Pre-paid?
There are many pre-paid “credit cards” available worldwide. At Ambrand Dot Com we have an unexplainable interest in banking, and are pleased to share our knowledge with you gratis. (wow, banking and gratis in the same sentence)
The idea is to get a card that is as similar to a real credit card as possible. Now one thing that cannot be replicated is the credit element, but ideally everything else should be the same, i.e. paper statement or online statement, and most importantly a physical plastic card.
USA 1 - Ireland 0
The ultimate pre-paid card in the world is the Visa Buxx, which as with so many other ultimates is available to US residents only. It is the ultimate because it provides the user with a physical card, and that card isin’t just good for wallet flash value it allows the user to pay in bricks and mortar stores.
Virtual?
This brings us to the competition known as “virtual” pre-paid cards. As their name suggests they do not provide the user with a physical plastic card. This creates many problems, such “cards” will not work
- in bricks and mortar stores
- here a card is required to collect a paid item from a vending machine (eg. cinema tickets)
- here a merchants asks for a fax of the front and back of a card to prove you have it in your possession (ie to prove its your card and not just a number you noted while you worked in a restaurant)
So ok, by process of elimation you can only use the card for online, mailorder and phone transactions. You can live with that right?
Why don’t you just a get a real “credit” card?
Well lets examine why anyone would want a pre-paid credit in the first instance, it will be because
- They are unemployed (eg. student) and cannot be granted “credit” by a bank
- They are employed, but have a history of defaulting on credit repayments.
- They are an immigrant and their impressive credit history abroad is not recognised by the Irish cartel of banks that use the faceless Irish Credit Bureau.
Laser pointless
The students in the first category can easily get a Laser card (the Irish brandname for the Maestro debit card) from AIB Bank, indeed this is now an automatic feature of the 3rd Level Student Plus Account. The other Banks are not worth approaching; Bank of Ireland are stuck in the 1990s and don’t even use 3D secure! Permanent TSB don’t even offer Chip and Pin debit cards! But returning to the point the Laser card is only good in Ireland.
The options
So if you must get a pre-paid “card” in Ireland what are your options. There are two contenders 3V and Wirecard.
3v?
At first glance 3v looks good. Its provided “in association with” Permanent TSB, which is one of the large Irish Banks, and it is a Visa number and not a common MasterCard number as most pre-paid numbers are. However there are too many problems with 3v
- EUR 5 immediate purchase fee (dead money, and in fairness there is no need for such a fee as Permanent TSB will make a profit every time the card is used from the percentage fee the merchant is obliged to pay)
- 60 day expiration
- A new card number every time your topup (this makes merchants think you are up to some scam, getting a new card every week, and many automatically freeze your account)
- EUR 2.50 redemption of unused credit fee (there would be no need for a redemption if the card number didn’t change)
- Its hard to topup, despite being offered “in association with” Permanent TSB who have an impressive nationwide branch network, you must visit a reseller such as a local newsagent or supermarket that has a terminal to buy a topup voucher (such shops are dropping 3v every day, and the list on the website is fantasy)
One user of boards.ie summed up how much 3v sucks in a succinct post
“Thats crap…”
and continued
“…so If you buy a €50 euro voucher, you have to pay a €5 fee and have to use that within 60 days, and if your balance goes to say €2.90, you have to pay €2.50 to get 40 cents back, and you cant top up on the €2.90…”
Wirecard
Wirecard is both the name of a German bank, and it’s flagship product. This explains the duplication in its URL https://www.wirecard.com/wirecard/
In the most learned and serene opinion of Ambrand Dot Com this is the best pre-paid virtual card available in Ireland today, of course it is still a virtual card, and we know the hinted physcal card option will never materialise for Irish customers thanks to the Irish Government stamp duty of EUR 40 on credit cards, which would make issuance uneconomic for Wirecard, but it has many positives
- 2 year validity
- Same card number
- A resonable EUR 1 topup fee
- denominated in Euro (Germany is in the Eurozone)
Topups are done by a credit transfer to wirecards dublin Bank of Ireland account (which can be done online, or if you so desire in a Bank of Ireland branch) or topups are done by an IBAN credit transfer to your own account in Wirecard bank! its nice that Wirecard Bank are more involved in their product the Permanent TSB who seem to view 3v as a contractual obligation to 3V Transaction Services Ltd.
Is there any actual plastic card on the market in Ireland at the moment?
no
Thank you.I have spoken to wirecard people and they told me that there could be one soon on the Irish market.There is a prepaid card “easykard” in UK that covers Ireland as well.There is a possibility to pay trough payzone so that the funds can reflect on the account in 24 hours.The only problem is that payzone is not so widespread in Ireland.
Can an Irish Resident obtain in Ireland a Prepaid Card for use both in Ireand and the rest of the world?
I just read this review and it is brilliant, thank you so much for the info!
I don’t understand why the UK and Ireland are so far behind this virtual card technology.
I am Portuguese and believe it or not we are so far ahead on this it´s not even funny! There is a service called mbnet. You associate your debit card to this service on a cash machine and online you can use the login details you get in the cash machine to set up a virtual credit card. This CC is active for 1 month and you determine the limit you want for that particular credit card.
I was thinking of getting one of these prepaid CC but I don’t think it is worth it! I’ll keep putting money in my portuguese account (on AIB you can transfer money in euro, by internet banking, free of charge) and will keep using mbnet to do all my online shopping!
Well, I just thought I’s share this with all of those who have the opportunity to use this instead of being ripped off by these prepaid CC companies!!!
Virgin UK have a proper prepaid “Mastercard”. I am not sure if it is available to UK residents only though?
thanks for info,
Was going to use 3v but have now regestered with wirecard. Why dont they advertise in Ireland more. It just shows how Irish consumers are getting ripped off by Irish companies
Re: Virgin prepay MasterCard
Without even reading the small print I can guarantee* that the Virgin card will not be available to residents of “Eire”. Even if its not de jure, it will be de facto impossible because it will want a postcode
(as they say in the simpsons this is not a guarantee)
Re: Wirecard advertising
This is the internet! You will not see adverts on a street corner in Dublin for wirecard but anyone who wants a prepay product will google it and find out about wirecard. What is funny however is 3V’s paucity of advertising.
Hi,
Good article but missing perfectcard.eu
Call them to order your card. works in normal shops as well as online.
Also, virgin prepaid can be used by irish residents as long as you know someone in the uk to sign p for you.
Thanks for the link to perfectcard.eu / .ie. I was excited as I clicked it, however just like the MBNA Ireland Gift Card its just a “please call back later” website. The product is not available, and I’ll wager (zero euro!) that it will never be.
With nall due respect. You clearly didn’t try very hard.
Its avialbale over the phone by email, by post and in Dundrum Shopping centre.
I know of 100s off people who use it.
I had a look at EasyKard. You can register with them with an Irish address and have a card designated in Euros, but… The fees are horrendous! They’ll charge you €20 euros to get the card, 9.99 of which is a fee, then they’ll also charge a whopping €70 euros for getting a ‘foreign’ card, and then there are all the transaction fees and monthly handling fees as well as a fee if you don’t use the card!
Definitely one to avoid. On a connected note, why aren’t PayPal more useful in Ireland? I had an account in the UK when I lived there and could link seamlessly with my bank account to transfer money up and down to the PayPal account. I wouldn’t need a virtual card if it was just as user friendly over here- but it isn’t as I can’t just add funds simply from my bank account.
Thanks for the info though.
Appreciated.
Very useful review. The 3V system is primitive, restrictive and expensive, now doubt they are exploring ways that every time you look to check your balance that will be another Euro.
There are other reasons why banks don’t give credit cards and that if you have an unorthodox lifestyle or income. Due to mix up I had my Bank of Ireland credit card account closed while abroad, they now claim it is because I did not pay stamp duty and that could affect my credit status; big dispute on here.
Their decision makers are all functionaries who follow the rules (they live and die by the rules)and if you make them think they get very angry and say NO!! So even though I have been good customer for years I am told to piss off and stop annoying them. They have reverted back to the banking philosophy of the 70s, i.e. the customer is the enemy, the PR is bullshit but perfect to throw in their faces
In the meantime I have checked out perfectcard.eu but all I get is perfectcard.ie with no info of how to become a customer. Ukash with their horrendous pink website looks equally suspicious while wirecard looks the business, very professional lay out, services that are reasonable and usable world wide, so that’s where I’m going now,
Long live anarchy!
perfect card is only available in dundrum shopping centre, have to go there to get a new one each time
I was looking up that Perfect Card and the minute I seen it was connected to Newcastle Building Society it clicked my memory as it is a Easykard product too but seems to be a agent or company connected to them.
Thanks for the info. very helpfull and clear. It doesnt surprise me a lot of shops have opted out of 3V. I did speak with a shopowner and she told me she had gotten fed up with all these customers coming in and wanting refunds on vouchers that she was unable to give. In the end it proved more trouble than its worth. The biggest problem I had with it is that the limit on them is only 350 euro, which means you`re stuck with relatively low level purchases. This is not a cheap country to live in, and a E350 ceiling is pathetic.
Hi,
Great article. It seems ridiculous to me that 3v don’t offer their customers a physical account that they can log into. I am also surprised that these pre-paid credit cards don’t offer bank funding, giving the users the option to top-up there pre-card or account using a bank account, like with PayPal.
It seems that the residents of Ireland never receive the benefits of fully using payment systems. We have only one option for pre-paid credit cards, we cannot use the likes of PayPal as they don’t offer bank funding for Ireland… Starting to feel hard done by as I have no intention of getting a credit card.
I didn’t even know about Wirecard until I looked here, I use 3v and as someone else said here, e350 limit is no use especially if you need to book a flight to the USA or even a basic package holiday on line.
I will definatly look into getting myself signed up for a Wirecard
Mike.
Eamon
you can log into your 3v account at www.3v.ie and can check the balance on said account
3 v cost too uch
FYI
Wire card now offer a physical card for an annual fee of about 30 pm,,,,, really good value on charges etc… they seem to be really customer focussed and their German so you can expect efficiency!
Hi,
After using Wirecard for a year I am a satisfied customer. I transfer money via Internet banking from BoI, not a great choice but it doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re in. You can also apply for a piece of plastic if you need, but the numbers are you need for the Internet
An alternative is the Halifax Debit Card, you get a piece of plastic and if you have money in the account it acts same as a credit card. However they have a woeful amount of paperwork, they wanted my PRSI no., that’s a first and Internet banking is a hassle since after two attempts to get a working password from an easily damaged scratch card, apparently metal destroys the number.
Ian
Wirecard seems to have not the option to transfer the money into an irish bank account like said in the article. I just requested that with wirecard and will let you know. The reason why I paste this is that the Postbank does not have the possibility to make international transfers. So I only can transfer money to irish bank accounts.
But those are only minor issues in my opinion. The product wire card and the free Everyday account of Postbank are a great value over all. Wirecard offers a ‘real’ prepaid credit card and gives you on request even a real card in your hands. The Postbank account gives the real possibility to do secure online banking, not like other banks do. The only downside is like I mentioned earlier non international money transfers.
Ryanair have a prepaid mastercard Card out too. -E80 fee!
A review that misses the fundamental point. I am involved in the credit debit/card business. I was a 3V customer but am not a frequent user any more (due to the simple fact I have a credit card now!) However I still use it on the odd occasion when I don’t want to use my credit card number online such as some music sites
The fundamental point is that 3v and Wirecard are aimed at 2 different markets. You are not comparing like for like. 3V is for unbanked - no access to a bank account so no option to credit transfer to the product. That is why it is purchased in shops. Think of it like mobile top-up - why would you buy mobile top-up in shops if you had a bank account/credit card? You wouldn’t - it would be cheaper & easier to do it online. Yet its still 80% odd of the market. Same applies to 3V. Much of the charge for 3V would go to the shop owner for providing this service.
Being tied to a credit card or bank account means Wirecard is a heavier regulated product. Thats why with that product you have higher limits and are able to top up. Good news for the consumer but more legal administrative duties for the company. 3V appears to be much more lightly relgulated and would be why the limits are low and top-up is not available without further customer verification. Funds redemption is a legal requirement with these products - you always have to offer it. The fees are there to discourage it due to administration overheads.
BTW All the new shopping centre gift cards in Ireland - Dundrum, etc, are disposable prepaid cards. If they have a MasterCard brand, you can use it in any store MasterCard is accepted - not just in the shopping centre! the centres don’t like you knowing this but it makes it an infinitely better gift! Generally speaking online usage is blocked.
So what product is best for you? Depends who you are and what you want to do. If you have no bank account, paid cash in hand, and want to book the odd flight online then 3V. It will be a lot cheaper than a product with an annual fee. If you are banked, want to do a lot of online shopping. but can’t get a credit card or want to tightly control your budget then Wirecard.
Credit cards make their money through charging interest. prepaid do not have this option and the bit the reviewer mentions that the bank gets from the acquiring fee is miniscule relatively speaking and would go nowhere near feeding all the mouths in the food chain. All prepaid cards/vouchers will have fees. Fact. Whether they be on purchase of the product, annual, per transaction, etc, they will all have them. Read the small print and decide based on your habits what is the best option for you
mbna do a physical visa prepaid. see mygiftcard.ie
Hi,
There is a new prepaid MasterCard that has just launched in Ireland in the last two weeks. I want to say here that I work for the company, I won’t pretend not to and ‘hype’ up the card. If you want anymore information on it check out our website www.payzonemoney.ie. We offer an alternative to 3V in the form of a physical MasterCard that can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted.
Payzone have a prepaid reloadable mastercard. €6 to buy. Great value.
An update on wirecard - they can no longer be paid through Bank of Ireland it has to be via SWIFT or SEPA to their German account. Which makes it less attractive in conjunction with PostBank.
I’m still trying to find a good solution for getting money from PostBank to Paypal.
There is a new product in Ireland - payzone money - look at www.payzonemoney.com.
Its superb - I got one a few weeks ago and I can load cash onto my prepaid mastercard and use it online as well as in shops and atms all over the world
Hi
I just compared the costs involved of wirecard https://www.wirecard.com/wirecard/Home.html
and payzone
http://www.payzonemoney.ie/
Wirecard:
If you use only their virtual mastercard there are no costs at all. For the plastic card you have to pay a annual fee of €24.90 plus €5 shipping.
Like Steve said before you cannot lodge money into it with the Postbank account. But according to Postbank they are working on the international money transfers. So this should be solved soon.
To purchase something in a store with the card, you pay no fee.
To withdraw money at an ATM you 2% or min. €4.50.
Payzone:
To get the card you must purchase the pack for €6.
To load money on the card you pay a fee of €3.50 up to €350. From €350 to €500 you pay €5.95 for the “top up”. An this can’t be done online. This has to be done in one of the participating shops.
For every transaction (in store, online and phone) you pay 2.95%.
To withdraw money at an ATM it costs €1.50.
So two examples:
1. Online puchase for €50:
- wirecard (virtual): €50
- wirecard (plastic): €50
- payzone: : €54.98 = €50 + €3.50 (to topup)+ €1.48 (2.95%)
2. costs of a €100 ATM cash withdraw on holidays:
- wirecard (plastic): €104.50 (€4.50 fee)
- payzone : €105 (topup €3.50 and €1.50 fee)
I did this because I was quite shocked of the hidden costs of the payzone card.
Thanks all for your posts, It’s nice to see that others are interested in this topic.
Well, I spent EUR 6 (paid with my Real MasterCard) and got a Payzone card.
I prefer my wirecard because as guar said
1. Payzone cannot be topped up online
2. Payzonetopup fees are high (wirecard just takes EUR 1 from every topup regardless of amount, so when I put in EUR 100 I get EUR 99)
However, with the spreading use of GeoIP both cards have a flaw. My address in Ireland but the Wirecard BIN (dammit that BIN Checker website is gone) is German, and the Payzone BIN is in some European country beginning with L, is it the tax haven one, or the Eastern European one? don’t have card to hand now.
So I CANNOT USE EITHER CARD TO PAY FOR ITUNES MUSIC
I rarely use capital letters but this is serious, very serious.
payzone worldwide money master card useless pice of plastic. cant use in local stores as is only swipe card. all retail now use chip and pin cant pay o2 on line or over phone will not process also used on tmobile uk would not process. would not like to be in line at tesco with 200 euros worth of shopping. with only payzone card to pay with.
mn
I just applied for a Wirecard, and deposited some money from my Halifax Visa debit card. I hope it will go through.
MBNA giftcard is just a scam. I ordered it on the phone, they took my BoI credit card details, they took the money 5 euro fee, but never sent the card. I called them several times after a few weeks, but they didn`t have a clue about anything (by the way the number on their website rang in the USA, they don`t even have a branch in Ireland, only an office at Stephen`s Green where they don`t accept clients)
The way MBNA operates just isnn`t cricket.
Finally after about a month an a half I asked BoI to charge my money back.
In the UK the Royal Post has a prepaid card, only for UK addresses.
I have a 3V. I never used it.
Why so many cards? Because I`m still looking for the best solution for a card for internet purchases.
As Wirecard is based in Germany, would that not make it exempt from the Irish Credit Card Stamp Duty?
I don’t believe it is the country of issue which is the problem here. The L is likely Lux or Lich as you say (The issueing bank should be noted on the reverse of the card and a quick google will tell you where they are based)
I think the issue may be (and I’m guessing from my own previous experiences) that both cards may be issued using DEBIT BINs as opposed to CREDIT BINs i.e. they are actually treated like debit cards as opposed to credit cards from a processing perspective. A lot of prepaid cards use debit as opposed to credit for a variety of reasons. If this is the case I would suspect, and again I’m guessing having never used ITUNES site, that they do not accept DEBIT cards due to the high transaction fees relevant to the cost of the product. For example DEBIT card fees are charged as a fixed fee to the merchant & generally range from 20 to 30 cent. On a 99c music download this is a very significant hit for the merchant (30%). Credit Cards on the other hand charge merchants a percentage fee - I’m guessing ITUNES pays no more than 1.5% on credit card fees. The answer if you are ITUNES? Simply don’t take debit card products!
In response to Guar. Hidden costs? I don’t see much hidden. Again back to my original response. These are 2 different products for 2 different markets. To compare them as you did and in the manner you did is plain wrong. You should compare pricing based on **what you need the product for** and amortize it over a year to get a true cost. for example, compare them first as a Money Transfer product (which is what Payzone’s is).
Taking a realistic average on this a Money Transfer product might have say 4 loads over the year, 2 at €300 and 2 @ €500. The recipient may do 12 monthly withdrawls of €100. comparing this pricing for the 2 products:
Wirecard Load Fees : €0
Wirecard Withdrawal Fees : €54
Wirecard Annual Fees : €25
Total cost of Wirecard for the year : €79
Payzone Load Fees : €17
Payzone Withdrawal Fees : €18
Payzone Annual Fees : €0
Total cost of Payzone for the year : €35
The Payzone card beats the pants off wirecard for this type of usage. Now lets look at a product for online shopping (which is much more the market Wirecard is aiming at)
A realistic usage pattern for this may be 4 loads per year, 2 @ €200 and €2 at 400, followed by 12 online purchases @ €100
Wirecard Load Fees : €0
Wirecard Purchase Fees : €0
Wirecard Annual Fees : €25
Total cost of Wirecard for the year : €25
Payzone Load Fees : €24
Payzone Purchase Fees : €48.50
Payzone Annual Fees : €0
Total cost of Wirecard for the year : €72.50
In this case Wirecard kicks seven shades out of Payzone. You first look at what is the product fit, then your usage, then the fees.
Now in saying this, currently the only way to get funds onto Wirecard from this country is by credit card transfer (and why would you get a wirecard if you had a credit card??) for which the fee is 3% which blows Wirecard out of the water on the numbers above. So realistically there is no way to put money onto a wirecard for the average user in Ireland - what is the cost of this inconvenience??? You can be sure that when Postbank offer their solution, which given the way that company is going I’d pe bretty sure is waaaay down their priority list, whatever it is it won’t be cheap.
Sorry for the long post, but I’m not a fan of uninformed critiques of any product or service and like to try get a bit of perspective on things.
What really annoyed me was in the shop I opened the packet to check fees and terms & conditions. It read NO LOAD FEES, NO USAGE FEES.
Then When I go to use them.. fees to put money on, fees to spend money, fees to use, fees if you dont use it…
Really is a JOKE. In the UK most cards charge you to load OR spend not both. Any they have a Pay Monthly fee if you prefer i.e you pay £4.95 a month for unlimited use.
Regarding John’s comment (May 26th) it is not correct to say that the only way to get money into Wirecard is by credit card transfer. It is an international bank so you can make international transfers from any bank in Ireland and if you have internet a/c with your bank than these transfers can be done online from anywhere.
Thanks to John for your perspective on this!….and indeed all other contributors…all makes perfect sense to me now , and John you’re the first to make some sense of it. I shall NOT be applying either the wirecard or the payzone card, and although I live in Ireland, I still use my UK credit cards (gets around the Irish govt’s rip off levy!) I shall just have to ‘trust’ the wife to use the credit card ’sensibly’, when shopping online, which was my only real reason for considering this type of product. But the cost of these things is ridiculous, when you consider that you have PRE-paid money onto these cards, the issuing banks have the use of your money and the interest gained on it whilst in their possession, maybe I’m just tight, but I would have thought they could charge very little for this type of thing, and still make a handsom profit.
Thanks Pete - as I said before I am at a slight advantage here in that I worked in this specific industry for some time so know the background. The reason you have fees on prepaid cards/vouchers is that without them there is actually bugger all revenue to be made. If you compare them to credit cards - credit card issuers make huge revenue off interest charged. This is not an option for prepaid. Also you mention that banks have the use of the money on the card. Actually they largely don’t. Prepaid Cards are generally issued under European E-Money Regulations as opposed to standard banking regulations. Under these regulations they cannot invest the float they are sitting on - unlike their other deposits. They have to keep it in a guaranteed, approved account which generally pay very low rates of interest. And on top of this there is a double whammy - more mouths to feed. Prepaid card programs are generally run by small, commercial organizations out to make a business out of it. They obviously have to make money out of it in order for it to be a viable business. The banks themselves rarely run prepaid card programs as it interferes with their traditional cards business. However they will act as issuing Bank and allow use of their BIN numbers to these organizations - in return for a nice fee or revenue share. Also if you are selling or reloading these cards through retailer then you also have to pay the retailer. And I can tell you that they are fair greedy. Without fees, and sizeable ones at that there simply is no business case for these products. from a consumer perspective it all comes down to asking yourself do I actually need a credit card type product and can’t get an actual credit card for whatever reason. You’d be surprised at how many people there are whose answer is Yes.
check out the site above
Hello Everybody,
just a hint: with the online payment company “Neteller” (neteller.com) it is possible to get a pre-paid Mastercard called “Net “. There used to be a few euro monthly “dormancy” fee if you did not use it that month, but as I see it’s no more there. Anyway, I pay my monthly broadband fee with that card, so I did not pay for the card itself at all. You can also have “Virtual” pre-paid cards for paying online ( this cards’ number are valid only why you are paying).
Hi,any views on the Anonymous mastercard , it sounds great but i can`t help thinking that with a name like that there has to be a catch.
Yes Neteller seem a decent alternative to 3v. The charge for loading your virtual card is 1.75% of the amount you load it by. so for a 300 euro top it would be 5.25 as opposed to 3vs 5 euro. But it’s obviously cheaper for lesser amounts. The main advantage is convienience. You can use your laser card to top it up whenever you like.
Moved to Ireland 3 years ago and i see so many people blogging about banks yet no one mentions credit unions. They are not big where i come from. Here you have leaders. Bishopstown’s Credit Union offers a PrePaid MasterCard with no charges. Corkonians Speak with your euro and not on the blogs. Change over to the Credit Union.
Viva la Revolucion!
Adopted Corkonian
To follow-up on Dave’s post about Paypal it seems that you can now transfer money into your Paypal account by bank transfer. About time!
I’ve been using Wirecard for the last couple of years and after a bumpy start (with paying into their BoI account initially) it’s been smooth sailing since (paying direct with bank transfer).
I have come across oceans of these boards and am confused as to why Irish people talk about looking around for a good deal but when they find it they dont bother changing. Have told loads of my friends and work colleagues about the Bishopstown Credit Union debit card and while they all know about it they still have not picked up one. The fact is there are NO loading fees or charges with the account no ATM charges like the astronomical 2.75% of some institutions and you dont need to stand on one leg with a pineapple under your arm to use it. I have used the debit card all over the world and never had a problem as it has the MasterCard symbol. The only thing I dont like is that they are the only credit union to offer it. Other credit unions need to get a move on. Everyone who can get one should get one - even to try out as it doesnt cost anything and if you dont like it you can hand it back with no charge. A bit of a no brainer, if you ask me.
Confused in Cork - Xavier
Xavier the credit union only accept local residence who live and work around… they wont take application from people from other towns
But here is the news…
Ulster bank now offering visa debit with every account the same way Halifax was offering it in Ireland.
Hi all,
Payzone’s prepaid mastercard works great for me. I can use it on Ryanair and save the €10 administrative fee p/p. I saved €60 with one booking but I did have to pay the fees on the card, load, purchase etc but I still ended up saving nearly €50. I’ve heard bad things about the credit union cards- not accepted and hard to get one if you dont live in that particular location. Payzone are bringing out a new instant voucher, similar to that of 3V I persume but apparently its instant- so you can get it and use it all in the one day which is pretty convenient for last minute shopping. Its called ‘Swirl’ but I don’t know when exactly it is coming out!
DESPERATLY need a plastic prepaid credit card in ireland ..credit has been shot to hell and to get back to work i need the use of a card ..any advice would be greatly appriaciated …jan 27th 2011