My experiences with using the Travelex Supercard

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• sandgrounder says:

  15 Jun15 June 08:14

  When in Riga I can usually buy GBP for very close to the spot rate on xe.com. This sounds far fetched but the dealers tend to be loaded down with Sterling from tourists and returning nationals working in the UK, and have made their money from the other side of the spread. With the 1% rebate in IHG points it might be worth taking a couple of k out over the summer and changing back, not to earn points but to break even or close to and hit my free night spend target. Obviously I would need to do all of my sums properly first.

  This is the kind of thinking that will kill free cash withdrawals on Supercard! 🙂

  • JQ says:

    15 Jun15 June 23:41

    I’ve done this before with the Halifax Clarity and Santander Zero, as Mastercard exchange rates from GBP are usually better than the interbank. This is because Mastercard gives you the actual rate it gets on the forex market, and more people selling GBP via Mastercard than buy GBP, i.e. British tourists/expats using card spend more than people with foreign cards spending in the UK (because they prefer cash).

    With Supercard you’ll lose rather than make 0.5%-1% on the rate, but if you time it right, then withdraw when the euro is low then wait for it to rise 1c before selling, and as you say you get the points anyway

    If they kill cash as purchase, then it will be because it’s a losing proposition overall, not because of people arbitraging with currency dealers.

• Tony says:

  15 Jun15 June 08:16

  I used Supercard in Hungary a couple of weeks back. Transactions appeared in the app literally within seconds. Just double check at the point of sale that the merchant isn’t charging you in sterling. Nearly got caught out by this at a few places.

  I think it’s a fabulous product for the savvy traveller, but I cant see it taking over the world of traditional travel money anytime soon.

• Liz says:

  15 Jun15 June 08:29

  I am about to test out my Supercard in the USA over the next 3 weeks. I have loaded 3 cards into mine. How do you select which card you want to charge – does it give you the option to select which one you want when you enter the pin?

  • John says:

    15 Jun15 June 09:01

    You select which card you want to use beforehand in the iPhone 9and presumably Android) app.

    • Frenske says:

      15 Jun15 June 10:41

      Presumably you will need yo have internet to change the card setting. So normally you will need to plan ahead.

• Geoggy says:

  15 Jun15 June 08:40

  Yup Rob I thought you were cancelling your IHG card? ;0)

  • Rob says:

    15 Jun15 June 09:54

    Well spotted.

    I screwed up.

    It turned out that my IHG renewal date was earlier than I thought, so just after I wrote that I was cancelling it I got a statement with the £99 fee on it! As that is now a sunk cost I thought I would quickly run up £10k to get the free night and then cancel!

    • Jason says:

      15 Jun15 June 10:23

      Rob, when you spend the £10k how do you receive the free night and are there any conditions?

      • Alan says:

        15 Jun15 June 10:27

        It appears as an electronic voucher in your IHG account and can be spent anywhere with reward availability. I used mine at the InterContinental Sydney a couple of weeks ago – excellent value and nice property!

        • Jason says:

          15 Jun15 June 17:18

          Thanks Alan, does it have an expiry date?

        • Alan says:

          15 Jun15 June 23:05

          Yes, one year from when issued – this date shows in the account

    • Alan says:

      15 Jun15 June 10:26

      Too late now, but I managed to get them to refund the £99 fee on my account when I called to cancel a few days after it had been charged. They were very keen to keep me as a customer though(!) so offered me a small incentive to downgrade to the white card. I then tried to cancel the white card and they offered me more cash to stay, so I haven’t actually cancelled it yet, however between the compensation for the mishandling of points, etc. earlier it’s been a profitable card to have!

• Mick says:

  15 Jun15 June 08:45

  Tried it last week in Marrakech, worked fine, although as stated the App was a bit slow.

  Just checked my bank online, showed immediately. Good fined.

• Stu R says:

  15 Jun15 June 09:20

  One thing to remember all: this is a pilot! Just like testing a Beta of any product, we’re bound to encounter issues, all of which will ‘hopefully’ be ironed out prior to being released to the wider audience ….

• mikeact says:

  15 Jun15 June 09:28

  Sorry,I meant to post an example earlier, so somebody can work out if it’s good bad or indifferent.
  June 13th Parador stay.
  €483.49 @ .726592 = £351.30
  Saving shown, £14.24
  ? Good ?

  • Worzel says:

    15 Jun15 June 13:32

    mikeact:

    It was a good rate at £1= €1.376-use xe.com(or similar) to check rates. They were showing a rate similar to the one you got over this last weekend- it’s up a little now.

    I remember you mentioning your plans when Rob first covered the supercard-glad all appears to be going well.

• Gulliver_UK says:

  15 Jun15 June 09:29

  Just to reiterate what others are finding regarding how long it can take for transactions to process through to your linked account. I am still waiting for my test/first transaction (pre-paid, future-dated hotel stay booked on 6th June) to show on my credit card statement. It initially showed as pending on my credit card account, but now currently doesn’t appear at all. The transaction shows as processed on the Supercard App. Travelex/Supercard customer support (indian call-centre) informed me “it can take up to 15 days for the merchant to claim the funds” but assures me the transaction has gone through fine. It will be interesting to see what transaction date it posts with when it eventually shows properly on the linked account; at this rate I could be getting a further two weeks interest-free credit. I am not convinced that the GBP|MYR rate offered was particularly generous – though without putting the same transaction through a reference card it is difficult to judge conclusively.

  • Tony says:

    15 Jun15 June 16:16

    I notice some transactions have only just appeared on my credit card statement two weeks after being made.

  • Gulliver_UK says:

    2 Jul2 July 11:36

    As at today I am still waiting for the transaction from 6th June to debit.
    Other later transactions have successfully debited (albeit to a different linked card-account, held with the same card-issuer).

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