ethan2

anyone ever use a prepaid Visa card online to renew their UK passport?

Charismatic

I used my debit card if that's what you mean. Should work fine globally, just give you bank a call otherwise as some banks (that are still catching up on the .com boom I assume) still need to white list cards for international transactions.

Tom H

I used our Air New Zealand smart card to pay for the bosses passport renewal, that went ok

Although immigration here didn't have a clue what a smart card was when it came to paying the stick a stamp on passport charge.

ethan2

actually it wasn't a 'debit card' i was referring to because i was told by my bank that debit cards cannot be used internationally online.
therefore, i am quite surprised you managed to use your debit card (which differs from a credit card in that a debit card is directly linked to money in your bank account) internationally online.

i haven't heard of a white card list, what is it?

banks also issue prepaid Visa credit cards which they say i can use online.

a prepaid Visa card: you pay a set amount of money to the bank for a card eg. $200. This permits you to make charges online up to that amount.

Justcol

Yes you can, only last week I used mine on amazon UK to buy something for my son

MrsFychan

which bank is telling you you can't use a debit card to pay internationally?
I have done many times and sometimes is works out cheaper to use the NZ card rather than my UK card, dependant on exchange rate at the time.

Chocoholics

I'd just send the UK passport office an email and ask them if you can use pre-paid Visa card or just try it on-line. If you are talking about using a UK bank debit card I've used mine loads of times for international shopping, never had a problem.

Dandy du2

Hello Ethan

I have just seen the prepaid card in the Post Shop/ Kiwibank. Is it the Loaded Everyday card that you mean?
If it is, you can load up your card with money either money transfer or at the Postshop and use it anywhere you would a Visa card ie online, instore, over the phone, ATM's worldwide. It helps you keep more control over your money.
The only difference is, it is not directly linked to a bank account, and anyone over the age of 10 years can have one. There are fees involved for the initial purchase of the card and a monthly fee as well.
If you have a bank account with a card that has the visa symbol you can use that online to renew your passport.
I think you may not been informed correctly by your bank account but if you have purchased the loaded card it has a visa symbol so can be used for renewing your passport as long as you have the money on the card.