Visa Electron Cards.

CTT_2

I here from various people that banks are now replacing the Solo cards with the Electron card but I was under the impression Electron cards could not be used over the phone to purchase goods. Also they were issued to customers with poor credit ratings. Would be interested to know what the situation is with this card.

With thanks,

PinkPig

The Visa Electron card is a debit card, like the Solo card. They are, I think, occassionally given to people who don't qualify for "standard" debit cards (Switch, or Visa debit / Visa delta), but most often are given to young people who can't get the standard cards. I believe that the key point about them is that all transactions have to be instantly authorised, so that it is usually not possible to become overdrawn (beyond limits) at all (accidentally or otherwise).

As of a few years ago, Visa electron cards *can* be used to purchase goods over the phone or the internet, as well as in shops. It is, however, true that, looking at shops in the UK in particular, they are sometimes less accepted than a Solo card. Some people have reported success in buying online from places that don't seem to accept them by describing them as a normal Visa card.

As far as I know, it's not true, however, that banks generally are replacing Solo with Visa electron. They are essentially competing standards, and fairly recently one bank (Halifax, perhaps?) did stop giving out Solo cards and instead gives Visa electron, but some banks (HSBC, for example), still issue Solo cards and, as far as I know, have no plans to change.

Sparrowhawk_2

1) I was under the impression the solo and switch had be merged to become the one standard of maestro (?)

- this is a possible explanation as to why some banks may have decided to move to Visa Electron

2) Visa Electron is the only type of card that doesn't incur a fee on ryanair.com. So in some cases it is handy to have one.

Benuk73

CTT wrote:

Also they were issued to customers with poor credit ratings. Would be interested to know what the situation is with this card.

With thanks,

Yes that's my impression. My Mother recently opened an abbey bank account. She has her mortgage with them, and she applied for a bank account. Got a cheque book, electron card and an o/d. I was a bit annoyed that she was offered an electron card and not a debit/visa card.

She applied for a Nationwide account, she got the whole package, cheque book, debit card *visa*, a Credit card, o/d etc etc

Doesnt make sense :rolleyes:

michaels

Hint (and not a bad one in my opinion)
Use your standard visa debit card on the Ryanair website but claim it is a visa electron - I haven't done this since March but it worked fine then.