Fairfx prepaid Mastercard

Steve_xx

Yes, I have done and I will post the reply here.

Toe-Jam

Steve_xx wrote: »

Some debit card issuers certainly do charge if you use your account for purchasing currency. Are you sayiing that in the case of loading one of these prepaid cards that debit card issuers do not levy a charge?

You do not pay to load it using your debit card, and you pay 1.5% using a credit card, i have one of these, it takes about 2 hours for the funds to be available, and its usually same day if you load by bank tranfer provided you do it before mid day.

i am using https://www.neteller.com for my ryanair, the topups are instant and theres very little difference in the cost.

Steve_xx

Here is a copy of the questions sent to Fairfx. Their response are in red and I intend to seek further clarification on question 4. Also, note the failure to refer to credit card charges in their reply to question 3. I'll also pursue that one further with them.

Re: Fairfx prepaid Mastercard

1. I am in the UK and would like to have one of these card loaded with sterling. Is it possible to do that?

The FairFX Anywhere Card is loaded in Sterling and can be used wherever
MasterCard is accepted, worldwide.

2. If I buy something in sterling with the card what will the charge be for doing so?

The FairFX Anywhere card is free to load and incurs a 1.5% fee on all
point of sale transactions and ATM transactions.

As the base currency of a FairFX Anywhere Card is Sterling, if you were
to use the card in a country where Sterling is not the local currency,
the exchange rate would be the wholesale MasterCard® market rate,
approximately 0.3% from the interbank / spot rate for that day. FairFX
do not take any further commissions or fees when you do this.
Accordingly, the FairFX Currency cards represent fantastic value for use
in any currency.

3. I understand that there is no charge to load the card with cash. However I am unclear as to whether or not my debit/credit card issuer would levy a charge for using my debit/credit card to load your prepaid Mastercard. Can you clarify on this for please?

I would not know exactly which banks charges however on Debit Cards, it
seems that the RBS Group, HSBC and Halifx among others do not charge.

4. I note that your prepaid card has a life of 3 years. I assume that any funds left on it at the point of lapse would be transferred onto a replacement card which you would issue? I want to know if you would levy a charge for transferring any remaining funds onto a replacement card and if you do levy a charge what is the amount of the charge?

In regards to the lifespan of the FairFX card, we would contact you and
ask if required a new card or refund.

Steve_xx

Toe-Jam wrote: »

You do not pay to load it using your debit card, and you pay 1.5% using a credit card, i have one of these, it takes about 2 hours for the funds to be available, and its usually same day if you load by bank tranfer provided you do it before mid day.

i am using www.neteller.com for my ryanair, the topups are instant and theres very little difference in the cost.

Some debit card issuers also charge for loading the prepaid card it seems.

The Netteller Net+ Prepaid Mastercard seems good to me. There seems to be no fees associated with loading it, and there would be none for using it on Ryanair. Or have I missed something there?

mark7002

Steve_xx wrote: »

I have a couple of points to raise about this latest recommended prepaid card.

1. I note that their website say that it can be topped using using a credit/debit card. If you used a credit/debit card to do this wouldn't you be charged by your debit/credit card issuer since you were effectively buying cash?

2. Their website, as far as I can see, makes no mention of the 1.5% transaction fee?

3. The card goes void after 3 years. It seems that they will issue a fresh card at that point but as I read it the cardholder would incur a fee of £10 for any remaining cash to be transferred to the new card. One wonders why it has a timer on it in the first place.

4. I'd only use it for Ryanair. I'd want to have the card loaded with sterling. I assume I can do that and that if I put £20 sterling on it then £20 is what will show on the accoutn until I spend some of it and it will then reduce by the cost of the thing purchased, plus 1.5% Is this correct?

Sorry don't know answer to your question! Having difficulty navigating forum! Would appreciate info from anyone as to wether pre-paid cards work in Poland???!!

Toe-Jam

Steve_xx wrote: »

Some debit card issuers also charge for loading the prepaid card it seems.

The Netteller Net+ Prepaid Mastercard seems good to me. There seems to be no fees associated with loading it, and there would be none for using it on Ryanair. Or have I missed something there?

There is a 1.75% charge to load with your debit/credit card, and no charge for purchases, and £3 to use the atm

they don't charge the 1.75% if you top up via bank transfer, but it takes 5 Days

Toe-Jam

Steve_xx wrote: »

Here is a copy of the questions sent to Fairfx. Their response are in red and I intend to seek further clarification on question 4. Also, note the failure to refer to credit card charges in their reply to question 3. I'll also pursue that one further with them.

Re: Fairfx prepaid Mastercard

1. I am in the UK and would like to have one of these card loaded with sterling. Is it possible to do that?

The FairFX Anywhere Card is loaded in Sterling and can be used wherever
MasterCard is accepted, worldwide.

2. If I buy something in sterling with the card what will the charge be for doing so?

The FairFX Anywhere card is free to load and incurs a 1.5% fee on all
point of sale transactions and ATM transactions.

As the base currency of a FairFX Anywhere Card is Sterling, if you were
to use the card in a country where Sterling is not the local currency,
the exchange rate would be the wholesale MasterCard® market rate,
approximately 0.3% from the interbank / spot rate for that day. FairFX
do not take any further commissions or fees when you do this.
Accordingly, the FairFX Currency cards represent fantastic value for use
in any currency.

3. I understand that there is no charge to load the card with cash. However I am unclear as to whether or not my debit/credit card issuer would levy a charge for using my debit/credit card to load your prepaid Mastercard. Can you clarify on this for please?

I would not know exactly which banks charges however on Debit Cards, it
seems that the RBS Group, HSBC and Halifx among others do not charge.

4. I note that your prepaid card has a life of 3 years. I assume that any funds left on it at the point of lapse would be transferred onto a replacement card which you would issue? I want to know if you would levy a charge for transferring any remaining funds onto a replacement card and if you do levy a charge what is the amount of the charge?

In regards to the lifespan of the FairFX card, we would contact you and
ask if required a new card or refund.

In my opinion their "exchange rates" are very cloaked, for example the rate they give you if you have a euro card, is not wholesale rate, or anywhere near it, its about 2% less, compare https://www.xe.com which is the interbank rate, with the rate on the fairfx website.

I loaded my euro card with £10 sterling, and it converted it to 10.93 euros, according to fairfx there are no further charges for using the card, even if you use it for currencies other than euro, which isn't true, the transaction for £9.99 declined because of insufficent funds because they charge a markup again to convert it back to sterling 1%

I worked out the fairfx card is more expensive to use than my visa debit card (coventry bs). factoring in the atm charges.

I might get one of these sterling cards and experiment on how much it ACTUALLY costs.

My advise is to go with Neteller for the prepaid mastercard for ryanair usage, If your in no rush you can load the card for free via bank transfer, and if you need to use it there and then, you have the option of instant loading via your debit/credit card at a charge of 1.75% and it is on your account instantly, unlike fairfx which takes about 2 hours.

Steve_xx

Here is Fairfx's response to my latest request for clarification regarding their charges. I note that Fairfx say that they levy a charge of 1.5% if you load their card using a credit card. No doubt that this would be in addition to a charge levied on you by the credit card issuer:

Q. I want to press you further on my question 3. You mentioned that some banks don't charge for loading the card using a debit card and I understand your response. However, I also mentioned that I might load the prepaid card using a credit card. Can you say if the credit card issuer would levy a charge for loading the prepaid card using a credit card?

We do not recommend that you use a credit card to load your FairFX card. We charge a 1.5% transaction fee for using your credit card which covers the charges we receive from the credit card companies.

If your bank does charge you you can always use the bank transfer method which takes a little longer but is free for all banks.

Q. In question 4 I was seeking to clarify what charges would be levied in the event that the card lapsed on its third anniversary with some funds remaining on it. I understand that you could arrange for a refund to be made. I'd like to know if there would be a charge for making any such refund and what the charge would be? I'd also like to know that if I decided to continue beyond the first three years and you issued me with a fresh card, would there be a charge for the transference of any remaining funds on the old card to the new card, and if so what would those charges be?

If you loaded on £1000.00 or more of currency each year then we would
issue you a new card for free and transfer the balance to that card. The
replacement fee would be £6, $9 or $12 depending on the card you have.

Alternatively a refund directly to a bank account of your choice would
incur a £10.00 fee.