Where to get a VISA Electron card?

Trainspotter_2

I bank with HSBC and currently have a MEASTRO DEBIT CARD.

I called HSBC yesterday and asked for an ELECTRON CARD. I explained myreason for asking for one.

I was told that the current MEASTRO CARD is / has been phased out and is being replaced with a VISA DEBIT CARD (VDC).

The call centre seemed unsure if the VDC was in fact an ELECTRON CARD.

So a couple of questions:

Can anybody clarify whether or not a VDC is in fact an Electron Card ??

Has anybody used a VDC to book with Ryanair and avoided the charges ??

apt

VISA debit card is not an Electron card and will not avoid Ryanair charges. You'll need to open up an account with a different bank as outlined elsewhere on this and similar threads.

jammin_2

Trainspotter wrote: »

Can anybody clarify whether or not a VDC is in fact an Electron Card ??

No. VDC is different from VEC.

Trainspotter wrote: »

Has anybody used a VDC to book with Ryanair and avoided the charges ??

I'm not sure about in the UK, but in Ireland some people have reported using a Halifax Ireland VDC successfully, on the Ryanair website (selecting VEC, not VDC), to avoid the CC fee.

rb10

You will need to open an account with another bank. Generally, their basic accounts come with a Visa Electron card, but not the main current accounts. Look for something like this one.

NonGeographicalMan

So I received no post update email for this thread from the https://www.moneysavingexpert.com forum for three months and then suddenly I get one in this thread immediately after making a post in another thread in the utilities section of the forum about a new form of electricity and gas meter that transmits its readings back to base by mobile phone signal (great lif like me your gas and electricity meters are in a locked landlord store cupboard you cannot ever get access to) from https://www.first-utility.com

How does that work? Why does posting in that thread suddenly kick off my post update emails that have inexplicably gone dorment for three months in this one?

Trainspotter_2

Thanks for the advice..........

Wonder why HSBC appear to be "behind the times" as far as Electron cards are concerned

NonGeographicalMan

Trainspotter wrote: »

Thanks for the advice..........

Wonder why HSBC appear to be "behind the times" as far as Electron cards are concerned

HSBC are hardly alone as none of the conventional big five banks offer Visa Electron. In fact only Co-Op, Halifax and Abbey/Banco Santander seem to offer them and only Co-Op does so without hassle to any new customers (even they tried to persuade me my credit score would entitle me to a full normal bank account with them with a Visa Debit with them instead of Cashminder but when I explained I specifically wanted Visa Electron they had no problem with allowing me to open a Cashminder account).

One wonders if Visa is actually happy about Ryanair pushing what appears to be a failed product (it is not a new product but several years old but previously poorly adopted) that was possibly near to withdrawal from the market (it was only aimed at the super credit unworthy most of whom then seem to have later been offered Visa Debit) just to try and make it hard for their customers to avoid paying hidden extortionate card fees on very low value transactions.

I suppose it really wouldn't be at all surprising to see Ryanair suddenly change the no fee arrangement from Visa Electron to say a new debit card issued by Amex group (who might be quite interested in getting in to the debit card payments business in these recessionary times) who might even pay Ryanair for every new card issued as a result of links from the Ryanair website......

PatHart

andy1975 wrote: »

i have a smile internet bank current account they automatically issue a visa debit card, have just phoned to enquire about visa electron, 1 minute phone call and they are sending me one, i get to keep my visa debit card as well - the two cards run alongside each other, result! i should have done this earlier got robbed by ryanair on my last booking, was concerned about getting electron though as you can't use it everywhere, the fact i can have both on the same account i'm well happy about. (may i recommend smile if anyone is unhappy with their bank, customer service is top notch).

I too am a happy SMILE banking customer - rang this evening and new electron card will be posted tomorrow - only slight draw back is that I have to give up the use of the VISA Debit card on that account but I have others so that is no problem for me.

sunnyboyjim

Don't know if people have already mentioned it, I know there was the POST OFFICE TRAVEL MONEY CARD, but with having to pay to top up the best bet seems to be:

Thomas Cook Cash Passport Card which you don't have to pay when topping up a credit card or debit card online. The Euro and Dollar cards for Thomas cook too, don't charge a fee when you top up at the post office too:-).
Visa Electron and none of those damn card charges with Ryanair:-)

I haven't looked into the other ones but I think Travelex do one too

http://www.money.co.uk/prepaid-cards/all-prepaid-cards.htm?page=3&o=3568&d=ASC

you can sort out what in terms of purchase fee/monthly fee/transactions/atm fee and load fees, and see which is best for you:-)hope this helps and i'm not repeating what someone else has already said!

WaltD

andy1975 wrote: »

i have a smile internet bank current account they automatically issue a visa debit card, have just phoned to enquire about visa electron, 1 minute phone call and they are sending me one, i get to keep my visa debit card as well - the two cards run alongside each other, result! i should have done this earlier got robbed by ryanair on my last booking, was concerned about getting electron though as you can't use it everywhere, the fact i can have both on the same account i'm well happy about. (may i recommend smile if anyone is unhappy with their bank, customer service is top notch).

Hi Andy,

You were very lucky that Smile allowed you to have both cards. I sent them a private electronic message yesterday asking if I could have an Electron card as well as my Debit Card and they have replied, "No ... you can have one or the other, but not both."

I have decided that I don't want to give up my Debit card, so my next plan is to try opening a Halifax Easycash account. I already have a Halifax branch-based current account, so I am not sure if they will allow me to have an Easycash account as well!

WaltD