Prepaid cards list
Hi guys, I’ve decided to open this new area because apparently there are some prepaid Visa Electron cards. So far, there was only one person to suggest a company that does it and I have found another one. Please let me know if you know of any other companies that issue prepaid Visa Electron cards or if you have ever used one of these cards successfully. Thank you!
Yes, the PostOffice Travel Money card no longer exists, and the link should be removed from this page.
Interestingly, RyanAir have moved to Prepaid MasterCards as their preferred option. I use a free one from Phones4U – go in store and enquire.
http://www.compareprepaid.co.uk/reviews/escape-card.html
We have just purchased a Visa Electron from Travelex at Tesco, and are now worried we will not be able to use it in Petrol Stations and Tolls in France. Can anyone help please?
Thanks
Mastercard has aquired the Travelex pre-paid card business, so expect some re-branding to MC from Visa Electron. Travelex issue cards via Thomas Cook, ASDA, Sainsbury’s and others.
http://www.travelex.com/us/press/ENG/doc-tvx-selects-mastercard-for-strategic-global-prepaid-alliance.asp
The Post Office stopped issuing their prepaid Electron card about a month ago – the day before I went in to apply for one!
Thomas Cook have replaced the Visa Electron card for the Cash passport with the Master card.
Post office have stopped issuing Travel Money card to new customers.
http://www.entropay.com do a “virtual” visa electron: they issue you with a number & expiry date & you can load money on to an account. They charge 4.95% when you load money on to the card, which actually works as a debit card. I was using it for Ryanair until about Dec 2009, since then the only card Ryanair accept without a fee is a pre-paid Mastercard
Me too, today bahhh!
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Halifax do a Sterling only, Electron card which is certainly accepted by Aer Lingus, so probably other airlines as well. The great advantage of this card over the Post Office card, is that you do not have to keep any money in the account, BUT, you can make an internet transfer from another bank, (must be one of the big 5 high street banks who offer immediate transfers to similar banks) and the money arrives into the account immediately, so you can be online looking at the flight you want, open another webpage and transfer the money, knowing that the money is there to pay for it, whereas with the Post Office card, you have to wait 24 hours before you can access the funds. You can only apply for it and operate it online – you can’t add or withdraw funds over the counter. As I say, it’s sterling only, but I have one of these to book flights from the UK and need a Euro card to book flights back from Ireland, to replace the Post Office card which had too many limitations – i.e. only allow cardholder to load money over the phone, which is when you got the best rate and you had to wait 24 hours to access funds.
Hi AYJAYB, thank you for your comment!
flybe do not accept travelex or thomas cook visa electron. Or post office electron.
So unless you can open an uk based bank account and have a plastic visa electron card that is that option out .
They also do not regnogize entropay accounts.
flybe should introduce a prepaid mastercard like ryanair did and that would solve everything.
Hi Eppie,
I’m not sure they should add charges to anything to be honest. They used to offer Visa Electron, now it’s the prepaid Mastercard. It’s all s strategy to promote certain cards that are not that popular and also be compliant with the advertising laws…
Or if push comes to shove, there’s also the Barclay’s Gift Card (https://www.barclaysgiftcard.co.uk/)
You can load it with between £10 and £300. Not sure if it’s a one time load or if you can convert it to become reloadable though.
HTH
Cheers
Nick
Hi Nick,
Thanks for the tip. I’ll add it as soon as I have time.
Cheers!
Post Office is easiest – their Travel Money Card which is a visa electron can be obtained online within 7 days -or immediately at a post office that has foreign exchange facility. – They offer sterling, euro, and dollar accounts – the euro/dollar ones are best because there are no fees.
Hi. Love your site, lots of good info.
You haven’t mentioned the Thomas Cook Cash Passport which is a reloadable Visa Electron card (Issued by Travelex Bank). Obtainable from, and reloadable at Thomas Cook branches. I obtained one of these to obtain cash abroad rather than using travellers cheques. I have used it to obtain cash from ATMs in Mainland Spain and Gran Canaria without any difficulty. It can also be used for purchases, and I therefore assume could be used to pay for a flight.
The card is designated to a specific currency, there is a choice of several including GBP and Euro. There is a £1.50 (or 2.00 euro) fee for each ATM withdrawal. Only other fee is if the card is not used for over 15 months. Hope this information is useful.
See http://www.cashpassport.com for more info.
Hi Richard,
thanks for the info. I will try to get one of these and try it out on my next trip. This looks very promising. I will open a new section for prepaid Visa Electron cards. Do you know of any others?
Cheers
Re: Fee for ATM withdrawls.
If you get the card directly from Travelex (can be delivered or picked up at Travelex outlet) there is NO charge. http://www.cashpassport.com/1/PageFiles/819/travelex%20Cash%20Passport_online.pdf?epslanguage=en-CA
This also applies to the ones from Sainsburys and Tesco (Stores, NOT online)