Visa Electron to be phased out???

davidhenson1

Hi, does anyone know if this is true and if so when is it likely to happen? I read somewhere on here that it was being replaced or rebranded as a Visa but with the need for an online check. So not a full Visa ie no cheque guarantee but a Visa nonetheless. Such as Barclays and LTSB both now do this on there basic accounts.

Extant

davidhenson1 wrote: »

Hi, does anyone know if this is true and if so when is it likely to happen? I read somewhere on here that it was being replaced or rebranded as a Visa but with the need for an online check. So not a full Visa ie no cheque guarantee but a Visa nonetheless. Such as Barclays and LTSB both now do this on there basic accounts.

The branding has essentially been removed by a lot of banks, but the bank end is essentially the same. The change allows a lot of beneficial features to "return" to the card, such as card embossing - not a feature of Visa Electron. That allows imprinting to be used, which is useful in foreign countries where chip and PIN cannot be used.

As it stands, Visa currently has no plans to withdraw Visa Electron from issue, though.

savagej

As BarclaysManager says the branding has been removed but unembossed cards are here to stay, in fact they are just beginning to introduce them into the American and Canadian Market.

US banks also have premission to issue the Visa card on the spot (for unembossed cards) which means less problems with lost and stolen cards and letting customers get access to their money from day one.

Here are some of the links:

http://www.bluepay.com/merchantcenter/VisaUnEmbossed.pdf
http://www.finextra.com/fullpr.asp?id=23546

So the idea of whether a card is embossed or not being a "social" issue will not be a problem and this thinking of an unembossed card being for children will hopefully vanish.