Travel money cards

[NM]

Hi,
We recently travelled to USA and Canada. We used the multi-currency cash passport issued by Aussie post. There was no load fee and no ATM fee overseas. You can load online and pay by bpay . They issue 2 cards and they are embossed like a credit card. Used them everywhere in both USA and Canada with no issues.

Hope this helps

Regards

How did you avoid the load fee? According to the PDS for that product, there is a 1.1% load fee for A$ loads, and 1.0% fee for bPay loading. And if you have money left when you return and want to withdraw as cash, there is a 2.95% ATM withdrawal fee for "domestic" ATM use or $10 fee to close the card. And a $10 "cash over the counter" fee. And a $4/month inactivity fee after 12 months of inactivity. And if used in a currency that is not loaded or insufficient funds loaded in that currency, there is a 5.95% uplift on the Mastercard foreign exchange rate of the day.

 

[Mr_Orange]

An alternate to the 28 Degrees Card is Bankwest Platinum - you won't earn any points on Forex Purchases if you chose a rewards card, but get Platinum benefits.

Agreed that Bankwest Platinum is a great card for o/s purchases, but I have earned QFF points on my foreign transactions.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Just to echo others, the Citi Plus account cr4ps all over any of the travel money cards. Given the travel cards can generally only carry fairly major currencies which are not subject to huge daily fluctuations, locking in a rate has little value and really you would need to factor in all the fees associated with these cards to get a comparison forex rate.

 

[dazza5000]

How did you avoid the load fee? According to the PDS there is a 1.1% load fee for A$ loads, and 1.0% fee for bPay loading. And if you have money left when you return and want to withdraw as cash, there is a 2.95% ATM withdrawal fee for "domestic" ATM use or $10 fee to close the card. And a $10 "cash over the counter" fee. And a $4/month inactivity fee after 12 months of inactivity. And if used in a currency that is not loaded or insufficient funds loaded in that currency, there is a 5.95% uplift on the Mastercard foreign exchange rate of the day.

If you load via the internet site and pay by bpay there is no load fee. As long as you load into a foreign currency. Yes there are closing fees and yes there are inactivity fees. I only withdrew via an ATM while overseas . You must do all transactions via the austpost site which redirects to the multicurrency site. That way no fees are charged .
I did this all prior to September 2013 so maybe the terms have changed??

 

[NM]

If you load via the internet site and pay by bpay there is no load fee. As long as you load into a foreign currency. Yes there are closing fees and yes there are inactivity fees. I only withdrew via an ATM while overseas . You must do all transactions via the austpost site which redirects to the multicurrency site. That way no fees are charged .
I did this all prior to September 2013 so maybe the terms have changed??

Interesting, the PDS states 1% fee for bPay load and makes no reference to being A$ or foreign, though the example is shown in A$. The current PDS document at the Aust Post web site does not reference its publishing date.

 

[Quickstatus]

In general I don't believe that travel cards are cost effective in the final analysis.

Travel cards could be used to "pick" the best time to exchange money. However there are fees to load the cash and even more fees to close out the card. You lose the opportunity to earn interest on the cash. you lose the opportunity to earn FF points like citibank 5 points per foreign currency spend.

Two years ago I did an experiment. I had a travel card and a citibank select. I swopped each card after each transaction. After the 3.3% foreign currency fee for citibank there was no real difference between citibank and ozforex card in terms of final exchange rate. But after the opportunity cost of preloading the travel card, the credit card came out ahead.


Only 2 benefits of travelcard: You know how much forex you got to spend and you can lock in an exchange rate whether that turns out to be good or bad.

Downside of travelcard: the exchange rate you get is about 4-5% less than the published exchange rate you often hear in the news. The forex conversion rate (that you get charged if you had a CC is built into the exchange rate for travel card loading). You then get charged a fee typically 1% for loading the card with forex. You earn no interest while your forex is in the card. And when you want to take the cash back out the conversion rate is even worse with exit fees. And no FF points for travelcard.

Also remember that there is an opportunity cost for preloading you travel card. Your cash could have been sitting in your mortgage offsetting the interest for up to 50 days after you return from OS holiday.


Thats why. I only use credit card. Simpler and overall cost I believe its better value.

Best use for travel card is for a travelling minor. In this case the ANZ travelcard is best as it is available for under 18s. Credit cards cannot be opened in the name of a minor (even as an additional card holder)

The ANZ travelcard does not have cardholders name on it when it is issued - so its great for a minor.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I spread my risk and use both debit and credit cards..

 

[Quickstatus]

Remember when there is an offer for no fees for loading, it only means that the fees will be recouped in the exchange rate you get.

My rule of thumb is: whatever you hear in the news re exchange rate take off 5% and this is the real exchange rate after fees you will be exposed to. meaning if you hear that the AUD/USD pair is 1.000/0.9300 then you are actually getting after fees 1.000/0.8800

 

[Buzzard]

To lock in rates I use the Master Card from Aussie Post. Free to load at Post just don't load AUD, fee for loading via BPay, withdraw free from a MasterCard ATM. If you don't want a prepaid or lock in rates card refer up thread for good options.

 

[Doug_Westcott]

Best use for travel card is for a travelling minor. In this case the ANZ travelcard is best as it is available for under 18s. Credit cards cannot be opened in the name of a minor (even as an additional card holder)

The ANZ travelcard does not have cardholders name on it when it is issued - so its great for a minor.

The minimum age for Additional Cardholders is usually 16 and, if you make a special request, it can be a little bit younger.

I believe if you apply for an ANZ Travel Card online the cards are personalised.

 

[mulubinba]

The qantas cash card doesn't charge a fee to load.. Also, unlike the nabtraveller card, if loading foreign currency via bpay you are quoted the exact currency conversion rate. There is a flat fee for foreign ATM withdrawals, making fewer and larger cash withdrawals more economical. But the exchange rate is not as good as the rates you see on the 7pm news. About 3% less. However I think it is a useful way to provide foreign currency.

 

[Gredgy69]

The rates you see on the news or in the paper are the interbank rates that banks give to each other. You generally need to take off around 3 or 4 cents for the major currencies with a bit more for the lesser currencies.

 

[Quickstatus]

The rates you see on the news or in the paper are the interbank rates that banks give to each other. You generally need to take off around 3 or 4 cents for the major currencies with a bit more for the lesser currencies.

Yep and the forex conversion fee for credit cards like citibank is 3.3% of the interbank rate. Lots of people complain about it and they use travelcards and not realise that even though there is no conversion fee as such the fee is built into the exchange rate offered for travelcard loading...

When you use travelex there is also no fee or commission amd people flock to them. They dont realise that the fee/commission is already built into the rate.