Paying for Spousal Visa

Vicky, I know it's the UK Consulate, but I've never been able to get my Maestro card to work anywhere inside the USA-it's just non-existent there.  I have to use my credit card which is a mastercard then transfer the money from my Maestro account to my credit account.  I'm not speaking from experience about paying for the visa in the US, but it sounds like someone else did try to pay with maestro for theirs and it wasn't accepted.

Strange.  Is this a bank issue or a visa4uk-being-crap issue? 

Vicky

The latter, I think. It wouldn't even give us the option of using Maestro. The drop-down menu only had Visa and Mastercard as options.

I'd never even heard of Maestro until I moved here.  It just isn't accepted in the US at all.

Oh.  I didn't realise that.  I know I have used my Maestro/Cirrus in ATM's in the US, and I had thought I had used it for purchases too. 

Vicky

I'd never even heard of Maestro until I moved here.  It just isn't accepted in the US at all.

Oh.  I didn't realise that.  I know I have used my Maestro/Cirrus in ATM's in the US, and I had thought I had used it for purchases too. 

Vicky

You can use Maestro cards at ATMs (I've used it to withdraw money from US ATM machines before) and also in stores in the US, I believe, but I don't think that many (if any) websites will accept them - I have never been able to use a Maestro card for US online payments as it seems many sites only accept Visa and Mastercard.

From the Wiki page on Maestro:

In the United States, Maestro is a PIN-based debit card network closely related to the Cirrus ATM network, also owned by MasterCard. Like other PIN-debit networks in the U.S., Maestro there relies solely on a standard card and PIN, without a chip; signature-debit transactions in the U.S. are handled through the main MasterCard network or the rival Visa network.

And from: http://www.maestrocard.com/cgi-bin/wheretouse.cgi?region=02 -

Use your Maestro card at more than 1,470,000 Maestro merchant locations and over 410,000 ATMs throughout North America.

and if you select United States on that page, you get:

Maestro is widely accepted throughout the United States at merchants in the following categories:
Car Rental
General Retail/Department Stores
Hotels
Petrol Stations
Restaurants
Souvenirs
Tourist Attractions
Travel Agents

Also see here for a list of US stores that accept Maestro.

That is massively useful for anyone going on holiday to the US this year...thanks!

Vicky

Cirrus is fairly widely accepted at ATMs because a lot of US debit cards are Cirrus, as well as being Visa or MasterCard.  Maestro I've never heard of. 

How interesting!  Sounds as if there are places it can be used, but each time I've tried to do online or over the phone payments, I've been thwarted and given up and used my mastercard credit card.

So, DH cant pay with his card, so I guess we will have to send the money and have my parents pay with their card.  At least I have that clear though now! 

What about getting a pre-paid credit card to transfer the money on to?

I would avoid doing the transfer by paypal, the fees are high and then you have to wait to get a check from them or for it to be transfered to your card.

Also, a paypal note: I have sent my mom money several times using paypal and she will go into her paypal to get the money transfered to her bank account and every single time, we have done the wait period and it NEVER goes in. She has to log back in and redo it. Seems like they want to hold onto the money for as long as possible. It's just annoying and when she goes back in, she does the same exact thing as she did the first time.

I would suggest moneygram as it is instant and can be picked up in so many places including Walmart. There is a fee but at least it's instant. He could also just go to his bank and do a wire transfer, cost is about 25 pounds or so and takes just a couple of days.

You will have a hard time using Maestro in the states even though they are a Mastercard co. Maestro is a shorter number too. Even US airways doesn't accept it HERE!!!! Had to book my trip through a third party agent to use my Maestro.

If you're traveling to the states, the Post Office offers a money travel card that is free. You can use it anywhere in the states, it's protected if you lose it and you can reload it. Best of all, there are no fees for using it compared to fees that your bank would charge you for your bank issued card.

I think American's coming here with their major credit cards will run into problems using their swipe card here. We were forced to walk away from so many retailers because they refused to swipe our American card and said they only take chip and pin. Yet you could clearly see the machine was capable of swiping a card.  If a store was willing to swipe, we knew we would be standing there for 10 mins while they figured it out. I wonder how much money is lost because of this. This was nearly 2 1/2 years ago so I don't know if things have changed but if they accept major credit cards then they should offer swipe and chip/pin options. I hope things have changed on this.

I think American's coming here with their major credit cards will run into problems using their swipe card here. We were forced to walk away from so many retailers because they refused to swipe our American card and said they only take chip and pin. Yet you could clearly see the machine was capable of swiping a card.  If a store was willing to swipe, we knew we would be standing there for 10 mins while they figured it out. I wonder how much money is lost because of this. This was nearly 2 1/2 years ago so I don't know if things have changed but if they accept major credit cards then they should offer swipe and chip/pin options. I hope things have changed on this.

If you keep insisting that's the only way you can pay, the stores will accommodate you. Usually, they had to wait for a manager because of needing to verify my signature and in some cases show them how to swipe it, but the only place I had a problem with my card not being a chip + pin was at the village post office, and that was because the woman was just lazy.  But I was able to use my card up and down high street as well as at Tesco. 

I would avoid doing the transfer by paypal, the fees are high and then you have to wait to get a check from them or for it to be transfered to your card.

I have a paypal debit card which has the Master Card logo and is offered in the US.  When I have money deposited into my Paypal account, I can access it immediately with this card.  It is accepted anywhere that accepts Master Card and Visa.  I found that in the UK, you can not get a debit card associated with your Paypal account. So I made sure to keep my US account open. 

I have a paypal debit card which has the Master Card logo and is offered in the US.  When I have money deposited into my Paypal account, I can access it immediately with this card.  It is accepted anywhere that accepts Master Card and Visa.  I found that in the UK, you can not get a debit card associated with your Paypal account. So I made sure to keep my US account open. 

Me too! I used it the while time I was in the UK because the fees on converting Pounds to Dollars was way less than my bank!