I was absolutely gutted when the Halifax reissued my card cash card and it had changed from solo to visa electron. I was straight on the phone as my partner had used one before and found it wasn’t accepted hardly anywhere. The lady I spoke to at the Halifax told me that solo and switch were being phased out and being replaced with maestro and visa Electon, I could’ve cried!!
What is visa Electron ---------------------------- Visa Electron is Visa's electronic payment program, originally launched in the 1980s as a consumer debit product for use with card terminals only. And this explains the inability to use it with a lot of online retailers! Apparently it is accepted at more than 490,000 outlets in the UK. You can also receive up to £50.00 cashback at most supermarkets and many other retailers. The visa electron is not a cheque guarantee card. The good thing about the visa electron is you cannot go overdrawn with it and this applies to solo as well. This is probably the main reason my bank will only let me have a “poor mans” debit card!
The visa electron can be used in all applicable cash machines like the link (you may get charged in these ones). You can use your card aboard in a similar way as in the UK. If you see the electron sign. You can also withdraw money from cash machines displaying the visa or plus logo.
My experience ------------------------ As I said above I was gutted but so far its not been too bad, the places I know accept it are, Boots, Tesco, Sainsburys, Safeways, Amazon, Texaco, Lush, Dorothy Perkins, New Look, Halfords, B&Q as well as most utility providers i.e.; Powergen, BT, Seven Trent water, NTL and Sky. So far the ones who don’t are, BP, Tesco’s petrol stations (?), Carphone Warehouse, WH Smiths, Avon (hmmm handy that….not!)and Play.com. And I’m sure there are others, what I do now is check before I buy or take cash if I’m purchasing for the first time. It is a hassle I know. Other than that you use the card in the same way as a switch or solo and debit cards are most definitely the most convenient ways of paying.
My card has also come with its own little chip in it ready for when the chip and pin process comes into action. The chip and pin process will eliminate signatures all together and upon payment you will be asked for a pin number which you enter into a hand held device given to you by the retailer, this is supposed to be discreet but I’ve seen them and its not. It would be very easy for someone behind you to see the number. I also understand that the pin number is the same for the cash machine so if someone knows it they can get acsess to all your wonderful cash! I would be interested to know your comments about this. Maybe I have the wrong information and therefore the completely wrong impression.
So all in all I will survive I’m sure but I’m desperately trying to repair my credit so I can get a switch card. Thanks for reading, Sarah xx
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thanks this helps a lot, i have the halifax expresscash card and have been trying to link it up to my paypal account, does anyone have any idea if it works because i havent been able to get it to work.
luffy2006 03.01.2007 20:04
I have a Mastercard and Visa Electron, If I must cover for electron not working I switch to mastercard. Alot of retail stores seem to be accepting visa electron more these days I've noticed compared to say 3 years ago. As for online what alot of people don't know is if you select your card as a VISA rather then looking for electron as an option 80% of the times it works. I've been doing it for a long time.
richmincoleford 08.12.2006 18:32
In my experiance play.com do now accept the card! the best soloution i have found is to have a Visa electron with one account and have a solo with another account! This means that you get the benifits of both without the hassle of one not working! The only problem is when a shop (possibly online) doesnt accept ether, such as M&S online [as of 8.12.06].
Advantages: Increased Online Security, Will Eventually Replace The Visa, Excellent And Fast Customer Service, Usually A Good Account Package (From My Experience With Barclays And The Abbey National) Disadvantages: 7.5 million outlets in the UK accept the card. 11.8 million do not, and most smaller shops havent even heard of it. Online usage is still very difficult as most sites still dont accept it.
the_midnight_falcon 14.04.2001 ·
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Review of VISA Electron
Jun 21st, 2004
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