Money Guide Ireland

Recently Ryanair were taken to court in Germany over their credit card charges which are £10 per person for a return flight.  On cheap flights – these credit card fees can often cost more than the flight tickets especially on those rare £1  flights.. For frequent flyers the extra costs can soon mount up.
The German court deemed that the Ryanair imposed charge was “inadmissible” unless the airline also offered a charge-free method of payment. Ryanair in their defence say thay do offer a free option if customers book with a Visa Electron card.
Where can you get a Visa Electron card?
Well – the Visa Electron is not that easy to obtain for Irish residents.
You could open a bank account with Halifax in Spain (you can do it while living in Ireland). Halifax will isue you with a Visa Electron card.
Another option which has been discussed in several online Irish forums – is to use Entropay.  Entropay provide a virtual pre-paid credit card (Visa Electron) . Their parent company is  Ixaris Systems Ltd and it is certified by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) to issue electronic money for EntroPay. Irish and UK residents can sign up to Entropay.
When you sign up for EntroPay just make sure you select Sterling / GBP as your currency otherwise  your virtual card will not be recognised as a Visa Electron card.   Irish residents  may be asked to supply proof of identity by email (such as a copy of your passport).  Also – when asked for postcode just enter xxxxxx or EIRE.

After registering for an Entropay card you just load it with money from your “main” credit or debit card as and when you need it. There is a 4.95% charge on each amount loaded onto an EntroPay Virtual Card. So it’s probably not worth using Entropay if the Ryanair tickets cost more than about £200 because the Entropay loading  fee will be more than the normal Ryanair credit card fee. Great for those cheap flights though!

More good news is that Aer Lingus also don’t charge a credit card booking fee if you use Visa Electron.

Note : If you ever need to withdraw funds from the EntroPay Account back to your personal credit/debit card they charge a £3 GBP fee.

UPDATE: DECEMBER 2009 – Visa Electron will incur €5 per one way flight from Jan 2010. Prepaid Mastercard is now the fee free option . See here for more about Prepaid Mastercard