On Sat, 26 May 2012 16:11:37 +0100, The Real Doctor
wrote:

On 26/05/12 09:20, Bruce wrote:
Aldi and Lidl.

Perhaps you have never heard of them.

Aldi accepts credit cards in Scotland, and some Welsh branches.

Lidl accepts credit cards in Northern Ireland, in Aberystwyth, and
probably elsewhere.

In the latter case also as an exception :- "It’s easy to pay by debit
card in all our stores, meaning that you can buy everything you need
without needing to worry about having the right amount of cash on
you.".

Roland Perry wrote:

Is it just my age or was it only around the turn of the millenium that the
debit card really took off?

The Natwest Maestro/Switch debit card was well into its stride 20 years
ago (replacing their Servicetill cashcard that was launched in the mid
70's).

Yes but were they widely usuable in all high street outlets and restaurants,
or were they the equivalent of Diner's Club - nice to have in your wallet
and a good way to avoid going broke because hardly anyone took them?
--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

In message , at 18:23:16 on Sun, 27 May
2012, Tim Roll-Pickering remarked:
Is it just my age or was it only around the turn of the millenium that the
debit card really took off?

The Natwest Maestro/Switch debit card was well into its stride 20 years
ago (replacing their Servicetill cashcard that was launched in the mid
70's).

Yes but were they widely usuable in all high street outlets and restaurants,
or were they the equivalent of Diner's Club - nice to have in your wallet
and a good way to avoid going broke because hardly anyone took them?

Oddly enough, Diners Club was widely accepted by petrol stations in the
late 70's/early 80's.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 14:43:29 on Sat, 26 May
2012, Roland Perry remarked:
Is it just my age or was it only around the turn of the millenium that the
debit card really took off?

The Natwest Maestro/Switch debit card was well into its stride 20 years
ago (replacing their Servicetill cashcard that was launched in the mid
70's).

As luck would have it, I was doing some sorting out yesterday and found
the leaflet issued with my first Switch card, which was dated 1990,
although the list of outlets which took the card was short enough they
could print it inside (although it grew quite quickly).

The proposition was "here's a way to use your ATM card in shops as
well", instead of a chequebook. It was still called a Servicecard, and
the Switch part of it was just an additional logo.

In those days there wasn't yet full interoperability of ATMs, you had to
know which banks to use - eg Natwest, Midland[1] and TSB[2] (plus some
smaller regional ones) in this case.

[1] Now HSBC.
[2] Now merged with Lloyds.
--
Roland Perry