28° Mastercard Cash Advances while overseas [No more free cash advances from 1/1/14]

[lovetravellingoz]

Has anyone used the wizard mc in Europe in particular Itay?

thanks
laura ​

Also on this as I am off to Europe in July is the card not having a Chip a problem as I have heard that cards without chips are now often hard to use in Europe.

In particular, is this ever an issue in ATMs?

 

[zzyss]

I've used the Wizard extensively across Indonesia, including in Bali.

That's great info, many thanks!

 

[Flashback]

Also on this as I am off to Europe in July is the card not having a Chip a problem as I have heard that cards without chips are now often hard to use in Europe.

In particular, is this ever an issue in ATMs?

I used it successfully in the UK (London, Edinburgh), Germany, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and France.

 

[PLANT]

Not sure if relevant but I used my Wizard card the other day for the first time in a year for an AMAZON.com item I purchased and WIZARD called me to check it was me placing the order.....impressive.

I used it because it still gives the best currency exchange rate right?

 

[auriga]

They seem to be pretty keen to verify overseas transactions.

 

[Nanotech]

First post after lurking for a while on this very informative site.

I have just returned from 2 and a bit weeks visiting England, Wales, Scotland and France.

From experience, you will have no problem using the Wizard Mastercard as long as there is a cashier.

Every transaction had to be signed after swiping your card through the reader. Sometimes there was slight confusion at the register when it was realised that the card didn't have a chip. But no transactions were denied.

The only "denials" I had was in France at self-service terminals. One was at a petrol station which was just fuel browsers, no shop. There was a card reader attached to each bowser in which you had to insert your card prior to filling-up. The other, when trying to buy tickets for a train journey at Gare Du Nord.

In both cases, the card was declined (I assume due to the lack of a chip).

I could have used an alternative "chipped" credit card, but there was a nearby service station and office respectively where I could sign for the transaction (and save on the foreign transaction charge!!).

Hope this helps.
NT

 

[moa999]

Have had some issues with non-chipped cards at auto machines in Europe (eg. European Rail stations)

 

[bluepeachee]

Nice. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get an increase on my measley $1k :-(

Hi guys,

I'm new to AFF and this thread has been immensely useful. I too couldn't find whether the WMC still offered no fees for ATM withdrawals but went ahead and applied anyway since I'm going to US in August and didn't want to not have time to apply for other cards in case they gave me a $500 limit.

Surprisingly they gave me $6000 limit and after scourging through the welcome pack, I found a carry around user guide (which they had put into the form for additional cards, so could have easily thrown away) which verified that there are still no fees for ATM withdrawals, cash advances and purchases.

Don't know why they don't put it up on their website. And funnily enough, on all the printed documentation, it still says to go to wizard-dot-com-dot-au (ok I'm new so I can't post websites) but when you type that in, it takes you to the Aussie website which only owns the home loan but not the credit card.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Hi guys,

I I too couldn't find whether the WMC still offered no fees for ATM withdrawals but went ahead and applied anyway since I'm going to US in August .

I was in NYC, Philadepahia and Washigton DC last November and I found that some major banks were fee free and others were not.

From memory Chase was fee free whereas Bank of America was not.

In all cases where they charge a message will come up on screen and so you will know.

In NYC there were ATM's in abundant supply, but mainly privately provided and fee charging. So stick to the Banks. A few quick tests will demonstrate which banks are fee free.

 

[auriga]

I was in NYC, Philadepahia and Washigton DC last November and I found that some major banks were fee free and others were not.

From memory Chase was fee free whereas Bank of America was not.

In all cases where they charge a message will come up on screen and so you will know.

In NYC there were ATM's in abundant supply, but mainly privately provided and fee charging. So stick to the Banks. A few quick tests will demonstrate which banks are fee free.

Yup, I was silly enough to use one that charged a fee before stumbling upon a fee-free one!

 

[serfty]

Welcome to AFF bluepeachee

You can avoid fees on Oz by using Westpac ATM's.

As for the web site, you need to lokk right donw the bottom left of the web page.

Here's a better link: https://service.gemoney.com.au/scom/wizard/login.fcc

 

[zzyss]

Surprisingly they gave me $6000 limit and after scourging through the welcome pack, I found a carry around user guide (which they had put into the form for additional cards, so could have easily thrown away) which verified that there are still no fees for ATM withdrawals, cash advances and purchases.

Welcome to AFF, and congrats on the $6k limit! I'm still stuck on the same $1k limit...

I read either somewhere earlier in this thread, or in another thread on AFF that the Web tool will only allow you to request a maximum of $500 increase at a time? I've been rejected there too :-(

Oh well, won't be needing it for a while anyway.

Most recent transactions to Bali... rate of 8469 (against the mid-market rate of 8501 published on XE) - a 0.378% difference!?

 

[_kab_]

Not exactly on topic but did anyone else NOT get their January statement???

I got a 'reminder' today for a statement I never received and subsequent late fee/interest charge. Rang them today and of course they wont speak to me because apparently partner is primary card holder. Wish he paid the bills...

Anyhoo, just curious if anyone else missed out. I find it very odd that it just never came

 

[sriver]

I received mine just last week for the period 10th Dec 2009 - 9th Jan 2010.

Though I certainly remember the time I misplaced a credit card statement once and had to cop the late fee.. these days everything just gets organized into a todo list.

 

[auriga]

Blame Australia Post!:mrgreen:

I got mine.

 

[mvjs]

One thing that I have come to notice increasingly is merchants offering to convert transactions into your home currency. These rates are always terrible (even worse than Westpac or any of the big bank's credit cards). In Singapore, I had it offered to me at an ATM while in Hong Kong and Taiwan a little note was displayed at the bottom of the receipt indicating that I had "chosen" to pay for this transaction in Australian dollars. I've also had a receipt where you must tick one particular box but when my statement finally arrived it seems that choice was ignored.

The worst offenders I've come across are European airlines. It takes about three clicks to get out of paying in AUD on Ryanair's website - something they "strongly discourage". BMI's rate is absolutely horrible. They offered to convert a thirty-odd Euro transaction to approximately A$65. I was charged about $56 on my Debit MasterCard.

 

[zzyss]

This is probably a stupid question this far into the thread (and also coming from an owner and "experienced" user), but is this correct:

When using the card for "credit", the benefit is that the "bank" (i.e. Wizard) won't charge any additional fee, but you'll still get charged 2% or whatever currency conversion from Mastercard. So ultimately, withdrawing cash in local currency is better than using it as a credit card when overseas.

...?

Forgive me, it's Friday arvo

 

[lovetravellingoz]

One thing that I have come to notice increasingly is merchants offering to convert transactions into your home currency..

Many hotels have effetively been doing this scam for years...pricing say a tour in $Aus or $US and if you are silly enough to book it with them being stung with a lousy conversion rate.

 

[mvjs]

This is probably a stupid question this far into the thread (and also coming from an owner and "experienced" user), but is this correct:

When using the card for "credit", the benefit is that the "bank" (i.e. Wizard) won't charge any additional fee, but you'll still get charged 2% or whatever currency conversion from Mastercard. So ultimately, withdrawing cash in local currency is better than using it as a credit card when overseas.

...?

Forgive me, it's Friday arvo

When selecting credit at a merchant, you still will not be charged any conversion fees. Same as an ATM.

 

[kdser]

One thing that I have come to notice increasingly is merchants offering to convert transactions into your home currency.

I was in Hong Kong last month. A merchant gave me a ticket to sign, I pointed to the fine print in the ticket and told him that I do not agree to pay in AUD. Then he told me that he did not press any button, the ticket just came out as such. So I had no choice but to accept it.