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Breaking news: Travelex Supercard now live for new applications and is still free

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As of 10am this morning, the Travelex Supercard website is back up, a new app appeared in the app stores and it began to accept new applications.

If you want to get one, click here to download the app and apply.

I would move quickly as the company has told me that it expects a backlog to build up due to the physical constraints on producing the cards.  I imagine that moneysavingexpert.com will give it a big push tomorrow as they have promoted it in the past and their Wednesday newsletter goes to 10m people ……

Note that, if you were on the pilot programme, you must still make a fresh application via the app.

I will do a full article on Supercard tomorrow.  It is, in essence, a Curve-style product which allows you to make purchases which are recharged to an underlying Visa or Mastercard.

Supercard is aimed primarily at overseas use.  It allows you to bypass the 3% foreign exchange fee on almost all UK credit and debit cards.

You pay with your Supercard, the transaction is converted to £ by Travelex using the standard Mastercard wholesale rate, and it is recharged to your underlying Visa or Mastercard.

Supercard

Here is a summary of the card benefits and how it differs from the pilot programme:

Supercard remains totally free.  Free to apply, free to use – although it requires a smartphone to operate.  I must be honest, I expected them to start charging but I was wrong.

It is a Mastercard.  This is a change from the pilot programme which operated on Visa.  As Mastercard FX rates are generally better than Visa, this is to your advantage.

There are NO FEES when using the card for purchases abroad.

There is a 2.99% fee for ATM withdrawals abroad.  This is a change from the pilot programme where ATM withdrawals were free.  Halifax Clarity, Creation Everyday and MBNA Everyday Plus are, I think, the only UK credit or debit cards which allows fee-free global ATM withdrawals.

Supercard is not a credit card so there is no credit check.  They will take steps to verify your identify to comply with general money laundering and compliance rules.

Whilst UK use is not banned, purchases or ATM withdrawals will incur a £1 plus 1% fee which makes them relatively pointless.  The only exception would be if you had a generous card like my old ‘2.5 Avios per £1’ bmi Mastercard – I could withdraw £200, pay £3 in fees and earn 500 Avios.

Transaction limits are generous – £500 cash per day, £50000 in total annual spend and various daily / monthly caps

I will write more tomorrow, but you have nothing to lose by heading to the website to check out the full details and then clicking here to download the app to order a free Supercard.  Even if you already have a ‘no FX fees’ credit card, Supercard could still be a better deal if you link it to a Visa or Mastercard which has richer rewards.

Don’t ask me how Travelex makes any money on Supercard because I don’t know.  There is probably an arbitrage on the interchange fees and some data mining opportunities.  The pilot programme must have convinced them that it does have serious long term potential.

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Comments (124)

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

  • Parin says:
    14 Jun14 June 13:46

    Can we connect our AMEX cards to this and use it as a master card (like the curve card) or does it only work with visa and mastercard cards.

  • James67 says:
    14 Jun14 June 13:52

    “Halifax Clarity, Creation Everyday and MBNA Everyday Plus are, I think, the only UK credit or debit cards which allows fee-free global ATM withdrawals.”

    Not so, N&P debit card tops the lot, zero fees for both purchases and ATM withdrawals. I use it for my cash and LLoyds avios for my purchases. I used to use supercard for cash but ended up an embarassment so back to N&P debit.

    • Rob says:
      14 Jun14 June 14:15

      Didn’t include that due to the requirement to have the bank account as well which is a step too far for most.

      • James67 says:
        14 Jun14 June 15:15

        Fair enough, although a substantil proportion of those using clarity are probably also running a Halifax reward account so that’s two accounts as opposed to one with N&P. That said, the former benefits from a £10/month reward across both accounts so I appreciate the attraction.

      • DW201 says:
        14 Jun14 June 17:00

        Vote for N&P – You say in the article “the only UK credit or debit cards” – its pretty difficult to get a debit card without a bank account no?

    • Jon says:
      14 Jun14 June 14:31

      How does it top the lot? Halifax Clarity is no fee on purchases or ATM withdrawals, so isn’t this the same as the card you mentioned, or am I missing something?

      • James67 says:
        14 Jun14 June 15:06

        No, because it’s not a credit card so no need to clear the balance or put it in credit before withdrawal to avoid interest. However, as Rob states it requires a current account which obviously needs to maintain a balance, and also requires a £500/month payment. I’ve maintined this account for years solely for overseas use without any hassle at all from N&P. On the contrary, they have been great. They answer phone almost straight away if you call them from overseas, offer to call you back, and one time I used an ATM overseas that had previously been subject to fraud, this raised a flag and tgey were on the phone and sent me a warning pronto. For these reasons I’m happy to maintain the current account even though I nw use Lloyds avios for purchases. When iverseas it is always best to have a number of options rather than just one. For me only downside of N&P is a £250/day withdrawal limit but I can usually live with that.

        • DW201 says:
          14 Jun14 June 17:02

          I love N&P for this reason but Ive found that when I have trouble at cashpoints in far flung corners of the world (which happens more with N&P than other higher fee bank withrrawels like natwest) N&P are invariably not open being a building society and not a bank…

  • Worzel says:
    14 Jun14 June 14:30

    For those that want to further complicate their lives, this card would seem to help.

    For those with average/limited overseas spend, Halifax Clarity(front loaded/transfer whilst abroad)
    should do the trick.

    I doubt that the MSE view will change.

    • Rob says:
      14 Jun14 June 16:12

      If you only have limited overseas spend, surely Supercard is better – why have another open credit card which you rarely use?

      • Worzel says:
        14 Jun14 June 17:21

        The(open) credit card costs me nothing, is in the drawer when not needed, and I get what is generally viewed the “perfect” exchange rate-I don’t remember paying any interest.

        We use Amex whenever and wherever possible on home turf, and when not, the JL MasterCard- points/vouchers keep Mrs Gummidge happy.

  • Dale says:
    14 Jun14 June 16:29

    Be good if they had a Blackberry app !

  • Matt says:
    14 Jun14 June 16:57

    Set Curve to use Supercard.
    Set Supercard to use Curve.
    Infinite money.

  • TimS says:
    14 Jun14 June 17:03

    Only if you also have a Rewards current account.
    You don’t need the current account to have the Clarity credit card though so the £5 credit is not applicable to all cardholders.

  • Andrew says:
    14 Jun14 June 17:46

    In the Pilot, ATM transactions were charged as purchases. This was a great perk in avoiding interest when paying off the card at next payday!

    Although Supercard is now charging a 2.99% fee – which I don’t object to, it has to make a profit somehow, – it’s not clear (at least to me from their website) whether it then charges your credit card as a Cash Advance or a Purchase.

    Raffles – do you know the answer?

    thanks,
    Andrew

    • Alan says:
      14 Jun14 June 21:54

      I’m almost certain it’ll still go through as a purchase – that’s the setup they have with the credit card cross-charging arrangements.

    • Genghis says:
      15 Jun15 June 03:38

      Still a cheap pay day loan

  • Mark Charlton says:
    14 Jun14 June 18:00

    I totally agree, this was a great perk. 2.99% is not a terrible charge considering what some companies charge.

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