Transaction history of Paywave cards

[Ian Batten]

On 16 Dec 2012, at 07:56, Roland Perry <lists at internetpolicyagency.com> wrote:

> In article <50CD69D4.8060006 at iosis.co.uk>, Peter Tomlinson <pwt at iosis.co.uk> writes
>>>> [1] Only normal debit/credit cards accepted, I think, i.e. not pre-paid cards.
>>> I wonder why not.
>> I'm told that they need online authorisation.
> 
> To make sure they have any money in the account, I presume; they don't keep a running total on the card itself.

But my children have bank cards.  The accounts they're linked to have no overdraft facility (illegal to lend to under sixteens, and possibly under eighteens) and routinely towards the end of the months have balances substantially less than a day's travel in London.   The distinction between those cards and pre-pay cards seems pretty tenuous.   I don't see that pre-pay cards are uniquely, or even substantially, the "insufficient funds" problem.  I suppose a pre-pay card has no reliable user information, and therefore you can't pursue them for non-payment, but realistically TfL is hardly going to start suing people for refused debit card transactions for a couple of quid (especially if they're not UK citizens/residents).

ian