Visa Electron Card

[jamesnan]

It seems that the only way at present to pay for Easyjet tickets without incurring an extra charge is to use an Electron Visa card. My ticket cost £39 and there was then a charge of almost £13 to use my credit card to pay for it.
Apparently Halifax do supply them, (I have had an account with them for many years) if you open an Easycash account, but for which they want all sorts of financial information. It also seems that it is mostly students who have this type of card. Is there any other account which supplies this card? I intend to use it only for making online payments occasionally(usually with Easyjet) and for small amounts. I do not like to give out financial information unnecessarily but object to paying out an extra third of the ticket cost just to have the security of a credit card when paying online.

[boxtops]

Is this the sort of card you can buy which you can preload - places like WH Smith sell them? if so, it sounds worth buying one, just to use at times like this!

[boxtops]

^^ mind you, I don't know then if you get the same sort of transaction security as you would if you paid by credit card...

[sherrardk]

If you have a crap credit history you can open a Co-op account that gives you an Electron card (but then they upgrade it after a couple of years) - some places won't take it though (Tesco online for example).

[Buenchico]

If you already hold a Halifax current account, you're automatically barred from obtaining an EasyCash account:
https://secure.curren...Account&secured=false

Two years ago MoneySavingExpert.com stated that the only alternative was Bank of Scotland:
http://www.moneysavin...blow-as-visa-electron

However the BoS website now indicates that, like all other banks (except Halifax), they've ditched the Visa Electron card in favour of a standard Visa debit card:
http://www.bankofscot...kaccounts/other/cash/

Anyway, the extra fees for using debit/credit cards will soon be disappearing (so that there would be no advantage to holding a Visa Electron card) but you'll still be charged the same total amount, as the extra money will simply be added onto fares or other charges:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16301923

Chris

[jamesnan]

Thanks for the answers - I thought that they would not be dropping the charge till about end 2014. It is not the card that you pre-load, if only - I have a good credit history so the Co-op is worth inviestigating. My account with the Halifax is not a current account, but I object to giving them my financial information just so that I don't have to pay extra on airline tickets. I may just get my grandson to use his card to pay for the tickets, and give him the cash- it would be easier.

[Buenchico]

Told you so!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16546582