Electron or visa debit card: what's the difference?

Voyager2002

I would like to have an electron card so that I can avoid card fees on Rynair flights. My bank (Smile, part of Co-op) could let me have one, but in exchange for the visa debit card that I have at present.

Should I make the change? What can I do with my present card that I couldn't do with an Electron card? (All I can think of is the ability to guarantee cheques, and I can't remember the last time that I used a cheque guarantee card.)

cifpower

There are some place you cannot use an Electron card such as train stations. I would advise opening a Halifax Easycash account which would allow you to keep your Visa Debit card. Just transfer money into the account before you book your flight.

Extant

Electron is designed to require immediate authorization from the bank, meaning that you cannot use it where the transaction is "stored" for later, such as the ticket kiosks mentioned at train stations.

Traditional Visa Debit (as in the product name) cards feature the ability to have a floor limit set by the bank, meaning any transaction under said floor limit will not require authorization and will be paid by the bank. As this could potentially lead to someone going overdrawn, this is typically a credit scored card.

benjus

The machines at my local station (South London, SouthEastern trains) do accept Visa Electron, so I assume they must have a live connection to the Visa network.

However, I would never give up my standard debit card for a Visa Electron. I got my Visa Electron card for Ryanair purchases as #1 describes - by opening a separate Halifax Easycash account. I just keep enough in there to cover a typical Ryanair purchase.

System

With Chip & Pin, the majority of retailers now take Visa Electron by default.
Quite alot of retailers also choose authorise all transactions, so there will be little functional difference, in practice.You wont be able to use it in old style zip-zap machines, or in places that are offline - but these tend to be in the minority.

Someone had said that Smile would issue a Visa Electron in addition to Visa Debit.
Is that not possible?

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I would like to have an electron card so that I can avoid card fees on Rynair flights. My bank (Smile, part of Co-op) could let me have one, but in exchange for the visa debit card that I have at present.

Should I make the change? What can I do with my present card that I couldn't do with an Electron card? (All I can think of is the ability to guarantee cheques, and I can't remember the last time that I used a cheque guarantee card.)

Voyager2002

Just to clarify, I use credit cards for most purchases (eg of train tickets). I can only remember two occasions when I used my Smile debit card: once to pay at Lidl (and presumably they accept electron) and once to withdraw cash overseas, which was a mistake since I should have used my Nationwide card. I usually use a different card to withdraw cash from my Smile savings account.

I think I shall make the switch. Yes, I could open an Easycash account elsewhere, but then moving money into that account would take about a week, and in my experience Halifax tend to make mistakes, generally when they will cause maximum inconvenience.

System

Lidl accept Visa Electron & Visa cash machines will not differentiate between Visa Debit and Visa Electron. Since you've got credit cards as a fallback, I wouldn't foresee any major issues.

Most of the complaints (about Visa Electron) are from people who have problems getting credit or offline debit cards, so they tend not to have a backup card to smooth over any acceptance problems.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Just to clarify, I use credit cards for most purchases (eg of train tickets). I can only remember two occasions when I used my Smile debit card: once to pay at Lidl (and presumably they accept electron) and once to withdraw cash overseas, which was a mistake since I should have used my Nationwide card. I usually use a different card to withdraw cash from my Smile savings account.

I think I shall make the switch. Yes, I could open an Easycash account elsewhere, but then moving money into that account would take about a week, and in my experience Halifax tend to make mistakes, generally when they will cause maximum inconvenience.