Going Solo

Advantages: Can't get into debt, lots of shops take it, from 11 with some banks,
Disadvantages: Woolies don't take it!

...The Solo card is a debit card aimed at young people that works like a Switch except you can’t get overdrawn – in other words in debt. It’s a great idea and allows young people to shop through mail-order and on the internet without using their parents credit card. Though some adults also have it if they’re not too hot with money-management! The Solo card is accepted widely and most shops accept it, though it is not accepted as widely as Switch. Woolworth’s don’t take it which seems rather stupid considering many of their customers are young people. Though the Solo is accepted far more than the Visa Electron, which only a small minority of shops seem to take. Solo offers a cashback feature which you can use at all shops taking Solo. Most places won’t charge you, but smaller shops might. I was...

Disillusioned 18.06.2001 · Read review
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Review of Solo

  Flying Solo

Advantages: Almost universally accepted, makes you more financially aware
Disadvantages: Can't write cheques, not a lot really!

...Ah, the sweet smell of financial independence! When I?m older, I?m going to be an internet millionaire; I?ve decided that. Joining Ciao was to be part of the grand plan, but alas .. ah well, I still have my Solo card. ?What? You?re fifteen and you have your own credit card? Now I know you?re entrepreneurial Matt, but this..? Well, almost. You see, Solo shares many of the features of other debit cards such as Switch. The differences are that it?s been adapted for people who may not be eligible for a 'proper' credit card. Typically these groups are the under-18s, those not in employment, and those whose credit history doesn't merit a credit card in the opinion of the banks. So what is Solo? Well, Solo is an offshoot of Switch, the worldwide standard for debit card transactions. Essentially, a Solo card is just like a Switch debit...

mattwood 11.05.2003 (09.07.2003) · Read review
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Review of Solo

ITS A SOLO THING

Advantages: Great advantages and offers
Disadvantages: nothing!

...What is SOLO? SOLO is a debit card for people aged between 11-21. It has been around for quite a few years now, since 1997. I have one of these cards and I think there absolutely brilliant! I'm very impressed and happy with it. My SOLO card is based with my Natwest account but you can get them elsewhere too. I'm only 14 years old and I think its brilliant having my own personal card. Many folk think that we're too young to own our own personal debit card and we deserve too loose our priveledges for mis-using it and getting in debt. (Which happens!) but not all young kids and teenagers are like others are they? I always make sure that I'm NEVER in debt and am always very careful with my account. The thing about this account is that you can get in debt VERY EASILY and people think this is inappropriate to children as young as 11 years...

emu128 29.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Solo

Flying Solo

Advantages: No worries about carrying cash
Disadvantages: Many well known stores don't accept them

...Switch, Delta, Electron, Solo - they're all basically the same. I used to have a Switch card - accepted by virtually every shop or service - a debit card by any other name. I now have a Solo card, due to recent financial difficulties it was all I could get. This works in much the same way as a Switch card - it's a debit card which you hand over in place of cash for payment and saves time and hassle writing cheques. Funds are normally debited from your bank account within one to two working days and you can also get up to £50 cashback with it where that facility is available. It will not allow you to go overdrawn on your account unless you already have an overdarft facility - unusual with accounts offering a Solo card to begin with. BUT, and it's a big but, not all the expected shops - including large, well-known stores, accept...

blurbubble 05.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Solo

THAT'S ME SOLO AIGHT

Advantages: Absolute need for teenagers,
Disadvantages: Not sure,

...Hello everyone! You may know me as anytime03! But thats going soon! And me is officially back as 'fromthedarkside' Thanks Ciao! I’m not really that good on the topic of finance, but I am good at finance, which is to do with business. There are many credit cards out there today, but which one to get is a difficult thing, APR, blah blah!! But what about us who are under 18? We don’t need to worry about credit cards until we are 18, but we feel left out, knowing we can’t buy things on credit, or take out lump sums of money from major bank companies. BUT DON’T WORRY, why? Cos SOLO’s the name! The names card, SOLO CARD! (*Puts on Bond music*) Don’t attack me or otherwise I’ll pull out my SOLO card! ## Wait a min! I don’t understand you...

fromthedarkside 10.12.2002 · Read review
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Review of Solo

SOLO - THE ONLY CHOICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Advantages: Accepted almost everywhere, Easy access to money, Beats cash
Disadvantages: Small charge for use abroad, Some places still won't accept it

...I am a student in secondary education, and before setting up my NatWest card-plus account I only had a National Savings Account. However, as time went by I became more and more annoyed at the pathetic service, inaccessible saving and hundreds of other things, so I decided to open a new account, and at the time it seemed as if the (new) solo card would be the thing to go for, as a lot of my mates had one, and they all struggled to think of anything bad about it. So, I strolled along to NatWest, and I now have on of these cards. Solo is a branch of the well known debit card ?Switch,? and it works in a similar way, except that it is meant for under 18s. There are several areas in which I have been particularly pleased with the Solo card, and I shall tell you about these below. One of the main bonuses of the Solo card to me is that it...

Jaxle 12.01.2003 · Read review
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Review of Solo

Getting to The Core

Advantages: Good for killing spare time
Disadvantages: Scientifically flawed, weak film generally

...Always keen to see a good movie, and always open to a new (or not so new) disaster film, when I saw that The Core was showing on one of the movie channels, and read the little description about it, I decided to put it on. Put simply, as the story is about the Core stopping spinning, I was curious as to how this could happen and ideas about what effects it would actually have should it ever happen. Story The Science Bit At the centre of the earth, around the solid iron core, is a liquid, moving rapidly and keeping energy going that powers the electro-magnetic field around the earth, apparently. For some reason, not initially known in the film, there is a slow-down in the movement of this liquid - and so the core of the earth threatens to stop spinning. This would apparently cause the electro-magnetic field to go crazy then...

Ayesha- 08.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Core (DVD)

Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz - 17" TFT

Advantages: nice screen, good battery life, fast specs
Disadvantages: large size (price?)

...Apple mac-books, where to start... ok, so to start, it is an apple, that means you get a solid quality product and on the whole very good customer are. this particualar apple is deffinatly more suited to being a media center than other laptops. At first glance you realise that it is a fairly large laptop, this allows for a big screen, which being an apple ffers clear vivid displays, unfortunatly the big screen increases the overal size and also uses more battery, however, the 4.5 hour yattery is still very good for an entertainment laptop. The laptops technical specs include a very fast 2.5 ghz dual core proccesor which is very fast, the dual core allows it to tackle multiple tasks quicly as well as increasing the overall speed of the laptop. The price is quite steep however, but i believe, if given the money, it is...

pieceofmind 29.04.2008 (30.04.2008) · Read review
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Review of Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz - 17" TFT

Dont be forced to switch to solo

Advantages: Stops you going overdrawn
Disadvantages: Nowhere takes it, embarrassing to use

...Do you like what I did with the title? Solo, for all its sins, may look like a switch card. But here the similarities stop. Yes. Im afraid Solo has been invented for all of the naughty boys and girls who cant use Switch properly. How do I know? Well, I was once one of them. I noticed that it is claimed to have been launched in 1997 but Im sure it was around earlier than that. However, if this is the date it claims, it must be right. For those of you that don't know, Switch and Solo are Debit cards. You can buy things from shops that accept Switch cards in the way that you buy things on your credit card. It is a little piece of plastic that comes as part of your current account options from your high street bank. The way it works is thus. You buy something and it is debited to your current account in the bank. Within...

andycharger 06.12.2002 · Read review
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Review of Solo

Let's go SOLO

Advantages: More independance for younger generations, V. Useful
Disadvantages: Not accepted everywhere, but still widely accepted

...SOLO, this is a debit card, launched by the Switch Card Scheme in 1997 (I’ve done my research). I currently have one with Natwest’s Card Plus account aimed at people aged 11-21, so my experiences of SOLO will be tailored towards NatWest, but I’m sure the services offered by the SOLO card are similar all round. SOLO is a debit card. What is good about this is that you can use it to pay for goods at shops, online or over the phone (or anything else you can think of) using this card where it is accepted. The limit with this is you can spend the as much as you want, as long as the money exists in your bank account that is associated with this card. This is a good thing as this card is mainly aimed at the younger generation of people, like I was and still am, who would like to attain some independence on their finances...

robertliu84 22.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Solo