Solo (debit card)

Solo was a national debit card scheme in the UK.

The Solo card was introduced in 1997 as a sister product to the already existing since 1988 Switch card and output targeted primarily to customers who did not have the credit required for the switch. Even use as a simple means of access to a savings account enjoyed rapidly growing in popularity.

Payments with Solo were also handled through the switch system and differed technically from them. In both maps fundamentally was an online authorization, so in principle no risk of default for point of sale and bank consisted. While the parties in the switch, however, had the opportunity to dispense with acceptance of this inherent risk to such authorization, this was already excluded systemically at Solo cards.

Purpose of differentiation was thus mainly the information of the contractors. While this could come from a certain credit rating at the switch - card holders, a Solo card should conversely serve as a warning of a potentially less paying customers. This has been used by some companies to exclude, for example, minors ( the also only a Solo card was issued) from the purchase of certain goods, such as alcohol and cigarettes, or even from the internet shopping.

By the end of December 2010 all Solo cards were in circulation were replaced with alternative debit cards. After 31 March 2011, no transactions were more handles on Solo cards and set the brand through the solo card issuer.