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Amex closing travelmoneynow – the end of a quick way of hitting your card bonus

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American Express is closing Travel Money Now (travelmoneynow.com), its foreign currency website, on 1st March.  It seems highly likely that the Avios-earning version (travelmoneynow.com/avios) will close on the same date.

On the face of it, this is not a great loss.  A couple of years ago, American Express lost its contract at Heathrow.  This meant that it was left with a grand total of one foreign exchange counter in the whole country, at Birmingham International.  You could, via the website, still order currency for home delivery but that is not exactly a niche with no competition.

However, as Head for Points has pointed out on a regular basis, there is something unique about Travel Money Now.

As long as you buy your currency using an American Express issued Amex card (eg BA, BA Premium Plus, SPG, Nectar, Gold, Platinum etc), the transaction is treated as a purchase.

This means:

no cash advance fee

you earn Avios, Membership Rewards points, SPG points, Nectar points etc on the transaction

the transaction counts towards your spend if you are looking to trigger a sign-up bonus

The 2nd point made Travel Money Now exceedingly competitive.  When you factored in the value of, say, 1.5 Avios per £1 for charging currency to your BA Premium Plus, it was good value.

The 3rd point was also very useful.  However, Amex does limit its value:

on a credit card, eg the BA Amex, the amount of currency you can buy is restricted to your ‘cash advance limit’ printed on the front of your statement.  This is usually 20% of your credit limit.

if you are new to American Express, it was likely that you would be blocked entirely from any sort of cash transaction, including buying foreign currency from Travel Money Now, for a few months – by which time it would be too late to trigger your sign-up bonus

Travel Money Now was a useful little trick to have in your points-earning arsenal, however, and it is a shame that it is going away.

It is not clear, at this stage, who will replace Amex as BA’s foreign currency partner.  I would imagine that there will finally be one integrated solution covering both pre-ordering and ‘at airport’ purchases.  It is possible, given that there was a short trial last Summer, that Travelex will be back on the scene.

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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

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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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:

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American Express Business Platinum

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American Express Business Gold

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Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (102)

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

  • Simon says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:32

    This is a shame. I travel a lot for work so order EUR regularly through here. The fact it is classed as a purchase is an added bonus as I get my expenses paid before the bill comes in.

    • John says:
      14 Feb14 February 10:10

      For people not on expenses and who don’t need to use Amex, Supercard would work much better, earned about 20000 IHG points plus profit on cash withdrawals.

      • James67 says:
        14 Feb14 February 10:59

        Only when you can get the thing to work. I had so much drama with it on my last trip that I consigned it to the back of my wallet

      • Topp2015 says:
        15 Feb15 February 22:32

        So provided I am within my cash limit I can order a GBP travelers cheque and deposit into my current account for 1.5%? Barclays appear to accept with no charges at their end… Wish I knew about this before

  • Gavin says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:40

    Was handy for me when I began my ex-EU on a 9.99 Ryanair flight from Birmingham… still when one door closes another usually opens

  • Metatone says:
    14 Feb14 February 07:56

    Home delivery doesn’t work well for a lot of people. I never understood why they couldn’t make an arrangement with BA for airport pickup.

  • mark says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:03

    This service will be missed, i never used it to hit a target – as the rates were good, i used it as i got a bonus of free amex points…

    Another thing was their customer service, it was great – I wanted a large number of 1 dollar bills for a bribes when i was travelling to central asia… got 100X$1 notes without a problem…

  • Genghis says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:06

    Will I miss travelmoneynow purely as a place to buy currency? No. Despite earning avios/MR points, currency was v expensive vs use of Halifax Clarity.

    But will I miss travelmoneynow as an option to buying currency / sterling TCs to meet spend targets? Definitely!

  • JamesWag says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:20

    To me this will be a painful loss.
    Was so easy to hit spend targets in the run up to a deadline by getting cash for your next couple of holidays.

  • Anon says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:45

    Might yet some Aussie dollars while the rate is reasonable, BAPP spend target to hit, thank you – that’ll do nicely…

  • harry says:
    14 Feb14 February 08:47

    Maths never stacked up for me except at bonus avios time. Poor conversion rates. Other times, an expensive way to buy points or possibly useful MS when all else has failed.

    • Anon says:
      14 Feb14 February 09:15

      The non BA rates nearly match those of Travelex..

      Amex BA $1.9673 AUD
      Amex $1.9805 AUD
      Travelex. $1.9806 AUD

      Can you get me ” $2 to the pound ” (famous Barmy Army Cricket song)?

      • Anon says:
        14 Feb14 February 09:21

        Quick comparison, getting £750 worth of Aussie dollars..

        Going the BA Amex route the difference is $10 AUD ~ £5 less than Standard Amex/Traveled

        So £5 for extra 750 Avios, not horrendous value..

        • harry says:
          14 Feb14 February 09:30

          Horrible for me, though – Amex doesn’t get close to the likes of HIFX bank transfer to account abroad. So we’re not comparing the same thing.

          HIFX – AUD 1.9639

          • harry says:
            14 Feb14 February 09:31

            Actually that’s a rubbish rate lol – not my currency though

          • John says:
            14 Feb14 February 10:06

            I haven’t received less than 2 to 1 for ages now… having a bank account in Hong Kong helps but Transferwise is pretty good too

      • Callum says:
        14 Feb14 February 10:22

        Halifax Clarity rate 2.044. Making a total of £29 for 750 avios.

        Awful rate and only really good for those scamming their expense accounts or those far away from a lucrative spend target (though buying gift vouchers will still be better for most).

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