Velocity Global Wallet is closing down in 2021

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trisreed

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Couldn't find this elsewhere (apologies if my search skills are lacking) but it seems Global Wallet is shutting down. Changes ahead perhaps or just removing 'complexity'? Attached is the email just received.
 

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  • Screenshot_2020-11-26 An important update about Velocity Global Wallet®(1).png
    Screenshot_2020-11-26 An important update about Velocity Global Wallet®(1).png
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Travel-money cards are in general not particularly useful products, so this doesn't seem like a particularly great loss.
 
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Ta, Mod.
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Only good to keep VFF account alive, MCC when met of course.
 
I have used the card whilst overseas a few times. Good and easy way for me to keep the account active.... oh well, never mind. I liked it whilst it lasted.
 
It was one of the only ways to amass points for daily spend if you couldn't qualify for a rewards CC (e.g if a student), I got thousands of points out of it for a while until circumstances allowed me to get a 'real' card.

Also handy for use in overseas ATMs that sometimes got confused with Australian cards (e.g China) and/or some air of dodgyness.

Heads up.. 'inactive' (12-18 months) accounts get a $1/month inactivity fee. If you haven't used yours in a while you might want to sweep it out now.
 
On an overseas trip years ago a merchant advised us not use travel cards as they were subjected to theft (being noticed as a foreign card) and they have no insurance like a debit on or credit card and advised against them. Since then use a debit or credit card overseas for the protection.
I think these days the more savvy traveller has a good overseas credit card which earns points or a debit card. Remember FX rates etc.
Years ago Velocity / Virgin announced they were going to have their own branded cards in the same way Qantas do (which is seperate to the Virgin Money cards). I wonder if this is back on the table hence this announcement or if this is cost saving or maybe a relationship breakdown with the provider.
NOTE: Velocity wasn’t placed into voluntary administration so it wouldn’t have been able to utilise any processes to break contracts/agreements.
 
Paid my council rate and cleared out the balance of the main card, and the card of the other half.
Was good until they limited the MCC eligibility, but Coles was still in on it, up to the latest iteration I think.
Will now be harder a bit to keep VFF account alive, guess have to buy knick knacks from ebay, or move 2000 FB points every 18 months, apart from flying of course.
Maybe now next they will look into Getaway fares...
Heh, they did say they would keep VFF but they are now getting rid of one of the main ways of keeping VFF alive.
As to above, I meant keeping VFF account alive, not as to VGW account, that one I always put funds in, and then use to spend.
Guess its now back to QFF's QTMC, and the next time they ask about my opinion after a reload, I will tell them how good they are to keep their QTMC card system "alive".
I think its more so cost cutting, or Rev not making enough to make it viable, or VA3's new owner making noises about getting back to core activities only, your point of which I do note, that VFF is run as a "trust" separate from VA1/VA2/VA3.
Guess VGW run by Rev was too expensive/coughbersome, this is just speculation, just by chance (eh) that they decide to shut off VGW now, after voluntary administration is over.
Maybe something else, ie, another card is coming, but I will leave it with those who do make the decisions to give us info down the "runway".
 
Re: VGW, not removing complexity, its a total turn off/permanent shut down/kaput.
There is always the "other side",/QTMC.
Now the only way to keep our VFF account alive, without flying, for small amount is the Velocity estore/or larger amount, FB transfers.
 
AustraliaPoochie said:
Re: VGW, not removing complexity, its a total turn off/permanent shut down/kaput.
There is always the "other side",/QTMC.
Now the only way to keep our VFF account alive, without flying, for small amount is the Velocity estore/or larger amount, FB transfers.
Click to expand...
Removing complexity from the program means removing features where the cost exceeds the benefit. No doubt there’s a lot of cost in having those dual branded cards produced, dealing with card reissues etc. they’d have numbers on the revenue and cost and have made a business call that the VGW is not revenue positive. Better to focus on getting more bank partners on board rather than running it yourself.

I don’t think many people will miss this feature and it’s not a deal breaker for most people and won’t drive them into the arms of QF. Gutting the onboard and lounge products, and the partner network of airlines will do that for you.
 
I am not on good terms credit ratings wise, so VGW and QTMC are very good in my case.
Bankwest needs to or used to have the Qantas debit account that earnt points, that's gone too isn't it?
QTMC has my prepaid card business now, apart from my pay into bank account, no rewards there, but no monthly fees either.
 
fantasy86dj said:
I have used the card whilst overseas a few times. Good and easy way for me to keep the account active.... oh well, never mind. I liked it whilst it lasted.
Click to expand...
i did the same as you too... not often but thats what i did too
 
As an aside/OT, Coles (and also Woolworths) have gotten rid of their reloadable prepaid cards as well, a while back.
Though they now only sell one use (edit: or more so, its fixed card value) prepaid cards now, still earning FB and EDR/WWR points, so there is still a way to earn FB points, and transferable to VFF down the track, but its a double step process.
 
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Wish the email had come a week earlier - just last week I loaded some USD and the charges deducted amounted to 11.9% of my cash disappearing down a black hole. To add further insult their chat line is just a robot which is just as impossible to have a meaningful conversation with as a door knob. I'm guessing it'll be all downhill for Virgin/Velocity service quality once Bain does some more slicing and dicing.
 
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