Well, I know some shops have so called 'switch' or 'smart' cards to debit your account, some of these are on their own credit line, others are not. I have an account with a bank in Britain which gives me a "VISA" Card which is actually a 'direct-debit' card. I can use it (and have) all around the world as a regular VISA card and in any 'VISA compatible' ATM. As soon as my balance drops to zero, I can no longer use it. And when I do, the money jumps out of my account immediately and can no longer be used. This is a bank-issued card, and also acts as my ATM card to access my current account - there is NO charge for this. I'm not sure exactly how that works. Whether or not VISA would accept a proposal from First National Cyberphunks or not remains to be seen... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ jrt@AsiaOnline.Net john@AsiaOnline.Net PO Box 86141, Govt PO, Kln, HKG. Help protect the environment : This message is made from recycled electrons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's suppose myself and 10,000 of my closest friends form the First National Cypherpunk Bank and Trust. We go through all of the hassles in order to be the issuer of a Master Card or Visa. Now instead of having a credit line, it is set up as a debit card. The card's limit is how ever much you have prepaid the bank in advance. Once you have hit your prepaid amount the card no longer gets approved. Now because everything is prepaid, there is no risk to me, so I'll put any name you want on the card. The questions I have are: