Electron Card Information & Discussion: (Merged Threads)

M_Thomson

Seven wrote:

I am pretty sure you can get an electron still from bank of scotland/Halifax

It's the account you get offered if you fail the credit score test.

I don't think it is widely advertised, but still available.

No,
Easycash is the only other account they do now if you don't get the normal one.

JoseChungsDoomsday

strange thing... on the visa site it states that american banks dont issue electron but when i was there almost everywhere excepts them! puts the UK to shame when you see that happening

arnold_2

The UK does accept them, the problem is that the shop assistants don't know that they accept them and won't swipe the card. Basically a Visa Electron card is just an ordinary Visa card without the embossed numbers on it, so it will work in any machine that accepts normal Visa cards except, of course, those manual embossing type thingy's that used to be used.

The Visa network doesn't really recognise debit cards per se so when you're abroad, a Visa Electron card works just the same as a normal Visa card (with the "credit limit" being the amount of money in the account) and in places like Australia where you've to select "credit card" or "debit card" at the shop terminal, you have to pick "credit card". You can't obviously use it when an embossed card is required but that's pretty rare these days.

Although it has "electonic use only" stamped on it, we have been able to charge people no problem by just keying in their Visa Electron card number on our own terminal so I imagine that you could use a Visa Electron card online too wherever it says that it accepts Visa.

Just to throw another slight confusion into the pot, some Maestro cards can also be used as though they were Mastercards online. These are the ones that have the 16 digits separated out credit card style and start with a "5". I don't know why they're not branded Mastercard debit as they are in the US.


Arnold

bargains83

A lot of shops don't take electron and solo through choice though, for example some companies use the type of card you are using to assess whether you are over 18 and because solo and electron cards are issued to people below this age they just don't take them.

Another reason is floor limits, some tills process transactions without checking that the funds are there in the account first. They then upload all the days transactions to a central computer and charge the accounts then. Visa, Maestro and Mastercards will usually still honour these types of transactions even if the charge amount takes your account unauthorised overdrawn. Electron and Solo don't (or aren't supposed to) allow this and all authorisations should be done at the time the card is handed over. Not later.

With the Introduction of Chip and Pin however, all retailers using this technology carry out all the necessary authorisations at the point of sale. Therefore there shouldn't be any retailer who has a C & P terminal not able to accept Electron cards.

I think the introduction of C & P is what's probably made Electron more accepted in the recent months.

arnold_2

True enough re the floor limits. I'd forgotten about them. However, that would only apply in relatively large stores who presumably would be more likely to accept Electron/Solo anyway.

However, what do they do about international customers? Usually all of those require authorisation straight through regardless of any floor limit.

Chip & PIN doesn't really affect things as all it does is to confirm that you're you when you use your card. It doesn't authorise the transaction and doesn't therefore affect any authorisation limits per se. Even without that though, if an Electron card is swiped, from there on it's treated as though it were a normal Visa card. Solo/Maestro (or rather Switch as the UK doesn't yet issue true Maestro cards) is a bit different as they really are debit cards (the Visa system doesn't really distinguish between credit and debit cards).


Arnold

joelehane

If I pay 3 eurocents for a ryanair flight with visa electron am I charged an overseas transaction charge?

C_Ronaldo

newfoundglory wrote:

Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Coop...

All the Visa/Delta issuing banks, bar a few who choose not to... eg, Nationwide, NPBS...

are you refering to whose cards will work abroad or which cards incur a fee

Alfie_E

joelehane wrote:

If I pay 3 eurocents for a ryanair flight with visa electron am I charged an overseas transaction charge?

You are liable for a charge, but it’s not going to make any difference here. You need to check the exact charges for your account, but the charge is likely to be around 3% of the value. Three percent of 3c… probably best ignored.

Kilty_2

Lloyds TSB (amongst others, but I can quote them since I just read the stuff for my account) charges 2.5% with a minimum charge of £2 and a max of £4.50 for overseas or transactions in foreign currency.

Most if not all banks who charge for such things have a minimum charge.

Kilty_2

As for retailers who don't accept Electron, there really is no need for it nowadays.

In Australia there is an "accept all cards" policy issued by Visa themselves meaning that if the card is a Visa card of any form then it must be accepted by the merchant (providing it's legitimate, etc, obviously, but can't be refused just because it's an Electron card).

As for authorisation, as far as I know my Lloyds TSB Visa Debit card (2 in 1, not full card with cheque guarantee) is authorised before every transaction just like Electron.