Fig 1.0 Hover over the CARDS menu and then click on the PREPAID CARD menu-item to continue
| APPLY FOR A PREPAID DEBIT CARD |
In this day and age of online fraud, online scams and weak online security in general there are only two real options for you to safely shop online. The
first choice is to Not Shop Online at all - A good option if it wasn't for the fact that more high street shops are forcing us to do our shopping online,
for whatever reason(s) - and the second option is to Use A Debit Card. However. Many people are still scared and worried that the Bank Account associated
with their current debit card may be compromised in some way. So what is the solution?
I do not now what thee solution is but one ideal solution is to get yourself a P.A.Y.G (Pay As You Go) Debit Card.....from Virgin Money. They offer a
P.A.Y.G Debit Card, which costs £9.95 (one-off fee), that you simply top-up with cash at the post office (with no top-up charge/fee). So if you top-up
your Virgin Money Debit Card with £20 you only pay the post office teller/staff £20. Virgin Money are also one of the few companies who do not charge a
monthly fee for using or not using their debit card - Other companies charge £4 or more per month even if you do not use the debit card. Saying this.
Virgin Money does offer a pay monthly p.a.y.g debit card, of £4.75 per month, whereby it works out cheaper, commission-wise, to pay a monthly fee if you
do a lot of shopping. This is because there is no transaction fee. Otherwise you can stick to the standard p.a.y.g debit card whereby the transaction fee
is 2.95%. Details are correct at the time of writing (30.09.2009).
The virgin money debit card is ideal for a wide range of purchases, both offline and online, and it is NOT associated with any bank account you
may have. Your bank details are NOT required. This means you can limit the amount of money on your virgin money debit card and therefore limit
the fraudsters to a small amount, or no amount, of money even if they were to scam you in some way. And that is what a virgin money, p.a.y.g, debit card
is ideal for - When you need to pay for something online simply top-up your virgin money debit card the same day or day before; Otherwise, keep it empty.
To apply for a Virgin Money Debit Card begin by going to the Virgin Money website. Type
http://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/ into internet explorer's Address Bar edit box and then
click on its GO button to continue.
When the Virgin Money website appears look across the main black banner, which is a series of drop-down (hover) menus, and hover over to the CARDS menu to reveal its menu-items. Scroll down those menu-items until you reach the PREPAID CARD menu-item and then left click on it. Doing so will display the Virgin Prepaid Mastercard page where you then need to click on the APPLY ONLINE button to continue.
After clicking on the APPLY ONLINE button (Fig 1.1 above) the next page asks you to select which type of debit card you want to apply for. Either PAY AS YOU GO or PAY MONTHLY. In this example just click on the PAY AS YOU GO radio (circle) button and then click on the NEXT button to continue. Doing so will open up a new internet explorer window, for security reasons, that is basically the pink application form.
The first page of the application form (above) requires your standard information such as your Name, Address and Telephone (Landline/Mobile) Number details. When you have filled in all the details go back to the HOME ADDRESS edit box, where you have already entered your Postcode, and click on the FIND ADDRESS button. It will then display a drop-down menu (below) that allows you to pick your specific House Address (exact house number and street). In the example below there was only one address to choose from. Normally a UK Postcode is shared amongst a whole street or housing estate, with your house identified by its unique number. Once you have selected the correct house address from the drop-down menu click on the PROCEED button to proceed.
After clicking on the PROCEED button in Fig 1.4 the page refreshes to display your correct house address. When you are satisfied it is correct click on
the PROCEED button again to continue. And if you do not want to receive Marketing E-Mails and so on, from Virgin Money and Third-Party companies, put a
tick next to the PLEASE TICK IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE.... option before clicking on the PROCEED button.
The next page to appear will ask you to pick the colour of your debit card. Either Female PINK or Male RED. Simply click on your choice to go to the
Terms & Conditions page.
The Terms & Conditions page may need to run (launch) an internet explorer ADD-ON (Plugin) in order to run an ActiveX control. If so, when the Information Bar appears with its RUN ADD-ON option simply hover over the information bar and click on its RUN ADD-ON menu-item to continue. Doing so will bring up the following security requester asking you if you want to run (launch) the internet explorer add-on. Just click on its RUN button to continue. The page will then refresh.
Regardless of the add-on, you will need to put a tick next to the options I HAVE READ AND ACCEPTED.... and I ACKNOWLEDGE.... before clicking on the
PROCEED button to continue. Obviously, if you do not accept all of the Terms & Conditions you should exit the application form at this point.
The next page to appear displays the personal details you have entered with the option to CHANGE DETAILS. It also asks you how you would like to pay for
your £9.95 (one-off fee), p.a.y.g, virgin money debit card. It has four main
Payment Methods. In this example I have chosen to
pay with a £10 E-Voucher, which is available at many Pay-Points (i.e. Newsagents). Simply ask them for a 360money e-voucher or print out this virgin
money, 360money e-voucher, Barcode and take it to your
nearest Pay-Point (i.e. Newsagent). One of the methods allow you to pay by mobile phone - text message. Anyway. Once you have the 8 Digit PIN number that
is written on your £10 360money e-voucher, enter it into the E-VOUCHER edit box and then click on the PROCEED button to continue.
After entering the e-voucher number correctly and clicking on the PROCEED button the next page (not shown here) will confirm your successful e-voucher payment and redisplay your personal details, which you can then print out as an invoice/receipt. Virgin Money will also email this information to you for confirmation. It normally takes 10 working days for your debit card to arrive, but they have been known to arrive in 7 days. So basically, at this point, you just wait for it to arrive in the post. When it does there will be an Activation PIN Number with it, which you need when calling the virgin money debit card Activation Line. They will activate your debit card, ready for immediate use.
Hopefully you can see the benefits of having a p.a.y.g debit card. It gives extra security when paying for things online. Virgin Money are not the only company doing this. There is also Sterling Card, Tuxedo and Prime amongst others. On top of this Compare Prepaid is a dedicated website that compares prepaid cards for you.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
