Banks list
This is the list of banks I could find that issue Visa Electron cards in the UK. Most likely, there are a couple of them missing, but my research was thorough. I have started with the April 2009 FSA list of the banks operating in the UK which contained about 200 banks. After visiting each one of the banks websites, I’ve trimmed the the list down to 42 banks that looked likely to issue cards any cards. Then I’ve called each one of them asking if they issued Visa Electron cards. Surprisingly, only 7 positive replies! Please let me know in the comments box if you find any more UK banks that issue Visa Electron cards. Contacted banks that DO issue Visa Electron cards:
Contacted banks that DON’T issue Visa Electron cards yet or anymore:
- Co-Operative bank
- First Trust Bank
- Intelligent Finance
- Smile
- Egg Banking
- Alliance & Leicester
- Arab National Bank
- Anglo Irish Bank Corporation
- Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
- Birmingham Midshires
- Bank of Cyprus
- Bank of Ireland
- Barclays Bank
- Clydesdale Bank
- Cheltenham & Gloucester
- Citibank International
- First Direct
- Svenska Handelsbanken AB
- Harrods Bank
- The Bank of East Asia
- HSBC
- ICICI Bank
- Turkiye Is Bankasi AS
- IBB (Islamic Bank of Britain)
- Lloyds TSB
- NatWest
- National Bank of Abu Dhabi
- National Bank of Dubai PJSC
- Northern Bank
- Philippine National Bank (Europe)
- Qatar National Bank SAQ
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Reliance Bank
- Tesco Personal Finance
- Ulster Bank
- United National Bank
- Yorkshire Bank
- Samba Financial Group
Contacted banks that DON’T and will NOT issue Visa Electron cards in the UK:
- Caixa Geral de Depósitos SA
We might want to make a petition to these banks so they start issuing Visa Electron cards. What do you think are more worth asking for? Do you know if any of these banks issues Visa Electron cards?
FYI, Abbey (Santander) no longer issue Visa Electron cards. If anyone can add to the list – which is already too short – of banks/companies that issue Electron it would be very much appreciated.
Just to let you know some hopefully useful info.
There is another Electron card issuer in the UK you’ve not mentioned: Airdrie Savings Bank. See http://www.airdriesavingsbank.net/ca-electron-account
Also, the link from the Bank of Baroda Page that mentions Electron cards is actually a link to their India website. The correct link that mentions Electron cards in the UK is http://www.bankofbarodauk.com/retail-banking/credit-debit-cards/
Abbey (Now Santander UK) will cease to issue Electron cards this year. They have merged their Electron and ‘full’ VISA debit cards and will now only be issuing VISA ‘Online’ debit cards. It has no embossing, no cheque guarantee facility and the words ‘ELECTRONIC USE ONLY’ like Electron, but has the full VISA logo and is accepted everywhere VISA is taken including online. The only place it can’t be used is at a merchant with no electronic terminal that uses an old ‘zip-zap’ imprinter. The VISA ‘Online’ debit card is also issued by ICICI Bank UK, see http://www.icicibank.co.uk/current_account.html and may well become the de facto replacement for both Electron and embossed VISA debit cards in the UK in the future.
Hope this helps
R
The drawback with Electon Cards is that Supermarkets will not accept them online. My payment was declined with Tesco , (online orders could included Alcohol)and as Electron cards can be issued to Minors they would not accept the payment. I had to then pay using a ‘proper’ Debit Card, which at the time was a pain. So just be aware that if you try to pay for some items online with some Stores using Electron you may get the payment declined.
Hi Ken, thanks for your comment. I’ve opened this website mainly to let people know what airlines don’t charge Visa Electron fees and what banks issue it. But your point is very valid, sometimes merchants don’t accept it. Thanks again!
eileen corkery, did you ever try to open a Visa Electron with http://www.entropay.com ? I live in Ireland and it was no problem. It took about 10 minutes to set up. They issued me with a “virtual” credit card, just for use on-line, not an actual plastic card. I use it for Aer Lingus (& Ryanair until last December), but I haven’t yet tried it with flybe. Mind you, they charge 5% when you load funds onto the account. You can choose to have it in euro or sterling, or even have an account in each (in which case you would need a different username).
flybe do not recognize visa electron prepaid cards say those bought in post office or those got in thomas cook or travelex. Their cards have to be attached to a bank account say part of an account that is set up.
Their systems do not accept entropay either. So an irish person is rightly stuck and has to pay credit card fees because all their options are gone as we are not allowed open a foreign bank ac. We could get an uk citizen to pay for us with their card but that is ackward and not convenient.
So flybe mislead the people by limiting the availability of visa electron.
Hi Guys,
Well done, great site.
For those Ex-pat Brits ‘lost in France’, the French La Poste Banque (Post Office Bank) issue an Electron card called the ‘Realys’. It is attached to a
very simple current account and designed for those with limited funds.
https://www.labanquepostale.fr:443/index/particuliers/au_quotidien/moyens_de_paiements/cartes_de_paiement/carte_Realys.bref.html
Sometimes, it is issued to Brits in France automatically, due to a lack of a credit record in France. However, if you decidedly want one you need to EXPRESSLY DEMAND it, in person and like everything else in France, a great deal of form filling is required, a 3 week wait and they charge a fee of 25Euro PA.
Further, ALL types of debit cards in France are referred to as ‘Carte Blue’, booking via the FRENCH language pages of the Easyjet web-site shows Carte Blue in the drop down payment menu with no booking fee, the last time I looked. This option does NOT appear on the English language pages !
Hi Bonnie,
Thanks for the tip! Has anyone else tried these cards?
Cheers!
Do electron cards have the same protection when purchasing as using credit cards?
No, and nor do any debit cards. Only credit cards offer protection under UK consumer credit legislation.
Thank you Bruno,
Thank you for the information. Could you let us know where did you get that information from?
Cheers!
Yes they do, just not under the Consumer Credit Act. You are still protected in the sense that you can request a chargeback under the Visa membership rules. Basically, for any purchase in a Cardholder Not Present environment you can always charge the transaction back unless you have sent in a signed form for the card, or the merchant has a signature where you state that you received the goods
Thanks to info here and at MSE, I applied and got a Halifax Easycash VISA Electron. All I had to do was make an application online. With the Easycash account they don’t even make a credit check.
Planning to use it with Easyjet. Does any know of international airlines that accept VISA Electron without fees?
Thanks
The Post Office also do what they call a Travel Money Card that is Visa Electron. You can get a Sterling just by walking into a branch with some ID.
You can top it up online and pay for your flights safe in the knowledge that RyanAir have not theived £10 from you!
Hi Frank,
I’ve added a Prepaid cards section a while ago because I also have a Post office card. It works well for me too. It was my first Visa Electron card here in the UK.
Cheers
In any event it is outrageous that there should be a charge for a debit card as the banks dont charge the airlines for using that facility, they only charge for credit card transactions.
Hi Dave,
very true. The fact is that the airlines do this due to a loophole in the law.
I have added a comment about that in the FAQ’s. The airlines have chosen a really uncommon card in the UK to bend the European law regarding the price advertising.
Debit cards attract interchange fees from the acquiring bank. Credit Cards are charged a percentage of the transactional value; Debit cards pay a flat fee (normally somewhere in the region of 15-50p)
If a petition is set up it should be for the banks simply to add the electron symbol to all debit cards issued. This would cost the banks that did it nothing but would increase their account base.
Hi Dave,
thank you for the suggestion. I would like to discuss this idea further to see what are the best options to lobby with the banks to start issuing more Visa Electron cards. Anyone, any more ideas?
Thank you
Co-op Bank issue a Visa Electron Card with their “Cashminder” account
HTH
Hi Steve,
thank you for the info. Do you have the link in their website that states that?
Thanks
Actually, you are very right. It is stated in http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/servlet/Satellite/1193206368743,CFSweb/Page/Bank-CurrentAccounts in the Account Charges pdf link.
I will add it now to the Banks list.
Cheers for that!
Hi, I am just going to get a Visa Electron card from the Bureau de Change at Sainsbury’s. They are promoting it as a cheap, flexible and secure way to take spending power abroad as apposed to Travellers cheques and credit cards. Hope it is true as I am loading all my holiday cash onto it.
Hi Cath,
Thanks for the tip. Please let us know how it goes.
Do you know where can we get more information on it online?
Cheers