason?

Here is a non-exhaustive list of situations where the card is not supported:

NCT Test Centre - not supported
LIDL - not supported
ALDI - not supported
My local petrol station - not supported
Vodafone online top-up - not supported
Tesco - cashback not supported

I don't use the card that much so it scares me to think how many more of these issues there are out there. Just wanted to share this in case anyone else was considering it. Feel free to add to the list if you are in the same situation...will compile and send to Halifax.

In fairness, Lidl don't accept any cards other than Laser (or Switch and Solo in N.I.) so that's not the fault of Halifax.

Dearg Doom said:

In fairness, Lidl don't accept any cards other than Laser (or Switch and Solo in N.I.) so that's not the fault of Halifax.

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Yes but Halifax are selling their card as a replacement for Laser...they should at least pre-warn people of places where Laser is accepted but Visa isn't - I didn't know Lidl only accepted Laser.

VISA debit is an internationally accepted card just like VISA credit, so these retailers are really backward if they can't accept it!

cool_cat said:

Yes but Halifax are selling their card as a replacement for Laser...they should at least pre-warn people of places where Laser is accepted but Visa isn't - I didn't know Lidl only accepted Laser.

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Aldi only accept Laser also. I believe the issue is the fee that they are charged for Visa and Mastercard transactions circa 2.5% whereas Laser is a flat 25 cent fee.

Another flawed Product in the Irish marketplace!

Hi cool_cat

I highlighted this problem in an earlier thread in relation to Billpay.ie and the Irish on-line hotel booking site .

I don't actually think Halifax is to blame for this, but I believe things will improve as soon as this card becomes more widely used in Ireland.

In fairness, the Visa Debit is an Internationally known and accepted debit card, which certainly is not the case with Laser.

I spoke to a long-time Laser card user who remembers similar difficulties when Laser was first introduced here - there were very few outlets accepting it at first.

I suppose we'll just have to give it time to "catch on"!

The issue is that the retailers you have mentioned are taking a while to update their systems! I've used my card in Spain and it was great not having to go to a cash point so often - and you don't get charged for using it within a Euro zone - happy days!

Just opened a joint current account with Halifax. They informed us directly when we were filling out the paperwork that there were a few stores who were not accepting the debit card. I appreciated being informed of this as we had to think about it for a few days. In the end we went ahead and opened the account.

Have any of these issues been resolved. Is it now a good or bad Visa debit card?

Anywhere that accepts Visa credit cards will also accept Visa debit cards, though may not offer cashback. If a merchant that accepts credit cards says they don't support it because they don't recognise it, insist that they try it anyway. Lidl and Aldi don't accept credit cards, but should accept Visa debit in future.

Lidl and Aldi don't accept credit cards, but should accept Visa debit in future.

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It will probably take another year to convince the staff that they can accept visa debit cards.

I've been harassing Halifax customer service about the Lidl/Aldi issue for the past year.

In November 2008:

We are aware of issues with the VISA Debit card in Aldi and Lidl. Aldi in particular are currently undergoing a technical upgrade, in part to enable acceptance on VISA Debit Cards. I can advise Aldi do intend to accept the VISA debit card in all their stores but have not yet committed to a date when all stores will update their systems.

We are actively working together with VISA to negotiate a similar arrangement with Lidl to accept VISA debit card. Please note that currently Aldi or Lidl do not accept any type of Visa debit/credit card.

Please be assured that this is high priority for Halifax and we are doing everything in our power to have the acceptance issue at 100%. I realise that I cannot provide a specific deadline as to when these acceptance issues will be resolved and I do appreciate the inconvenience this has caused you.

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In March 2009:

* Our debit support team have advised me that Aldi and Lidl are merchants who are accepting our Visa Debit Card. Not all of the customer advisors are aware that the terminal does recognise the Halifax debit card.

* If you are still experiencing problems at these stores please can you provide me with the date and location of the Aldi/Lidl store that refused your debit card.

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Upon being notified that Lidl were *still* refusing Visa Debit, Halifax replied (March, 2009):

Thank you for providing us with the details of the Lidl store and the date involved. I have forwarded this information on to our Debit Support team to investigate further on your behalf. Your concerns will be dealt with as quickly as possible and I will be in contact with you within the next few days.

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Their investigation amounted to this:

Lidl currently operate a store policy to only accept Laser and cash payments in their stores. However, I understand some stores have
accepted the Halifax debit card.

I do sincerely apologise for the inconvenience you are experiencing with
your local Lidl store not accepting our Halifax debit card.

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I think the net result is that Halifax haven't a clue themselves what the situation with Aldi/Lidl is....

My own experience with Lidl is that if you mention "Visa Debit" to them, you'll get a straight "NO", but if you slyly ram the card into their terminal before they can even see it, the payment goes through about 50% of times.

It is the very same with maestro cards. You need to slide the card in fast to stop them seeing it. They are programmed to say no to everything except Laser.