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Just had this email from BA:
We regret to inform you that the British Airways Prepaid Mastercard® programme is closing on 22 April 2024. Please see below for further details and dates.
What does this mean for you?
Until 21 April 2024
You can spend the balance on your card. For information regarding topping up your card, please check the British Airways Executive Club Rewards app. You have until this date to submit any missing Avios claims.22 April 2024 onwards
Your card will automatically close on 22 April 2024. From this date, you will not be able to access your card or outstanding balance on the British Airways Executive Club Rewards App. If there are any funds remaining on your British Airways Prepaid Mastercard® you will be able to request these funds back.Clearly a failed experiment from BA! I actually don’t think I’ve ever been charged the monthly fee and curious if anyone else has?
No surprise…..
Clearly a failed experiment from BA! I actually don’t think I’ve ever been charged the monthly fee and curious if anyone else has?
Yep but least we all got some bonus avios out of it! Also had the email
No, I was never charged the fee either! But check the FAQs. They state: As a gesture of goodwill, we will not charge you the £5 fee for any funds you want to redeem by 21 April 2024. Well, how generous of them.
This is hardly a surprise given the (mis)use of the card described at length on here, the faff of prepaid cards all backed by a low quality card provider. And all that for a thimble full of Avios, so the market was always going to be too small to be viable.
I only ever used it to pay my Amex bill and then gave up when I hit a limit and got a not-insignificant amount of money stuck in the card with seemingly no way to extract it
I only ever used it to pay my Amex bill and then gave up when I hit a limit and got a not-insignificant amount of money stuck in the card with seemingly no way to extract it
Quod erat demonstrandum. I don’t think the clever creators/branders of the card ever intended or anticipated that the card would be used to pay Amex bills.
‘Clearly a failed experiment from BA! I actually don’t think I’ve ever been charged the monthly fee and curious if anyone else has?’
Card held since May 2022. charged only twice. £2.99 in Dec 22 & Jan 23. No fee charged since then.
I don’t want my £1.98 balance back….perhaps they may have a charity for small balances ?
Tesco Clubcard pay plus next to go? Probably have to wait for Barclays to can it.
I only ever used it to pay my Amex bill and then gave up when I hit a limit and got a not-insignificant amount of money stuck in the card with seemingly no way to extract it
+1 to this. I actually can’t be arsed going in to find out what’s left in the balance, if anything.
Deleting the app, canning the card. Next.I only ever used it to pay my Amex bill and then gave up when I hit a limit and got a not-insignificant amount of money stuck in the card with seemingly no way to extract it
Quod erat demonstrandum. I don’t think the clever creators/branders of the card ever intended or anticipated that the card would be used to pay Amex bills.
I do question who they thought the market would be? With the exception of the (questionable) uses described above, it wasn’t a competitive offering and the implementation was awful as well.
What prepaid cards are others on this site using now, if any? We have the need for a pre-paid card over the summer, and wondering what might be some options to consider.
What prepaid cards are others on this site using now, if any? We have the need for a pre-paid card over the summer, and wondering what might be some options to consider.
probably depends on what you want to use it for. Chase is a good starting point. Can be loaded and used as a pre-paid.
+1 Never got charged any monthly fees
+1 Trouble with money stuck in it
+1 Trouble with using it on a few occasions as they sent me a new one without me requesting oneWas surprised at this when it came out. A blind man could see it was going to be just a quick blast for some Avios and good night Vienna.
What prepaid cards are others on this site using now, if any? We have the need for a pre-paid card over the summer, and wondering what might be some options to consider.
Tesco clubcard pay plus.
Clearly the “squad leader” for this project did a naff job
(You’ll only know what I’m on about if you’re an OG forum person and got a good memory)
This is hardly a surprise given the (mis)use of the card described at length on here
How was such a card being ‘misused’? Surely, any POS transaction was backed by cash and generated revenue for the prepaid card provider so what was the problem?
I for one am sorry to see its passing, I had hoped the technical issues would be ironed out and it would turn into a reliable card that allowed me, as an ex-UK resident, to earn a modicum of Avios every month that became even more relevant after the arrival of Avios Boost. To my knowledge there isn’t another financial product offering Avios that isn’t a ‘credit’ product for which you need to pass credit scoring in the UK. I’m not resident in Spain where I’m sure IB offers some Avios earning cards, so I’m up a gumtree when it comes to earning Avios. Earning rates on cheaper flights have been heavily reduced so I’m relegated to using Avios e-Store as and when it’s relevant and price competitive versus local options.
I don’t know why they had to make Avios Subscription a poor deal so quickly after it was introduced.
Clearly the “squad leader” for this project did a naff job
It seems the Squad Leader responsible jumped the IAG Loyalty ship just before the BA Prepaid card launch. Now a Head of Product at VirginMedia O2.
In his own words… “had overall responsibility for the IAG Loyalty mobile reward app platform (mobile apps for BA, Aer Lingus & Vueling), the technical development and delivery of the new BA prepaid MasterCard fintech product, and the onboard digital product offering for all BA, Iberia and Vueling aircraft.”
It seems the Squad Leader responsible jumped the IAG Loyalty ship just before the BA Prepaid card launch. Now a Head of Product at VirginMedia O2.
He or she clearly did a ‘great’ job. Having also experienced problems with a Virgin Mobile to O2 migration after the latter acquired the former, I’m not surprised this is where our product genius has gone!
Clearly the “squad leader” for this project did a naff job
It seems the Squad Leader responsible jumped the IAG Loyalty ship just before the BA Prepaid card launch. Now a Head of Product at VirginMedia O2.
In his own words… “had overall responsibility for the IAG Loyalty mobile reward app platform (mobile apps for BA, Aer Lingus & Vueling), the technical development and delivery of the new BA prepaid MasterCard fintech product, and the onboard digital product offering for all BA, Iberia and Vueling aircraft.”
I keep looking at jobs at IAG Loyalty (drawn in by their ‘birthday avios’ perk) and then realising how badly I would do here if it became known I worked there and not applying
I just applied to get my funds back. They want info like copy of passport and bank statements. This is to ensure scammers don´t try and get in the middle, I suppose. Quite a straightforward process. I think that I was only charged the monthly fee once or twice during the time I held the card which was from the program opening to closing. I found the card particularly useful for withdrawing cash, by-passing the fees of high street banks. It also saved me a few times in France and Spain when my bank debit card refused to work. It was however quite useless for online shopping. Many online retailers reject pre-paid cards. Perhaps BA should have marketed the card towards young people where parents top up whilst on holiday. Probably, also, Visa is better than MC at pre paid.
BA should proritise basic things such as cleaning the interior of aircraft after each flight, or perhaps fixing the cabins that are falling apart rather than try and experiment with things like this.
The idea was excellent, the execution terrible. I still miss this product, it provided a useful slug of Avios on everyday spend that I could then boost x3. My rate of collection has gone way down with its passing.
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