Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Review: Is WeSwap, the crowdfunded prepaid card, worth a look?

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

This is our review of the WeSwap Mastercard travel money card.

If you use a rewards credit card when travelling, you will incur a fee of 3% on everything you buy.  This can never be justified by the reward points earned on the transaction.  It may be justified if you need to hit a spending target to trigger a sign-up bonus or a voucher such as the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 but this is rarely relevant.

Over the next week or so we are going to look at a few no and low FX fee options.  We reviewed Tandem a few weeks ago (click here) so we not going to cover that again.  We reviewed Revolut here (and we have a special reader deal to avoid the £5 postage fee) and looked at some 0% credit cards.

WeSwap card review

All of these products have different features – there is no ‘right’ answer.  Some are more fiddly than others, some are prepaid cards and some are credit cards, some have added benefits such as 0% interest on purchases.

If you DO want to earn frequent flyer miles or reward points from your foreign spending, the best option is Curve Card. Curve is free and has a 1% foreign exchange fee (2/3rd lower than most cards).  It recharges your purchase to any other Visa or Mastercard you own in Sterling.  This means you earn miles and points on the underlying card without paying the usual 2.99% foreign transaction fee.  Curve Card will pay you £5 for trying it outread our article here.

The WeSwap Mastercard travel money card

The WeSwap Mastercard was originally very similar to Revolut, being a pre-paid travel money card which had to be loaded before you spent on it.  This product has recently changed into a hybrid credit card / prepaid travel money card.

We were also intrigued after it won “Best Travel Money Provider 2018” at the British Bank Awards.  It also raised £8m from 3,500 existing customers through a recent crowdfunding scheme.

The official WeSwap website is here.  The credit card option is explained separately here.

What is WeSwap?

Like Revolut, WeSwap is an online platform with an app (so you need a smartphone) and a linked plastic Mastercard.  It lets you exchange your money for any foreign currency, although the fees are lowest with their 18 core currencies.

The USP for WeSwap is that you are swapping your money with other travellers.  You don’t see this but, behind the scenes, WeSwap moves money onto your card when another member is looking to swap the same currency back into Sterling.

The smart thing about this is that fees are low, because WeSwap is not buying your currency in the FX markets.  The downside is that you need to give them some time – up to seven days – to get your money.  You can have it instantly but the fee is higher.

How doesWeSwap work?

You sign up on the WeSwap website here.  You will then need to download the WeSwap app and wait for a WeSwap Mastercard to appear in your letterbox.

You can load your card via a debit card or bank transfer.  Credit cards are not accepted (note that Revolut does now allow loading with a credit card, which some issuers are treating as a purchase and so earning you miles and points ….)

Every WeSwap member loads their cards with their home currency – £ for UK readers.

How do I spend money with WeSwap?

Your card will be loaded in £.  Before you travel, you need to swap your £ balance into the currency you need.  This will be processed at the Mastercard interbank rate less a fee of:

1% if you give WeSwap seven days to complete your swap

1.3% if you give WeSwap three days to complete your swap

2% if you want WeSwap to swap your money immediately

A swap may be completed faster than the time stated depending on the amount of money that WeSwap members are currently moving in each direction.  If you choose the seven or three day options, you can see via the app how much of the order has been filled at any point and, if you want, complete the swap immediately by switching to the 2% option.

If you want to swap into a currency which is not one of the core 18 currencies (GBP, USD, EUR, CAD, AUD, ZAR, CHF, NOK, SEK, DKK, HKD, PLN, NZD, SGD, HUF, JPY, ILS, TRY) then the fee is fixed at 2% and the transaction is done immediately.

When you make a purchase abroad, the transaction is debited from your balance in that currency.  There is no transaction fee as long as you have a big enough balance.

If you do not have enough money in the currency needed – but you do have enough loaded in Sterling – the transaction is still authorised but you are charged a 2% fee for converting the amount into £.

Can I make ATM withdrawals abroad with WeSwap?

Yes.  You can make two withdrawals per 24 hour period for a total of no more than £500.

Withdrawals in any currency except the 18 listed above are capped at £200 per week.

ATM withdrawals are free above the equivalent of £200.  There is charge of around £1.50 for small withdrawals.

What limits does WeSwap have?

It has limits and some of them don’t appear too generous.

You are limited to 10 transactions per day.  This could be difficult in countries such as Sweden where a large number of shops no longer accept cash.

There is an annual spending limit of £12,000.

WeSwap can also now be a credit card, if you want it

WeSwap recently added a credit option.   Here are the details.

Depending on your status, you will be allowed to borrow between £250 and £2000.  Unlike a traditional credit card, you need to request a lump sum which is loaded in £ to your card.  You can then convert this sum into other currencies just like you had loaded the card from your bank account.

There is no interest to pay if you settle the balance via a transfer from your bank account or with a debit card within 30 days.  If you do not settle the balance in 30 days you will pay 19.9% interest.

Is a WeSwap card worth getting?

Here at Head for Points we are generally not keen on prepaid foreign currency cards such as Revolut and WeSwap.  If you have a good income then you will get the best deal by getting a standard credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees and using that abroad.  We will be looking at a few of those products, such as the Virgin Money Travel credit card and – under reader pressure! – Aqua, in this series.

WeSwap, Revolut and the like are better suited to people who are less likely to qualify for credit cards, are concerned about losing their credit card abroad or for parents to give to their children when travelling.  There may be other members of your family who will find it more useful than you.  The card is fiddly and, unless you turn on the credit card option, there is a risk that you won’t have enough money to make a purchase.

It is possible that you are happier paying a small fee to WeSwap by using the pre-paid card rather than potentially restricting your ability to get credit elsewhere by adding a 0% FX credit card to your credit report.

WeSwap is FREE, of course, so signing up and giving it a try does not cost you anything.  You may find it works for you.

You can find out more about WeSwap on their website here.  The credit card option is explained separately here.


best travel rewards credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – November 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

30,000 bonus points (TO 18 NOVEMBER) 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

30,000 points (TO 9TH DECEMBER) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) 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 (111)

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

  • Delbert says:

    Am I going to save a small fortune over the Clarity card, Richard?

  • let_BAegones_be says:

    OT apologies.
    I wanted to cancel my gold Amex card to avoid the annual fee kicking in. They have offered me 20000 points if I spent £4000 within 3months. I took it.
    Good deal?
    Can I still cancel and get a partial refund on the annual fee?
    Will I get the points right away or only at the end of the year?
    Thanks for your help!

    • Anna says:

      You would get 20000 points for upgrading to Platinum and spending £1k, depends how fast you would hit the spend though as you’d be charged the Platinum fee if your anniversary date has passed.

    • Rob says:

      I know someone else who got offered this during this week. VERY interesting development, looks like Amex is prioritising keeping people on its own (no interchange cap) cards.

      • Genghis says:

        Any offers on Plats? I’ll be looking to cancel around month end.

        • Graham Walsh says:

          Same here planning on cancelling my Amex Plat this month too. Have just SPG and Lloyds to keep earning whilst waiting to re sign.

  • Mark says:

    Seems like a load of phaff for not much gain to me. Our solution for many years has been Halifax Clarity. Not so much for purchases since the rewards stopped and we’ve had the Lloyds card but its still great for ATM withdrawals. We tend to pay approximately the right amount immediately after each withdrawal, and then true it up once the transactions come through. Never paid for than a few odd pence in interest over the base MasterCard rates.

    The Starling bank option sounds interesting though.

    • Genghis says:

      I use Starling now for ATM withdrawals given that withdrawals on Halifax Clarity show up on credit reports.

      • Mark says:

        Yes, that’s the downside. Starling account looks like a better solution.

        • Andrew says:

          It’s not much but Starling also pay 0.5% on credit balances with the interest credited monthly to your account. Not ground breaking but my view is that something is better than nothing.

      • VJ says:

        I wonder can you load Starling with Curve card.

        • Memesweeper says:

          If you did, and then paid off the credit card with the funds in Starling, this would violate the Curve T&Cs (and maybe Starlings too).

        • VJ says:

          Noted!

  • Andrew says:

    What with Curve and now Starling my Hailfax Clarity card is 100% redundant. It was useful but now there are better options available.

  • Federico says:

    off to America next sat and i am going to use revolut, which lets be honest let me save already over £50 with the exchange..

    I will see how i get on but already VERY impressed

  • JJ says:

    Hi Rob,

    You say in the article “If you use a rewards credit card when travelling, you will incur a fee of 3% on everything you buy. This can never be justified…”

    What about both the Amex Gold, and HSBC World Elite? They both offer double points for foreign transactions… does this not work out as acceptable??

    • Genghis says:

      For ongoing spend, in my opinion no. Eg Amex Gold 2 MRs for 3p is a bad deal unless someone else is paying the bill.

    • Rob says:

      1.5p per Amex point is not good. There are no redemptions worth over 1p in my book.

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

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.