VA Global Wallet

[markis10]

Is there still a $1 load fee?
Can this be used to pay Postbill pay at the post office 1. At the counter 2. Self service ATM machine?
If you don't activate it is there an inactive fee charge?

Abolished as as per an earlier post.

There was a load fee which was abolished last month, as well as reductions/removals of other fees.


https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/ProgramBenefits/GlobalWallet/Fees/index.htm

 

[PLANT]

This is just a prepaid Visa which is not equal to a Citibank plus Visa Debit card?
Therefore is it treated as a visa or debit card by retailers?

 

[travel193]

Just received my Global Wallet in the mail. The brochure does mention a $1 loading fee which makes me wonder if anyone will use it for Aussie purchases. Haven't checked the rates for foreign currencies but might be better valued there.

Markis, do you think perhaps my brochure is out of date? Received it 4/2/14.

Abolished as as per an earlier post.

 

[erkpod]

Just received my Global Wallet in the mail. The brochure does mention a $1 loading fee which makes me wonder if anyone will use it for Aussie purchases. Haven't checked the rates for foreign currencies but might be better valued there.

Markis, do you think perhaps my brochure is out of date? Received it 4/2/14.

Fee's been gone for some time. I haven't been charged a fee at all while in the US since 1/1 & before that in Australia.

Somewhat related data point:

Loaded money on the card around 0400 local US time Fri 31/1. It was not available to me until around 0730 local US time Wed 5/2. Watch those weekends, people!

 

[travel193]

Fee's been gone for some time. I haven't been charged a fee at all while in the US since 1/1 & before that in Australia.

They really need to change the marketing material they are sending out then. I'm sure many other people probably won't use it domestically because of the stated fee.

 

[Dan_]

How long does it take you guys to get money on the card in AUD? Using Poli I have had it vary from Instantly available, to 3 days.

 

[WeeGraeme]

Does anyone have any experience with refunds and Velocity points? I used the card to make a payment online in USD. This was late last month. I got points for the purchase. I know there were cheaper ways of doing it, especially with regard to exchange rates, but I wanted to experiment with the card.

I received notification from the merchant that they can't supply part of my order and they've refunded part payment to my card. I'll find out in a month, but should I expect that the refund will result in points being debited from my Velocity account? It's not a large amount, so it's neither here nor there on the grand scheme of things. Actually, this has highlighted another flaw with using travel cards for payments. I now have USD46.10 in my account which I'll lose 3% if I convert it back to AUD. At least that's only USD1.38 so it's hardly the end of the world either.

 

[Intra]

Off to NZ next month for a Wedding, thought I'd grab the VA Global Wallet again to make it easier financially rather than have CC Exchange Fess ect. ect. & still earn my Velocity points; Its been requested through the Gold Line, and I'm happy to see the Load Fee is gone now... That was one of my biggest irks about it til I called up SE Asia & had it cancelled (I'm not sure if it ever happened... anyway...)

Is it still as a ugly as it was before? I'm looking at my old VFF Silver Card with Global Wallet, too much cramped into the back, and that strip on the front of the card as a VFF... Ugh, explained that as my reason for wanting perhaps two cards (One with and one without) when I ever renew Gold/get bumped up to Plat - No cigar :? My rant for the evening, kinda feel childish about it ("Doesn't fit with the design of your wallet" she said or something...), but bleb...

Going by my DoB I gave as security, she must think I'm a high roller of sorts... Nahhhhhh, I just have the AFF on my side

 

[erkpod]

The card needs to have the actual VA logo on there based on my US experience recently.

 

[bullerdude]

The card needs to have the actual VA logo on there based on my US experience recently.

This. The card needs to actually reference that is Virgin Australia Frequent Flyer... because many people have no idea what Velocity is.

In my opinion the Qantas cards look a little better.

 

[erkpod]

This. The card needs to actually reference that is Virgin Australia Frequent Flyer... because many people have no idea what Velocity is.

In my opinion the Qantas cards look a little better.

VELO-WHAT was my general experience with DL & even VX in the US.

 

[Formal Hall]

Also, there is a list of updated fees on our website (which aligns to the fees listed in the PDS). There was a load fee which was abolished last month, as well as reductions/removals of other fees.

https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/ProgramBenefits/GlobalWallet/Fees/index.htm

Australian ATM withdrawals are now free, but apparently the ATM operator may charge a fee. Does anyone know if any Australian ATM operators don't charge a fee? (I know for Qantas Cash Westpac and its subsidiaries do not).

 

[NFF]

Have you guys been happy with using Global Wallet ?

 

[Hydevanity]

Australian ATM withdrawals are now free, but apparently the ATM operator may charge a fee. Does anyone know if any Australian ATM operators don't charge a fee? (I know for Qantas Cash Westpac and its subsidiaries do not).

I didn't realize there were no fees from Westpac, wish I had seen this post back in March!

 

[Formal Hall]

I didn't realize there were no fees from Westpac, wish I had seen this post back in March!

Only free-free Westpac withdrawals with Qantas Cash, not Velocity Global Wallet. This is a big disadvantage of the Virgin card in my book, given that they have made other changes to match Qantas cash.

 

[markis10]

Only free-free Westpac withdrawals with Qantas Cash, not Velocity Global Wallet. This is a big disadvantage of the Virgin card in my book, given that they have made other changes to match Qantas cash.

You can withdraw at any woolies free free using their self checkouts.

 

[cssaus]

I recently applied for Global Wallets for both my wife & myself. I paid a $10 fee to get an extra card on each card so as to have an emergency card in the event I lose or have stolen the primary card.

I found that the web site and phone app were very easy to use to check balances on the card and move from AUD to the other currency wallets I have configured.

One gripe I have is the 3 business days it takes for a BPAY amount to appear in the account. I think I read somewhere QANTAS is looking to reduce the lag time for funds to appear on their card after a BPAY payment has been made. Hopefully VA can offer something similar.

As an example, I BPAY'd $1000 on Tuesday this week onto the card and the funds appeared today, Friday. There was no fee associated with loading the card. I then transferred the $1000 to GBP at the rate of AUD1 = 0.5295GBP. I compared this rate to XE Currency on my Iphone app which quoted AUD1 = 0.5570GBP. I guess this is where these cards make their money in the rates that they offer.

As a Platinum FF member, the one big grip I have is with the Velocity FF card on the other side of the Wallet in that there is no mention or any logo to associate the card with "Virgin Australia". This did provide some grief for when on a recent trip to the USA and transiting through DL terminals.

I have written to Velocity Customer Service to complain about the lack of Virgin Australia identification on the card and the problems it creates. To quote from the reply I received back:

"I feel the feedback you have supplied in relation the Velocity Global Wallet card is very useful and valid as the older Velocity cards did have the Virgin Australia logo on them.


I have taken the liberty of forwarding your suggestions through to the Global Wallet team which will allow them to further investigate the matter internally."

I would encourage anyone who has experienced difficulty with their status recommendation using the Global Wallet card to write a complaint to Virgin using the feedback form on their website. The more people that complain the more chance there to have the issue escalated.

Overall, I'm happy with the usage of the travel card and it's a lost simpler to manage compared to the Travelex cards I used to use.

 

[misterchan]

As a Platinum FF member, the one big grip I have is with the Velocity FF card on the other side of the Wallet in that there is no mention or any logo to associate the card with "Virgin Australia". This did provide some grief for when on a recent trip to the USA and transiting through DL terminals.

This is partly why I opted out of Global Wallet just before I was issued my Platinum card as the Gold card also has no Virgin Australia branding on it. The other part is that I do not find the GW product compelling. For cash overseas, I use a Citibank Plus transaction account, which offers fee-free ATM withdrawals globally with no FX fee and excellent FX rates. For putting stuff on credit card, I use a BankWest Platinum Zero credit card, which again has no FX fee and excellent FX rates. In both cases if I need to top up the accounts, it takes a max of 2 days to transfer from my savings accounts.

 

[bcworld]

This is partly why I opted out of Global Wallet just before I was issued my Platinum card as the Gold card also has no Virgin Australia branding on it. The other part is that I do not find the GW product compelling. For cash overseas, I use a Citibank Plus transaction account, which offers fee-free ATM withdrawals globally with no FX fee and excellent FX rates. For putting stuff on credit card, I use a BankWest Platinum Zero credit card, which again has no FX fee and excellent FX rates. In both cases if I need to top up the accounts, it takes a max of 2 days to transfer from my savings accounts.

Exactly! Citibank plus + 28 degrees or other fee free credit card is the way to go. Unless, you want to lock in what you perceive to be an exchange rate that will later fall substantially or you really, really think the points are worth it.

 

[Intra]

Been trying to get just a standard Velocity Platinum card since climbing the later once more last month, been issued in my welcome pack and in the subsequent card request Global Wallet cards both times, even though I ensured I unticked the option to Opt-Out of the Global Wallet cards... Cancelled Global Wallet cards so I could issued a standard Velocity card, GCC ini siting I needed to do that... Global Wallet wanted me to spend the $2-whatever was on it, brought it down to 42c and just went be done with it. Call Velocity again, and now they say they don't issue standard Velocity cards anymore, just the Global Wallet-double sided ones... The heck??

Not only does the check-box on the VFF website become useless, but the Global Wallet card is a pain the neck without VA branding on it if O/S as many people have shared first hand (Looks like I'll be going to SLC later this year for a wedding...), and IMO is the uglyiest card I've ever seen. QFF Cash Card at least doesn't have the strip on the membership side of the card....

Anyone else heard of such news? Can I start using the word "Enhancement" here too....