I’m on team old style. I said this somewhere else the other day, but I think the colour of Monzo cards still occasionally enables vendors to be funny about acceptance. I’m fine with that because I like the colour a lot and it’s still a very rare issue, but I think if it ALSO looked different from the majority in orientation and embossing, it would encourage people to be even more sceptical.
The most recent Amex cards I have (whether plastic or the metal/plastic hybrid) have 5 year validity.
I’ve only seen it required for Switch cards. And I’ve never had a Switch card. I’m not even sure what sets them apart from other cards. 
In terms of sustainability, what chance a bamboo card? In theory this would be lighter than metal, just as durable, and (possibly) considerably cooler.
Well Switch was discontinued about two decades ago so pretty rare to see one. It was originally an ATM card and used to give kudos to cheques by writing the card number on the cheque. Had a lil Shakespeare for the scheme.
It was owned by switch card services then got merged into Maestro card in the early 00s being called Switch-Maestro for five years and then dropped the Switch part so its customers didn’t freak out in the transition.
Maestro then got killed off about a decade ago in the UK and replaced by Visa Debit/MasterCard Debit we use today.
Pretty rare to see Maestro unless you visit particular Euro places but mostly Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. It was kept popular due to the better rates for merchants.
I don’t think we can ask any American business to change a system that works, and has been working, for them for some time. It’s not widely used but it still exists.
I also ‘know Americans’ but clearly different ones from you.
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Interesting, as I thought those imprinters had been consigned to history a long time ago.
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Also can you drop the signature strip please? a)Not a requirement from Mastercard scheme b)very few people actually sign c) retailers in the “swipe” countries rarely bother to check the signature anyways.
thanks!
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Refunds in the UK use a signiture still
and they check, every time i’ve had one they check
Yes! I had to use one in the US in a mom and pop store a couple of years ago. I’ve never seen one in my entire life and was fascinated by them. The transaction went though fine. I’m not happy that they’ve got a carbon copy of my card details though, but what can you do?
Not sure that’s still the case. I had to get a refund the other day and just used the chip in the machine. It took about 5 seconds.
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I’ve had it in Cex, Poundland, Tesco and a small shop that over charged me and I went back the next day
The only one that did not need me to sign and them check was tesco
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Mine was in Currys PC World. It probably just depends if the store has upgraded to the newer card terminals or not.
I like the look of the Apple card with no numbers on it… but if not in the App where would you get the number for it? Other than that agree with having a longer expiry date just to save on plastic/planet.
Just out of curiosity, what was it you needed to take back to Poundland for a refund?
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A load a light bulbs that where the wrong ones
Yes I returned stuff to Poundland
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I never used to sign the back of my cards until i went to Currys PC World for a refund for the first time and they couldnt refund me as my card was not signed, they said id have to leave the store to sign my card and return for the refund?
Strange but must be their rules, i just dont get how it shows authorization given the fact that if someone stole my card, they can now practice my signature anyway?
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