Supercard Travelex Visa "Debit" Lauches April in UK

[socrates28]

https://www.supercard.io/

Probably makes a nice back up card for emergencies for those that do not have a Clarity Card, NW Flex Plus or N&P Account

Visa Debit type card from Travelex. Charges no foreign transaction/conversion fees with the Visa exchange rate.

Sort of like a physical PayPal account as it's linked to your usual debit/credit card - your card will be charged in GBP. Interesting concept IMO and means I can close accounts specifically opened for foreign usage.

Fees apply for UK usage.

You can apply now - according to their website this may be rolled out worldwide

Naturally ATM fees still apply

Feel free to pick holes in it...

[Pib]

Sounds like a good deal unless I missing something. After reviewing their Supercard website I was wondering how in the heck they are making their profit since they don't charge a foreign transaction fee, use the Visa exchange rate, no other fees when using the card outside the UK. But maybe below website which gives a short review of the card is right in how Travelex Supercard probably makes its profit which is basically taking a slice of the card network "interchange" fee between the local processing bank (i.e, the local Thai bank which processes a Point of Service charge or ATM transaction) and your home country account(s) you have the Travelex card linked to for payment/funding. If so, then there truly is no fee charged to you because card network interchange fees are not charged to the customer.

And don't confuse "card network interchange fees" with "foreign transaction fees" your home country debit/credit card issuing bank may charge....they are completely different fees. "Interchange" fees apply whether you are using a debit/credit in your home country or overseas and a primarily way Visa/Mastercad/AmEx and banks make their profits....it's the fee you always hear merchants complaining about as being too high. Interchange fees...foreign transaction fees...cash advance fees....it can all hurt your head trying to understand the different fees and money changing hand when a card is used.

Travelex is probably making its money by taking a share of the transaction fees that Visa debits from companies that actually take the payments.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/12/travelexs-supercard-eliminates-bank-charges-when-spending-abroa/

[Chivas]

Sounds like a good deal unless I missing something. After reviewing their Supercard website I was wondering how in the heck they are making their profit since they don't charge a foreign transaction fee, use the Visa exchange rate, no other fees when using the card outside the UK. But maybe below website which gives a short review of the card is right in how Travelex Supercard probably makes its profit which is basically taking a slice of the card network "interchange" fee between the local processing bank (i.e, the local Thai bank which processes a Point of Service charge or ATM transaction) and your home country account(s) you have the Travelex card linked to for payment/funding. If so, then there truly is no fee charged to you because card network interchange fees are not charged to the customer.

And don't confuse "card network interchange fees" with "foreign transaction fees" your home country debit/credit card issuing bank may charge....they are completely different fees. "Interchange" fees apply whether you are using a debit/credit in your home country or overseas and a primarily way Visa/Mastercad/AmEx and banks make their profits....it's the fee you always hear merchants complaining about as being too high. Interchange fees...foreign transaction fees...cash advance fees....it can all hurt your head trying to understand the different fees and money changing hand when a card is used.

Travelex is probably making its money by taking a share of the transaction fees that Visa debits from companies that actually take the payments.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/12/travelexs-supercard-eliminates-bank-charges-when-spending-abroa/

Can anyone who has one care to comment on what the exchange rates applied actually are ??

[Chivas]

Really surprised this hasn't piqued more interest out there

[topt]

Really surprised this hasn't piqued more interest out there

I mentioned this in another thread last week but somebody else said it had already closed for applications.

There had been a big write up in MoneySavingExpert which is where I saw it - missed this original thread or forgot about it.

Edited May 17, 2015 by topt

[Pib]

Really surprised this hasn't piqued more interest out there

I mentioned this in another thread last week but somebody else said it had already closed for applications.

There had been a big write up in MoneySavingExpert which is where I saw it - missed this original thread or forgot about it.

Apparently there was plenty of interest...like 11M people when the card opened-up for applications...so much they have apparently stopped new applications according to below. Maybe its just a temporary thing.

Links and Partial Quote from 2nd link below:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/cards/2015/05/the-new-king-of-spending-abroad-the-free-supercard-launches-today

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travelex-supercard?#latest

IMPORTANT UPDATE: 12.10PM 14 May 2015 - PILOT'S NOW CLOSED

Supercard* was included in yesterday's weekly email which is sent in batches to 11m people over 18 hours. Travelex drowned with demand from batch 1 - even though we pre-warned it and it had said it would cope. Its site struggled all day yesterday and as from today its pilot is now maxed out. We're clearly the Kryptonite to Supercard. Here's the latest status:

• Supercard has now shut its pilot. It originally said numbers were limited, but didn't give a cap. It subsequently told us it would cap the number of cards at 25,000 - it has now reached this.
• Some people told us yesterday they got other error messages. If you managed to enter your email address into the Supercard app before it crashed, Travelex has told us it will email you with step-by-step instruction on how to apply again. It says if you do this, there is a chance you may get a card, BUT there is no guarantee.
• We were hearing yesterday some people were being told "we aren’t able to get a card to you right now". Travelex tells us the same applies to these people as those above who got the error message, so you may get a card, but there is no guarantee.

The pilot is now closed, but if and when the card returns, we'll update you via our weekly email.

[Chivas]

Brother received his Card yesterday so looks like its gone Live for the initial Batch of customers. Be interesting to see where this goes as potentially its a huge benefit for many who get charged advance fees like me !

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Brother received his Card yesterday so looks like its gone Live for the initial Batch of customers. Be interesting to see where this goes as potentially its a huge benefit for many who get charged advance fees like me !

Not that great...

10th of June:

Baht

VISA rate: 51.3682722685

Mastercard rate: 52.022770

US$

VISA rate: US$1.5261

Mastercard rate: US$1.554900

[Chivas]

Brother received his Card yesterday so looks like its gone Live for the initial Batch of customers. Be interesting to see where this goes as potentially its a huge benefit for many who get charged advance fees like me !

Not that great...

10th of June:

Baht

VISA rate: 51.3682722685

Mastercard rate: 52.022770

US$

VISA rate: US$1.5261

Mastercard rate: US$1.554900

Thanks for the illustration

[Pib]

The Travelex Supercard provides the Visa exchange rate according to the Supercard website. I was little surprised to see such a big difference between the MC and Visa rates show above in JJ's post as "usually" the Visa rate is a little better based on my past research and personal use of my U.S. Visa and MC cards....but it been over a year since I did any serious rate comparison.

So, I though to myself, well it's probably just a 10 June thing where MC's rate was significantly better than Visa's on that date....not uncommon for that to happen and vice-versa for in that Visa significantly beats MC's rate on any particular date.

Then I thought that the Supercard is a UK-issued card so the Visa rate would be the one based on cards issued by European banks as JJ used above...and the Visa rates for European-issued Visa cards and Visa cards issued in other countries (call it global) are a little different...usually not by much but sometimes it can be significant. So I decided to look at Visa global rates, Visa European rates, and MC rates (just one MC rate for the whole world as far as I know) for 3 Jun and 27 May which would add a couple more comparison dates to supplement JJ's post above.

Below is what I got for a GBP denominated card:

GBP/THB

3 Jun/Visa global/51.08

3 Jun/Visa European/50.94 (would be the Supercard rate)

3 Jun/MC/51.41

GBP/THB

27 May/Visa global/51.50

27 May/Visa European/51.49 (would be the Supercard rate)

27 May/MC/51.73

Wow...MC is significantly better (approx 0.5% better on 27 May and 1% better on 3 Jun) than Visa global or Visa European rates (at least for these two dates)

So, I wondered if a card demoninated in USD would make a difference like my U.S. issued debit/credit cards as to MC significantly beating Visa rates and the tables turned in Visa favor as to what I was use to. Now the Supercard is not issued in the U.S. so below is just FYI and helped me reconfirm my U.S. issued Visa debit/credit cards usually have a little better rate than MC.

Below is for a USD demoninated card.

USD/THB

3 Jun/Visa global/33.65

3 Jun/Visa European/33.58

3 Jun/MC/33.53

USD/THB

27 May/Visa global/33.54

27 May/Visa European/33.53

27 May/MC/33.46

Edited June 14, 2015 by Pib

[Chivas]

My Brother is going to use his Card in Greece over next few days and then use another Atm card which has the normal charging structure to see the Comparison.

Will report back here the Net results

[Pib]

My Brother is going to use his Card in Greece over next few days and then use another Atm card which has the normal charging structure to see the Comparison.

Will report back here the Net results

There isn't really a "normal" charging structure for debit/credit cards because each card-issuing bank determines what foreign transaction fee(s) apply to the card. When the card-issuing bank does apply a foreign transaction fee it usually in the 1 to 3% ballpark...and a few even rub salt into the fee wound with another small flat fee....but a person could call that the normal charging structure...but it's a variable structure. And then you have few card-issuing bank/companies that do not charge any foreign transaction fee---you get the straight Visa/Mastercard fee.

Edited June 14, 2015 by Pib

[Chivas]

My Brother is going to use his Card in Greece over next few days and then use another Atm card which has the normal charging structure to see the Comparison.

Will report back here the Net results

There isn't really a "normal" charging structure for debit/credit cards because each card-issuing bank determines what foreign transaction fee(s) apply to the card. When the card-issuing bank does apply a foreign transaction fee it usually in the 1 to 3% ballpark...and a few even rub salt into the fee wound with another small flat fee....but a person could call that the normal charging structure...but it's a variable structure. And then you have few card-issuing bank/companies that do not charge any foreign transaction fee---you get the straight Visa/Mastercard fee.

Right he's going to use the HSBC Card he normally uses against the Travelex Card

[Jiu-Jitsu]

My Brother is going to use his Card in Greece over next few days and then use another Atm card which has the normal charging structure to see the Comparison.

Will report back here the Net results

There isn't really a "normal" charging structure for debit/credit cards because each card-issuing bank determines what foreign transaction fee(s) apply to the card. When the card-issuing bank does apply a foreign transaction fee it usually in the 1 to 3% ballpark...and a few even rub salt into the fee wound with another small flat fee....but a person could call that the normal charging structure...but it's a variable structure. And then you have few card-issuing bank/companies that do not charge any foreign transaction fee---you get the straight Visa/Mastercard fee.

Right he's going to use the HSBC Card he normally uses against the Travelex Card

Why is he going to do that? No point in doing that at all.

[Chivas]

My Brother is going to use his Card in Greece over next few days and then use another Atm card which has the normal charging structure to see the Comparison.

Will report back here the Net results

There isn't really a "normal" charging structure for debit/credit cards because each card-issuing bank determines what foreign transaction fee(s) apply to the card. When the card-issuing bank does apply a foreign transaction fee it usually in the 1 to 3% ballpark...and a few even rub salt into the fee wound with another small flat fee....but a person could call that the normal charging structure...but it's a variable structure. And then you have few card-issuing bank/companies that do not charge any foreign transaction fee---you get the straight Visa/Mastercard fee.

Right he's going to use the HSBC Card he normally uses against the Travelex Card

Why is he going to do that? No point in doing that at all.

Because like me he's interested if there's going to be any substantial difference in bottom line

[Jiu-Jitsu]

My Brother is going to use his Card in Greece over next few days and then use another Atm card which has the normal charging structure to see the Comparison.

Will report back here the Net results

There isn't really a "normal" charging structure for debit/credit cards because each card-issuing bank determines what foreign transaction fee(s) apply to the card. When the card-issuing bank does apply a foreign transaction fee it usually in the 1 to 3% ballpark...and a few even rub salt into the fee wound with another small flat fee....but a person could call that the normal charging structure...but it's a variable structure. And then you have few card-issuing bank/companies that do not charge any foreign transaction fee---you get the straight Visa/Mastercard fee.

Right he's going to use the HSBC Card he normally uses against the Travelex Card

Why is he going to do that? No point in doing that at all.

Because like me he's interested if there's going to be any substantial difference in bottom line

Completely without purpose, as you can work that out without using either card. Anyway, it's his money...

[Chivas]

What obviously was never mentioned in the promotional blurb was that maximum pull is 10,000 Baht. Two separate individuals reported same

[alocacoc]

Krung Thai Bank offers also such a debit cards for tourists.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Krung Thai Bank offers also such a debit cards for tourists.

I'm sure that they don't.

[Chivas]

What obviously was never mentioned in the promotional blurb was that maximum pull is 10,000 Baht. Two separate individuals reported same

My information was inaccurate and happy to correct. It is £250 per pull so around 13,000 Baht give or take.

[Chivas]

Krung Thai Bank offers also such a debit cards for tourists.

I have a Debit Card from SCB but couldnt imagine Krung Thai would offer one in the style of this thread ??