Laser card v Visa debit card

wiger toods

Whats the difference between these two cards, folks? Sick of my laser card, because the bloody thing is useless(apart from using it in ireland). The ould laser card is no good for the online purchase outside of ireland, so can the visa debit card cut it instead? thanks:)

alexlyons

yes

Solair

Laser is a national debit card scheme that was developed by the major Irish banks and only works in Ireland. Laser Cards usually carry a Maestro co-brand which allows them to be used for point-of-sale transactions in other countries. However, you can only use it online or on the phone as a Laser card i.e. on a very limited number of websites. Maestro only works physically.

Visa Debit is operated by Visa International and is a full-blown Visa card in every sense of the word i.e. you can use it just like a Visa Credit Card anywhere that Visa's accepted. The only difference is that instead of being a credit card, it's linked to your current account. It's far more flexible.

Ulster Bank, and PTSB have abandoned Laser in favour of Visa Debit and Bank of Ireland is due to follow suit later this year.

I think Laser's basically going to disappear over the next while as the only major bank that will be issuing it fairly soon will be AIB.

1966

Debit Card can be used in other countries / online similar to your Credit Card.

Far superior to Laser.

wiger toods

Excellent! thanks everyone. im with boi so il just wait by the post box until my shiny new visa debit card arrives!:D

furiousox

There's a software bug that hasn't been addressed by a small number of retailers yet.
If you use your card for a sale it'll be fine but if you try and add cashback it'll fail.
It's an issue with the till software not the card.

Solair

wiger toods wrote: »

Excellent! thanks everyone. im with boi so il just wait by the post box until my shiny new visa debit card arrives!:D

You could be waiting a while, they're starting the rollout in mid 2011 :

http://www.webpayments.ie/blog/bank-of-ireland-replaces-laser-with-visa-debit-cards.html

and BOI aren't the fastest at new stuff

ANXIOUS

furiousox wrote: »

There's a software bug that hasn't been addressed by a small number of retailers yet.
If you use your card for a sale it'll be fine but if you try and add cashback it'll fail.
It's an issue with the till software not the card.

I'm guessing you work for ptsb ;-). There are a few downsides to them, some companies will charge you a credit card fee even though it's not. Also when in northern Ireland you will have to pay the debit card charge which is 3.5% on ATM withdrawls and 1.75% on pos where before sone laser cards didn't.

Solair

ANXIOUS wrote: »

I'm guessing you work for ptsb ;-). There are a few downsides to them, some companies will charge you a credit card fee even though it's not. Also when in northern Ireland you will have to pay the debit card charge which is 3.5% on ATM withdrawls and 1.75% on pos where before sone laser cards didn't.

With regard to the credit card fees, that depends on whether the card's processed as Visa Debit or Visa Credit. Some retailers seem to be screwing things up and I think that should be reported and dealt with. They're not recognising the lead digits on new Visa Debit cards as Debit and are charging as if they're credit cards.

With regard to ATM fees, that's up to the bank that issues the card. They can do it at no charge via Visa Plus or LINK (as per AIB's current cards) etc etc.

It's possible that your ATM card's being processed as a credit card doing a cash advance if PTSB have set it up that way.

In general though, I'm finding that Irish banks are sneaking in fees all over the place. AIB just charged me €2.35 PER PAGE for copy statements!

noworries

Solair wrote: »

In general though, I'm finding that Irish banks are sneaking in fees all over the place. AIB just charged me €2.35 PER PAGE for copy statements!

It's 2.54 per page, so you got a bargain.:)

The charge for duplicate statements has been in place for years - it has
not been sneaked in ! In fact, 'sneaking in fees' is an illegal activity and if
you have any evidence of such I would urge you to contact the Financial
Regulator.

furiousox

ANXIOUS wrote: »

I'm guessing you work for ptsb ;-). There are a few downsides to them, some companies will charge you a credit card fee even though it's not. Also when in northern Ireland you will have to pay the debit card charge which is 3.5% on ATM withdrawls and 1.75% on pos where before sone laser cards didn't.

No don't work for ptsb, just a customer.
I requested a new card from them as I was pi$$ed off with the card failing every time I tried to get cashback (sufficient funds in the a/c btw :P)
When I rang in for a new card they told me about the software issue.