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Get £20 for free when you load £50 on a Moneycorp prepaid Mastercard

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Foreign exchange group Moneycorp, who you will be familiar with if you travel from Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Southend or Bristol on a regular basis, has launched a new prepaid explorer Mastercard for holidaymakers.

As a special offer, Moneycorp is offering a £20 bonus to new customers who order a card and load it with at least £50.

Full details are here.  This deal is branded as a Facebook offer because it is primarily being promoted on there. Moneycorp has confirmed to me in writing that anyone who applies via this link will definitely get the bonus despite not clicking through from Facebook.

The explorer Mastercard can be operated in £ or six foreign currencies:

  • Pound Sterling
  • Euros
  • US Dollars
  • Australian Dollars
  • New Zealand Dollars
  • Canadian Dollars
  • South African Rand

If you have a balance remaining on the card after your trip, you can convert it into a different currency in preparation for your next trip.

There are no foreign exchange fees when using the card as long as you are buying something in the same currency which is loaded to your card.

The full list of fees which do apply are here.  You will not incur any fees if you do not use the card at an ATM, use it in the UK, or use it in a different currency to the one loaded on the card.  There is no fee to order the card.

The exchange rate used to load the card is the same as that used by Moneycorp for online foreign currency orders.  In a test yesterday it was offering me €1.1565 per £1.

Some people like the security of prepaid travel money debit cards.  Regular readers of Head for Points will know that I am personally not a fan because it is an extra level of complexity over using your standard credit or debit card.  However, the incentive of a free £20 credit for ordering a £50 card means that this is a good opportunity to give them a try.

You must be a UK resident aged 18+ to apply and you can only order one card per person.  Cards take 7-10 days to arrive.  You can change the PIN at any UK ATM.

The ‘free £20’ offer is available for applications until 31st August.  The application page is here.

PS.  The small print says that the £20 free credit may take up to 90 days to be added to your card, so do not expect it immediately


best travel rewards credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 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

Get 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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

Huge 80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 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:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) and NO FX fees Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios 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 when you spend at least £2,000 per month.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

Get 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month* Read our full review

Comments (123)

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

  • Mr Dee says:

    I hate offers like first 1000 only and not telling people whether the first 1000 has been reached yet, very dodgy marketing practice IMO, still will give it a go thanks!

  • Brandon says:

    Also getting
    “Unfortunately, we are unable to verify your identity and cannot process your currency order.”

  • Bob says:

    Great,

    They took all of my personal information and after I submit my card details it said that: “Customer verification failed” and cleaned all info on the page. Tried with a different card but no luck.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    Update posted as a purchase on my BAPP

  • Nick says:

    Shows as MCC member financial institutions – automated cash disburse. Any idea if that means it’s classed as a purchase?

    • Nick says:

      That’s a yes, got a cash advance fee too. Balls

      • Wally1976 says:

        Commiserations and thanks for the info Nick, saved me going down the same road.

        • Genghis says:

          No fee on the Curve. At least it has its uses.

        • Nick says:

          No worries, I need a way to get some amex spend up and this would have made my day. Still it was worth a shot!

          • Nick says:

            Right on the Virgin bit, have others confirmed dedicate Amex card results ? I.e. Non mbna issued.

          • Charlie says:

            My Amex plat appears to have treated it as a regular purchase

          • YL says:

            Thank you to all of you that took one for the team to find out! Ordered mine yesterday using BAPP. I am guessing this means that online currency order through Moneycorp will also be treated as purchase if using the correct card?

  • John says:

    Card arrived today. Ordered at the weekend, loaded £52. Haven’t had a chance to withdraw yet – anyone tried withdrawing at ATM?

    • Alan says:

      Surely better to wait for the £20 to be added then take £70 out rather than have 2 ATM fees?

  • Ross Parker says:

    It is strange that Moneycorp have told you in writing that anyone who clicks through from your link will get the £20, because rule number one of the T&Cs says:

    “1. The offer to receive an additional £20 (the “Offer Amount”) is exclusively available to customers that successfully place an order for a new white explorer multi-currency MasterCard® in a single journey starting at http://www.facebook.com and load an initial amount of at least and equivalent to £50.00. The white explorer multi-currency MasterCard is subject to separate terms and conditions and eligibility requirements.”

    It’s hard to see how an applicant from outside Facebook could challenge them if they decided not to give the bonus. Promises to third parties are not relevant. It’s not clear Moneycorp track journeys with cookies, but to avoid the risk, why not go via the Facebook ad (which you can find by searching “moneycorp explorer” within Facebook).

    • Alan says:

      I’m all for doing that 🙂 Quite handy it going through as a purchase too with Amex.

  • mark2 says:

    My purchase of a Moneycard is now on my Amex Platinum account and has earned points and no surcharge, so I assume is a purchase.

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

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