FairFX rates.

meher

In the main articles I found this little interesting information:

The FairFX* prepaid card, which must be applied for online, charges no spending or foreign 'loading' fees, and can be topped up for free by debit card or bank transfer.

Cheapest card prepaid overall

Apply via its own website and there's a £9.95 application fee, but the link above takes you through comparison site Moneysupermarket, meaning the fee is waived provided you load more than €60/$75.

To get the fee structure described here, you must select either Euros or Dollars - so obviously no good if you need a more exotic currency. If you go for the third option - the Anywhere card - you'll be hit with a 1.5% charge for every transaction.

However, with FairFx it's the rate on each day you load up (not spend) that counts. So if the pound strengthens after you load the card, you will lose out. Though conversely if it weakens you'd gain. You get a different rate each time you load the card.

But isn't this the same with all prepaid cards? For instance, if I were to use Caxtonfx it would presumably load my card with that day's rates, likewise when I spend in the shops or draw from the atm machines, I would be offered the exchange rate of the day isn't it. I scanned the FairFX site as well, they say nothing about it.
I'm definitely missing something that's exclusive to FairFX; I just can't work it out

Bogtrotter

I think its just confirming the terms since the Euro/Dollar card work differently to the Anywhere card...

People could load up a certain amount in Sterling on their Euro/Dollar cards and think they convert to Euro or dollars when they actually spend.

However thats exactly what happens with the FairFx Anywhere card... you load up in Sterling and the currency conversion happens when you make a transaction.

meher

found it and it's finally falling into place for me

although you can use any FairFX card throughout the world, you'll need to order a currency-specific card to lock-in our best exchange rates.

leew

Interesting.

I just ordered a Euro card for our upcoming holidays and put £100 on it getting a rate of 1.1225 so if i read all this right that is the rate it will stay at when i come to spend on the card next month regardless.

I have already got the Anywhere card but having read the guide on here it tells you to get a currency specific one to avoid fees.

Bogtrotter

leew wrote: »

put £100 on it getting a rate of 1.1225 so if i read all this right that is the rate it will stay at when i come to spend on the card next month regardless.

I don't think of it as £100 on the card... you have bought €112.25 which is now on the card so in a months time you will still have €112.25 to spend. I tend to top up to an even number of euros because it makes it easier for me to keep track of the balance when I'm abroad.

leew wrote: »

I have already got the Anywhere card but having read the guide on here it tells you to get a currency specific one to avoid fees.

I don't have an anywhere card but I assume you will get the same exchange rate on that day if you spend in a euro country... the extra 1.4% is the penalty you pay for being able to use it in any country.

meher

I understand it to mean that if you bought the dollar card and loaded it when the rate of £1.00=$2.00, then the value stays $2.00 and doesn't reduce even if the dollar strengthens and £1.00=$1.50. When you spend, you enjoy the rate that you loaded with (provided it was loaded when the rates were high).

bizgen

There seems to be so little in it on the exchange rates between these two cards - today Caxton is 1.112 and FairFx 1.115. But with FairFx you pay to get money out of the ATM abroad and Caxton you don't. You put your own money on the Caxton when you like the daily rate they are offering and, with a bit of luck and forethought you can pick a time when it is rising - I got 116 a short time ago and immediately put a few hundred on the card. Once the euros are there, you don't pay any extra, it is just a euro 'cache' and you can pay for purchases or get cash out of euro ATMs just as if you are offering euro notes.
Very straightforward and easy.

Baldur

Bogtrotter wrote: »

I don't have an anywhere card but I assume you will get the same exchange rate on that day if you spend in a euro country... the extra 1.4% is the penalty you pay for being able to use it in any country.

The rate applied to the Anywhere Card is the prevailing Mastercard rate for the transaction/posting date, not FairFX's own rate, as shown on their website.

It's essentially a FairFX Prepaid MasterCard® in Pounds Sterling, with funds being converted to the appropriate currency at the point of sale. Unlike some of our competitors, we don't mark up the prevailing interbank exchange rate!