From: Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li>
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1996 04:59:19 -0700 (PDT)
To: roy@scytale.com
Subject: Re: "Drift net fishing," GAK, FBI, and NSA
In-Reply-To: <961011.070615.2E8.rnr.w165w@sendai.scytale.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.94.961014075619.7731B-100000@polaris>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Fri, 11 Oct 1996, Roy M. Silvernail wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> 
> In list.cypherpunks, svmcguir@syr.edu writes:
> 
> > roy@scytale.com said 
> 
> [re: my debit card]
> 
> >> I have one of those, too.  A couple of months ago, Thrifty car rental
> >> refused to accept it to rent a car.  (the agent was pretty snotty about
> >> it, too)  Beginning of a trend?
> >
> > Did he recognize that it wasn't a "real" card himself?  I find that many
> > cashiers don't know what it is.  If you just say its a Visa (or MC etc.)
> > they'll use it.  It works just like a real card when they swipe it.
> 
> She recognized it, alright.  Of course, it says "NORWEST Instant Cash
> and Check" in brilliant yellow letters.
> 
> The exchange was like this:
> 
> Me:     offers debit card
> 
> Her:    "That's a check cashing card."
> 
> Me:     "No, it is _not_ a 'check cashing card'."
> 
> Her:    "Well, it's a debit card.  We don't accept those."
> 
> No sign, no warning.  If I hadn't been on a tight business schedule, I'd
> have walked out.

Any idea what the basis for refusing "debit" cards is?

I've heard that one concern is that debit cards will often not hold a high
enough balance to be used as a security deposit.
How this applies in terms of rental cars is a bit beyond me.


> - -- 
>            Roy M. Silvernail     [ ]      roy@scytale.com
> DNRC Minister Plenipotentiary of All Things Confusing, Software Division
> PGP Public Key fingerprint =  31 86 EC B9 DB 76 A7 54  13 0B 6A 6B CC 09 18 B6
>                 Key available from pubkey@scytale.com
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--
I hate lightning - finger for public key - Vote Monarchist
unicorn@schloss.li