Visa Electron Card

Funnily enough there is an article today on the Ryanair credit card fee and Visa Electron

Irish cannot avoid Ryanair €10 credit card charge


[broken link removed]

However, a spokesperson for Visa said the Electron is not issued by banks in Ireland to consumers, which is mainly due to "the dominant position that the domestic Laser scheme has held in the Irish market".
 
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Usual ill informed article from De Paper.

Ryanair said it applies the credit card charge to "defray the substantial administration costs we incur when processing credit and debit cards".
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The most they are paying is 2.5% of the total value. What do they mean by "administration" charges?
 
Read more: [broken link removed]

But Irish residents can open a British current account while having an Irish address. Specifically, with Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland. Currently, UB issues Switch/Maestro cards to their current account customers. However, soon RBS are going to drop Switch/Maestro (which are run by Mastercard), in favour of Visa debit cards.

The real question is, since UB will be using Visa for their debit cards, will they offer only Visa Debit, or will they offer Visa Electron, too?
​
 
bond-007 said:
Is it easy to open an account with them as an Irish resident?
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I haven't tried, to be honest. I opened an Abbey account online, using a relatives address in England. It's very easy, just complete the application online and you're done. The card, PIN and other documentation comes by post in a few days.

I intend on calling them up and telling them that I've "moved" to Ireland and so need to update my address with them. Haven't got round to doing it yet, but I doubt it'd be a problem. Wasn't when I did exactly the same thing with the Nationwide a few months back.
 
Homer said:
I have a Portuguese bank account and the card I got with the account had Visa Electron on it.

I'll try using this the next time I'm booking flights and I'll post the outcome.

Regards
Homer
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I booked some flights tonight and tried to use my Portuguese Visa Electron card.

Unfortunately, the card does not have a CVV number and my booking was rejected, so I had to go back to my tried and trusty MasterCard.

Homer
 
Homer said:
I booked some flights tonight and tried to use my Portuguese Visa Electron card.

Unfortunately, the card does not have a CVV number and my booking was rejected, so I had to go back to my tried and trusty MasterCard.

Homer
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I have read that some people use 000 as the CVV. Works for some. No harm in trying.
 

Hi Gunnerfitzy

Is there an annual charge for the card

and what type of account did you open :
Xtra Account
Current Account
 
k123456 said:
Hi Gunnerfitzy

Is there an annual charge for the card

and what type of account did you open :
Xtra Account
Current Account
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Hi

It was a Xtra account that I opened. This particular account has a €25 annual charge. The bank charges document from the bank states that there is a €3 annual charge for the card also but I can not remember ever seeing this on the statements. Unfortunately I am in Spain at the moment and the statements are in Ireland so I'm not in a position to verify this.

Hope this helps.
 
it is the Cashminder account that you need to open with the Halifax. i think they are just about the only bank doing them now. we are based in the UK and got ours last week, should have got them ages ago really as we fly regular to ireland.
the cooperative bank in the UK no longer issue them.
 

He is talking about Halifax Spain (€).


You are talking about Halifax UK (£).
 
Fly Aer Arann, Malev, or one of many other airlines that do not penalise you for using credit cards. Its only Ryanair and Aer Lingus that persistently penalise customers. Some of the brokers don't charge either.
 
lff12 said:
Fly Aer Arann, Malev, or one of many other airlines that do not penalise you for using credit cards. Its only Ryanair and Aer Lingus that persistently penalise customers. Some of the brokers don't charge either.
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Lovely idea in theory. However not all airlines fly from/to the same airports and even with CC charges some airlines are still cheaper than others. Airlines are companies with different strategies on how to make the most money. Refusing to fly with an airline just because they have a separate CC charge is just pie in the sky! (pun intended)
 
It is like all the smartarses that say "If you don't like Ryanair, fly with someone else". Often times Ryanair are the only game in town and you have no choice but to use them.
 
Hi Gunnerfitzy

Just looking at your info on the Spanish Halifax a/c. I see the 25 Euro annual charge for the Xtra account. There's also a current account and i'm trying to work out the charges for that one.

It dosen't state a cost for a VISA Electron card but I think that could be 3 Euro per year? Also looking at the terms and conditions, it looks like a 18 Euro charge every 6 months for balances less than 600 Euro for non-residents. The 'in general' charge is 5 Euro every 6 months.

So, working from that, if you open up a current a/c with a balance always over 600 Euro, ask for a VISA Electron card, you will be charged 13 Euro / year?

Is there a charge to move money between Irish banks (in my case BOI) and Halifax Spain?

Now that I think about it, I actually have a mortgage with Halifax, I wonder can I do anything there?

Link to rates are below:
 

All the above sounds right to me, but it may be a good idea to give them a call to be certain. The xtra account costs a little more a year but you do not have to maintain the minimum balance.

You can transfer up to €50,000 to any euro bank account within the eurozone without any charges although some banks have an admin fee (PTSB 50c per transaction) again, double check with your bank. You must have the IBAN and BIC of the account you wish to credit.

My Irish current account is with halifax and once one transfer in completed in branch then its possible for any other transfers to be initiated by calling telephone banking. Handy!
 

Does the UK government have a unfair and high stamp duty on plastic cards like ours does ? Thats another cost to consider. I suspect they dont.
 
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