Monday, Jun 30, 2008
How Low Can You Go
Telegraph: Lloyds TSB gives Visa cards to 11-year-olds
Lloyds TSB is sending the cards directly to children as young as 11 without informing their parents, raising fears that they are being used to buy cigarettes, alcohol and pornography over the internet. The cards are Visa-enabled and can be used any time a Visa sign is displayed.
Posted by yoyo1 @ 10:00 PM (479 views) Add Comment
13 Comments
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1. planning4acrash said...
This is being used as an excuse to regulate the internet, and to get kids addicted to credit. Sick, sick, sick. Lloyds TSB should be ashamed, and its board be cast into jail.
2. enuii said...
Just goes to prove how paranoid some of our newspapers are these days. Unless their parents are complete chavs (in which case the kids would probably not have a bank account) the parcels would be intercepted as soon as they are delivered.
Anyway, the sooner kids become financially aware the better in my book, perhaps if our populace were given a basic grasp of financial matters at school the nation would be in a much lesser mess than it currently is.
3. jonb said...
I think you'll find these are Electron cards, which can be used approximately nowhere on the internet.
4. jack c said...
Agree with jonb (currently @ 3) Electron is accepted in limited outlets in the high street (both of my children have banked with LTSB since a very early age and progressing to full blown debit card is age related - from memoery min 16)
This IMO is a sensationalist story
5. japanese uncle said...
Mega banks more or less has a dark history of building up fortune through opium & slave trades. They are by origin not a respectable trade at all, hence this news is hardly surprising.
6. enuii said...
jackc & johnb are right, any other discussion on the subject is paranoid ramblings just like the non-story from the Telegrath.
7. p. doff said...
jonb said...
''I think you'll find these are Electron cards , which can be used approximately nowhere on the internet.''
I don't know what type of cards they are, but in the example given on tonights news, some kid had bought Viagra on the net.
What puzzles me though is why anyone of that age would want Viagra. Aren't the young always claiming they have a hard time!!.
8. jonb said...
p doff,
Did they actually take delivery of the Viagra, or was it just a scam site to harvest credit card numbers for fraudulent purposes?
Given that it is illegal to sell prescription drugs such as Viagra over the internet, I would be very surprised if they got a delivery of genuine Viagra out of it.
9. drewster said...
It's a DEBIT card, not a credit card. You can't get into debt on it, in fact I think it's illegal to give credit cards to children. Yes they might go and buy fags / booze / porn online, but that's just what kids do - there are plenty of other ways they can get those things if they really want it. I had no trouble gettings fags / booze / porn when I was a kid (didn't have Viagra back then).
10. daft boy said...
More nonesense from a third rate newspaper dying on its feet
11. yoyo1 said...
True it's a debit card. Even so, as a parent I would not give my children a cheque book to keep in their pockets at such a young age. It's not necessary. The reckless behaviour of banks originated the credit crunch and similarly this is a step in a wrong direction.
12. Still-waiting said...
Even if it can be used to buy stuff online (which is unlikely) they would have to have some money in their account first, which at 11 years old isn't that likely. I suppose they might have the proceeds of theft or drug dealing or something. In which case whether they own a debit card or not is not the biggest worry!
13. p. doff said...
jonb said...''Did they actually take delivery''
I think so - they were interviewing the lad's father but I can't remember exactly what was said.
It's easy to get medical stuff on the net without prescription - I have a friend who frequently does - body building drugs etc. There is a questionaire to complete and their 'doctors' will 'approve' the order. Of course, you run the risk of buying sugar pills!