Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Supercard from Travelex is now available – the end of FX credit card charges?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Back in March I wrote about the forthcoming launch of Supercard from Travelex.  It is very rare that a totally revolutionary payment product comes along but this could be it.

As you (hopefully) know, almost all UK credit, debit and charge cards add a 3% fee when you buy something abroad.

There are only a handful of cards which waive this fee.  There are a few free options, such as the Post Office Platinum and Halifax Clarity. There is only one credit card in the UK which offers reward points and no FX fees and that is the Lloyds Avios Rewards card (review here). You need to pay a £24 annual fee for that.

Supercard

Supercard is different. It can be used anywhere where a Visa card is accepted. Your purchase is translated into Sterling as the standard Visa / MasterCard rate and charged to any UK credit or debit card you nominate. You will receive the usual rewards from that card.

Let’s imagine spending $150 in New York. If you use your Marriott MasterCard, you would be charged £103 based on a $1.50 exchange rate. Use Supercard – with your Marriott card linked to it – and your Marriott card would be charged just £100.

Supercard does away with the need to keep a separate credit card just for overseas purchases. You would earn reward points on every overseas purchase (assuming you linked a rewards credit card!), you would have spare credit available – by cancelling your Post Office or Halifax card – to apply for another rewards card and you would have one less bill to manage each month.

Back in March you could pre-register your interest via the Supercard website.  I did that, but have not received notification yet.

However, as an eagle-eyed reader spotted, the app is now available to download.  The links to the iOS and Android apps are on this page.  It is not in the iOS app store yet – you need to follow the link.

As of 11pm last night, when I wrote this, it was misbehaving and would not let me register.  The reader who sent me the link had been able to register OK.

Only a limited number of registrations are being taken at the moment so act sooner rather than later if you want to be in the first wave and get the card in time for your next foreign trip.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

General

Comments (236)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Hugh says:
    13 May13 May 05:18

    still giving out the message

    “Thank you for visiting Supercard.
    We are experiencing significant demand at present. Please check back later”

    at 0520 today

    • Hugh says:
      13 May13 May 05:27

      managed to register via the app from the app store in the end – worked first time

    • Stu R says:
      13 May13 May 05:28

      Hugh, the App is available in the App Store/Google play – just search Supercard, download, and follow the registration instructions.

    • Roger says:
      13 May13 May 20:51

      Managed to register at around 6:30 this morning at first attempt.
      Also received email to confirm the registration.

  • Stu R says:
    13 May13 May 05:26

    It looks like this will be extremely popular and I really hope it lives up to the hype!

    I registered my interest on the day it was first featured here and have yet to receive an email saying the app had gone live. However, I found that the app is in fact already live (App Store & Google Play) and managed to download it and it seems, having followed the process, I’ve been successfully accepted for a card.

    I’ll see how good this is next month when I give it its first outing but I suggest you read the T&C’s; you shouldn’t use it in the UK (fees) and can’t use it to buy petrol for example …. T&C’s worth a read for once!

    • Jonathan says:
      13 May13 May 05:58

      Good comment re petrol as its hidden away in the T&C!

      What’s your take on the ATM withdrawal? If you linked it to a UK credit card would it be seen as cash withdrawal from a credit card incurring interest immediately? If the answer is no I will always just get FX from a ATM abroad.

      • Stu R says:
        13 May13 May 07:10

        Hmm, not sure about that. I suppose it depends on the way Supercard is aligned to the CC companies; if they see all Supercard transactions as normal everyday spends, surely they’ll not be able to define between what’s a cash withdrawal, and what’s tapas for two?

        It’ll be interesting to see how Supercard spends show up on the underlying CC statements.

        On another note, given that you can add up to 3 CC’s, I wonder how you’ll define which charges go to which CC?

        Still some questions to be answered it seems ….

        • kirill says:
          13 May13 May 08:14

          I’m pretty sure you do it through the app, one of the screenshots in the store shows how you can juggle between the different cards saved in your account.

      • Simon says:
        13 May13 May 07:38

        No fees for cash withdrawals from ATMs abroad????? How can that be. Travelex will be killing their own Bureau de Change business…..

      • James67 says:
        13 May13 May 16:37

        Disappointing that it cannot be linked to amex.

  • Helen says:
    13 May13 May 05:32

    Thanks for the heads up. I was able to register via the iOS ap, and am told a card is now on its way to me.

  • David says:
    13 May13 May 05:55

    I just downloaded the app, and registered and was told my card is on its way

  • Toby says:
    13 May13 May 05:56

    Disappointingly I’m being told it can’t verify my identity because I’ve recently changed address or am not on the electoral register, neither of which are true.

    • Hugh says:
      13 May13 May 05:57

      a friend of mine had the same issues – said his address didn’t exist, which clearly isn’t right

    • Marwan says:
      13 May13 May 06:24

      I had the same issue, entered my address manually (adding my Flat number) and that seemed to work

  • Worzel says:
    13 May13 May 06:03

    Thinking back to the original post, we were all racking our brains to figure-out how Travelex would make any money out of this; and, if memory serves me correctly contributor Andrew Seftel and his colleagues didn’t come up with anything.

    • Hugh says:
      13 May13 May 06:44

      probably from selling the data from all your purchases

      • Worzel says:
        13 May13 May 09:20

        You were pretty close Hugh.

        Info on MSE:

        “Travelex is a major player in the travel cash game, but it knows nothing about the people it deals with. By and large, its customers walk up to one of its bureaux de change, make the exchange, then walk off with their currency or they buy online.

        “Supercard is all about building a customer database. Who they are. Where they go on holiday. What they buy.

        “Then it aims to develop future products with a ready-made customer base (as many other firms do). It didn’t explain what these products are, but I suspect it’ll join the sending cash overseas market for example, for those looking to buy properties abroad.

        “So in a nutshell, it seems (and you can never know 100%) the aim here is it believes offering a loss leader like Supercard is effectively a cheap model for customer acquisition for future products.”

  • Nathan says:
    13 May13 May 06:04

    I use my Halifax clarity because of the cash withdrawals being free, I just have to clear he balance that day to avoid the daily charge! Any idea if this card will allow that?

  • Andrew says:
    13 May13 May 06:13

    It came up error when I tried to submit, but it actually had registered me as I got conformation my card is on it’s way

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!