The UK Debit Card system is a popular part of the retail market, helped by the fact that Banks and Companies issuing Debit Cards do not charge customers for the EFTPOS transactions that follow only because these are an integrated part of the entire system
as a whole.
The UK Debit Card market consists of a large number of Debit Cards circulated by various Banks and Commercial Organizations. The noted ones from the UK Debit Card market are :
Switch Card originally introduced in the UK Debit Card market by National Westminster Bank, Midland Bank as well as the Royal Bank of Scotland is now called as Maestro after its merger with Master CardŽ Debit Card (owned by United Credit Union of USA). In spite of the change in brand name, transactions are handled by the Switch system.
Solo owned by Switch Card is a UK Debit Card which essentially requires every transaction to be electronically approved from the issuing bank. As a result of this, transactions may not be carried out in the absence of sufficient funds in the savings account of the customer from which the cash would have been drawn. The main rival of this UK Debit Card is Visa Electron Debit Card.
A significant share of the UK Debit Card market belongs to the Visa Debit Card which was earlier known as Visa Delta. It mainly operates through Barclays Bank, Lloyds TSB, Abbey and Halifax Bank of Scotland in the UK Debit Card market, all of which used to subscribe to Switch and the shift was effected by detainments in the delivery of PIN and CHIP.
Visa Electron is a UK Debit Card which similar to the Solo necessitates online approval as every transaction is completed depending on the availability of funds in the customer's account. Issued to children below eighteen, this UK Debit Card can also be used as an ATM Card to withdraw money while traveling abroad empowered by the PLUS interbank network.