Hi, I am visiting UK in September. I would like to know if Citibank's Visa Electron Debit Card is widely acccepted in UK? A couple of establishments declined, when enquired over the phone, to accept it, saying they would accept regular Visa cards only. I then read in a few places on the net that UK business concerns and banks are increasingly migrating from Visa Electron. Can anyone throw more light on this, please!

It is accepted but in my experience not that widely and mainly by the larger multi national companies.
The main reason for this is that the equipment used in the debit card readers cannot tell if there are sufficient funds availabe on the Elctron cards as they are able to do with the normal debit and credit cards.

Another problem w/ the debit cards - they usually don't cover your insurance. Plus the rental companies may place such a high hold on the car hire, you'd have no cash availability for anything else.

You really should try to get a credit card if possible -- just to make your life easier. Especially w/ your two car rentals and such. Some folks do survive fine w/o a credit card, but in general it is better to have one.

My bank issues visa electron and I've never had a problem using it.

I have (but not recently) not be able to use it on the internet but never in person.

Than you, all.

Janisj, I will take my international credit card with me. I now understand that I must use the credit card for the temporay charge (initial swipe) and use the Electron debit card to make the actual payment after I return the car. The reason I prefer to use the debit card is that the forex rate is fixed at the time of purchasing here in India, and I won't be subject to he vagaries of the market or bank's conversion rates which tend to be higher.

Jay may have hit on something here that I never thought of before. Use the CC as the hold/insurance, but then pay on return with the Electron to get a possibly lower exchange rate/fee. I'd like to check this out.

Uk law gives you elements of insurance if using CC for expenditure over £100 so may want to stay with that