Looking for a Prepaid Mastercard for Ryanair? Beware Escape Card & others from Tuxedo

Donnie

BenEvans wrote: »

I second that cactusdust.

Donnie, why do you keep criticising the Escape Travel card, and in this case the Escape card? I honestly can't find anywhere that rates them poorly apart from your posts on this site. I did my homework, thought it (travel money card) would be best for me and so far I've had nothing short of an excellent experience, as have friends who I've recommended it too.

And please, I'm not looking for a confrontation, I'm just curious

No offence taken. The exchange rates obtained using the Escape card are poor in comparison with the best and the card has extra fees and charges attached.

For example the rate available with the Escape Card today is 1 Pound Sterling = 1.1046 Euro

The Caxton rate for today is 1 Pound Sterling = 1.1150 Euro

The Mastercard rate is 1 Pound Sterling = 1.1389 Euro

It(Escape) also has withdrawal fees when using ATMs(99p in the UK and £2 abroad) and an annual fee of £4.99.

It's just rubbish.

You owe your friends an apology.

FairFx Anywhere is streets ahead. Current exchange rate for purchases: 1 Pound Sterling = 1.1221 Euro. Caxton currency cards are also good value if using them in the specific markets for which they were designed.

Don't be nervous about putting over your points of view. I only bite when I think Moneysavers are being deliberately misled into wasting their money...or if someone is being deliberately obtuse.

BenEvans

Ha, yes, agreed there are some very off-piste comments made in some threads!

I think you're confusing the products here though. The Escape Travel Money card - the card that should be compared to FairFX and Caxton - offers free international ATM use and actually has zero annual fee. It is another of EZPay's offerings, the Escape card (is a bit confusing I know) that has the annual fee and ATM charges, but from what I can tell the card is targeted at a very different market to the Escape Travel Money card.

I got the Escape Travel Money card because of the free international ATM use and the fact that after my holiday I could spend any remaining preloaded funds online and get cashback from various partners (£35.00 from Aviva for buying motor insurance using my card, nice ). As you say, the exchange rate is marginally worse than that offered by FairFX, but for me the other incentives outweighed that.

For me at least, it definitely isn't rubbish!

Donnie

I agree with you that the Escape Travel Money card is not quite as bad as the rest of their offerings. They seem to shave 2% or so off the Mastercard exchange rate when you use the card abroad. I certainly would not use the card for any large UK purchases in order to have access to the Cashback. There goes your Section 75 protection.
You will often get better Cashback rates from Quidco and TopCashBack, plus you will retain the much better protection for using a normal credit or debit card.

The strange statement that you can spend "the remaining funds online" is true for any of the cards.
Advocating the using of a Euro Travel Money Card(which you claim to own) for UK purchases is also not the best idea.

So assuming that you take their Sterling Card as their best value card; compared to the FairFx Anywhere card, the Escape Travel Money is more expensive to use abroad, though less expensive for purchases in the UK(assuming that you top up via BACS or at a phones4u shop). Of course the only UK purchase for which I would recommend the use of a Prepaid Mastercard is for paying for Ryanair flights.

So the Escape Travel Money Sterling Card looks good for purchasing Ryanair flights leaving from the UK.

Overall the FairFx Anywhere is still the best value as a travel card. Even more so when you take into account the various topping up fees.

The Escape Travel Money Card hides it's free ATM use by taking it's fee from the exchange rate, as does the Caxton card.

I'm not going to attach any importance to the fact that a large proportion of your 56 posts posts are related to EZPay and Phones4U, but you should be aware of how it looks.

BenEvans

My perfectly normal statement about spending the funds online was regarding the cashback deals (not simply the fact that you can spend online) and as far as I know there aren't any other prepaid travel cards that offer this. You say this is not the best idea, but without any reason why? As stated, it worked well for me.

I didn't actually use the Sterling card but have just compared it tothe FairFX Anywhere Card, and whether or not it's cheaper to use abroad surely depends entirely on the exchange rates at the time of transaction? FairFX charge 1.5% on point of sale purchases and the same on ATM withdrawals, but both are free with the Travel Money Sterling card. So, unless the exchange rate is over 1.5% better that day, it will be more expensive.

Agreed, FairFX do offer better exchange rates but it could be argued that they use that to hide their ATM fees - for instance with the Euro card if you withdraw 50 Euros the 1.5 Euro fee equates to a 3% fee. Personally, I don't like to draw hundreds of units each time I use an ATM so to get regular, small sums, the FairFX fees would mount up quickly and eclipse any exchange rate gains.

As I said, the Escape Travel Money card worked well for me and my spending habits, though I'm sure you have a point and the FairFX card could work out a bit better value for others.

Regarding my posting habits, clearly I have spoken out in favour of the Escape Travel Money card as I really like the product, but I've never dealt with P4U so have never spoken for or against them. All I have done is share their (and EZ Pay's) competitions in the comp forum when they appear in my facebook newsfeed.

Donnie

BenEvans wrote: »

My perfectly normal statement about spending the funds online was regarding the cashback deals (not simply the fact that you can spend online) and as far as I know there aren't any other prepaid travel cards that offer this. You say this is not the best idea, but without any reason why? As stated, it worked well for me.

I didn't actually use the Sterling card but have just compared it tothe FairFX Anywhere Card, and whether or not it's cheaper to use abroad surely depends entirely on the exchange rates at the time of transaction? FairFX charge 1.5% on point of sale purchases and the same on ATM withdrawals, but both are free with the Travel Money Sterling card. So, unless the exchange rate is over 1.5% better that day, it will be more expensive.

Agreed, FairFX do offer better exchange rates but it could be argued that they use that to hide their ATM fees - for instance with the Euro card if you withdraw 50 Euros the 1.5 Euro fee equates to a 3% fee. Personally, I don't like to draw hundreds of units each time I use an ATM so to get regular, small sums, the FairFX fees would mount up quickly and eclipse any exchange rate gains.

As I said, the Escape Travel Money card worked well for me and my spending habits, though I'm sure you have a point and the FairFX card could work out a bit better value for others.

Regarding my posting habits, clearly I have spoken out in favour of the Escape Travel Money card as I really like the product, but I've never dealt with P4U so have never spoken for or against them. All I have done is share their (and EZ Pay's) competitions in the comp forum when they appear in my facebook newsfeed.

It seems that you haven't quite grasped quite how the cards work, even after my explanation.

I'll try again:

Firstly you are suggesting that using a Euro Card to make purchases in Pounds is somehow in line with our money saving principles. It is not.

You will suffer two foreign exchange conversions; one from Pounds to Euros and then again from Euros to Pounds. Since they have shown they take a 2% cut on each transaction, it means you would have lost 4% of your original spending power. That is £4 in every £100. A substantial loss.

Secondly, you suggest that it is worthwhile because you can get Cashback when purchasing from certain retailers. The problem with this is that you will lose your Section 75 protection by not using a standard CC. It is better to use Quidco or TopCashBack for Cashback.

Thirdly, you seemed to have somehow bypassed the very first line of my post that tells you that Escape Travel Money Sterling shaves at least 2% off the exchange rate when you use it abroad.
So the 'free' withdrawals and spending are hidden in the exchange rate.

Fairfx Anywhere takes 1.5% of each transaction, so will always be cheaper than using the Escape Travel Money Sterling card abroad.

Goodness know why you have devoted a whole paragraph to the Fairfx Euro card. You are just confusing yourself and the issue.


I would like to think that you are genuinely confused and this is not some kind of attempt to push the card on to unsuspecting users.

So let me outline that main points again so that there is no confusion.

Using an Escape Travel Money Euro Card to purchase items in the UK will involve you losing at least 4% of your purchasing power and any Section 75 protection.

The Escape Travel Money Sterling card is better than their Euro card in this instance, but personally I would restrict purchases to Ryanair flights and use a proper bank card for purchases(in order to preserve your protections).

The Escape Travel Money Sterling takes at least 2% commission from all transactions in a foreign currency.

The Escape Travel Money Euro takes at least 2% commission from the current exchange rate.

FairFx Anywhere take a 1.5% commission from all transactions and has cheaper and more viable options to reload than the Escape Travel Money cards.

The Escape Travel Money cards are not bad cards per se, but don't consider getting them for the 'extras' unless you actually need them.

The Euro card for instance, is absolutely fine for use in Europe for people who have a set amount of holiday money and intend to spend it all.
The Sterling card is good for paying for Ryanair flights, though it's not as good value as the Fairfx Anywhere abroad.
Be careful as to how you Topup with the Escape cards.


I hope that I have made it more clear for you...and everyone else now.

BenEvans

I agree with some of your points Donnie, but you make statements as though they're fact when I think they're at least debatable.

As I understand it, you say there is always at least a 2% difference in the exchange rates between Escape Travel Money and FairFX, but this just isn't true. Checking now, the difference is just under 1.5% for respective Euro cards, (111 Euros for £100 with FairFX, and 109.51 with Escape Travel Money).

This leads me back to the point I made previously (that you ignored) - after one cash withdrawal charged at 1.5 Euros that's £100 worth of improved exchange rate lost, and if like me you like to withdraw a little an often then the ATM fees of the FairFX card would soon outweigh the slightly worse exchange rate offered by Escape. This is the main reason I chose Escape Travel Money Euro over FairFX, and the extras were just a benefit.

Good point on the double conversion with purchases in this country on a Euro card, I hadn't thought of that so I guess unless you're in line for a decent amount of cashback, say at least 5%, it's not a good idea. Luckily in my case the cashback was well over this level so it was worth it; and yes there are the cashback cards which may be better, but we're discussing currency cards and cashback for online use is a perk of the card I use.

I hadn't heard of section 75 before but, having swotted up, again I agree that it should be taken into consideration.

I'm not trying to 'push the card onto unsuspecting users', I'm merely saying that I had a good experience with the Travel Money Euro card and for me it worked out to be cheaper than the FairFX card due to the number of ATM withdrawals I made.

Donnie

BenEvans wrote: »

I agree..........

Clearly there is something wrong with your ability to understand.

The card that I recommend is the FairFx Anywhere Card. They take a 1.5% commission from all transactions whilst NOT taking a cut from the Mastercard exchange rate.

ALL of the Escape Travel Money cards take AT LEAST a 2% cut from the Mastercard exchange rate.

I hope that this isn't too difficult for you to understand. Think a little harder before replying.

Read what I have written, not what you imagine.

You must appreciate how frustrating it is to have to explain such a simple concept over and over again.

You are pushing the card on to unsuspecting users by the simple act of not understanding the alternatives.

You are still pushing the cashback nonsense, when often you can get the same or better cashback through traditional channels... without losing 4% of your spending power and your Section 75 protection.

In addition, you keep bringing up the Fairfx Euro card seemingly in order to confuse the issue; when it is CLEAR that I am referring to the ANYWHERE card.

It's unfortunate that I have to write as if I am writing to a child, but it is mind boggling to me that you are still confusing the issue after all this time.

It is very simple. Perhaps you two can put your heads together in order to see your mistake.

It is not debatable. These are the facts. You are just confusing yourself by mixing up your cards and not understanding how the exchange rates are handled.

verntern

No major problems with the 'Escape' card. Free to top-up via bank transfer (takes 1 business day to be credited) or instantaneous at a Phones4U shop. Very good card for those who wish to send money abroad. I regularly send money to Brazil. Yes a £2 charge for each withdrawal but the transactions are quick and easy. The only downside if you need to contact? It's the usual non-UK call centre and frustrating to make yourself understood in English whilst the phone bill adds up!

Donnie

verntern wrote: »

No major problems with the 'Escape' card. Free to top-up via bank transfer (takes 1 business day to be credited) or instantaneous at a Phones4U shop. Very good card for those who wish to send money abroad. I regularly send money to Brazil. Yes a £2 charge for each withdrawal but the transactions are quick and easy. The only downside if you need to contact? It's the usual non-UK call centre and frustrating to make yourself understood in English whilst the phone bill adds up!

So then there are problems...as to quick and easy transactions...aren't all the others quick and easy too?

Deal-Hunter_2

I happen to have one of these (mainly for booking Ryanair flights although I have also used it abroad and made ATM withdrawals) although I shall leave my experience so far with "No complaints" in case I go into detail and be struck down by God Himself.