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I'm using a paper payment slip to pay something in GBP in the UK with an EU debit card registered at an EU address. The form was also designed for people who might pay with credit card. There's a section requesting cardholder name and address: is this relevant for my debit-card payment? Because in my life I was only requested the billing address when paying online with credit card; but on the other hand I never paid by debit card online either...

EDIT: in fact I would not understand the point of the billing address for such debit card payments when no additional verification is needed (as in my case, because I'm paying a government agency whom I'm sending my passport together with the payment slip), when debit card payments offline require no address!

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In general, debit payments that aren't made in person with a PIN aren't actually handled as debit - they're handled over the credit card networks based on whatever major credit card label is on your card. It may work out the same for the cardholder (you) and the cardholder's bank in terms of whether the transaction will succeed and what the terms are for payment, but as far as the merchant and their bank are concerned, it's a credit transaction.

Given that, the billing address (and probably the CVV off the back of the card) would likely be necessary to process the payment as a MOTO (Mail-order/Telephone-order) credit card payment, to help your bank cut down on fraud. Guessing a random credit card number isn't hard - the first eight digits are based on the issuing bank, and the last digit is calculated based on the other 15, so there's only 7 digits that are truly random (10,000,000 possibilities). Adding in the expiration date, billing address and CVV brings the number of digits needed to be guessed correctly up to the 14-16 digit range (1,000,000,000,000,000+ possibilities), making a correct guess much less likely.

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  • NB: Debit transactions with a PIN might still go over the same card brand networks as if it was credit, depending on what country you're located in. But because it has a PIN, it's handled differently even when it does.
    – Bobson
    Commented Jul 3 at 15:22
  • Thx for your answer, I really appreciate it. I'm paying the UK Home Office, and I'm using my EU debit card registered at my EU address. I'd rather avoid mentioning my EU address. Will the payment go through if I leave the Cardholder Address field blank? Will it go through if I indicate my UK address as the Cardholder address, which won't match the registration address of the card? Would the merchant (in this case the Home Office) need the Cardholder address on the payment slip for anything other than customer verification? Note I will send them my passport together with the payment slip!
    – user132398
    Commented Jul 3 at 17:02
  • How do you get "6 digits that are truly random"? Isn't it 7 (16 minus 8 for the bank and 1 check digit)?
    – nanoman
    Commented Jul 3 at 20:59
  • @nanoman - Doh. I miscounted and totally didn't notice since it's more common for me to be talking about the "first six/last four" and have six masked digits. Fixed
    – Bobson
    Commented Jul 8 at 5:11
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If you aren't paying using chip and PIN, there's a higher risk for the payee that the transaction is fraudulent. For all they know, you may have found the card in the street and decided to use that for payment.

So it's common to ask for additional details that to verify that the person using the card is actually the cardholder. Asking for the address that matches the card is one of those. The payee can then ask the bank if the address they have been given matches the one on the card account.

For the payee, there's a balance to be struck between verifying identity and inconveniencing the payer. Different organisations will have different policies.

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  • Thanks for your answer. But what's the point of asking the address if the merchant asked for the name of the Cardholder, and I must also send them my passport which displays the same name as the Cardholder? Will the payment go through if I leave the Cardholder Address field blank? Will it go through if I indicate my UK address as the Cardholder address, which won't match the registration address of the card? Would the merchant (in this case the Home Office) need the Cardholder address on the payment slip for anything other than customer verification?
    – user132398
    Commented Jul 3 at 22:06
  • @user324831 The cardholder's name and address need not always be the same as the applicant's name and address. Sometimes people don't have their own card to pay with. So they need both addresses. I suspect they will simply reject your application if the form isn't filled out properly, but I can't say for sure.
    – Simon B
    Commented Jul 3 at 22:22
  • Thanks Simon, but forget about applicant details; how about leaving blank the Cardholder addr or fillling in my UK addr, which is not the same as the card's?
    – user132398
    Commented Jul 3 at 23:08
  • If you don't give the address, they will reject it. If you give an address that doesn't match the one the bank has for you, they will reject it and quite possibly flag your application as fraudulent.
    – Simon B
    Commented Jul 4 at 19:51

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