FairFX Mastercard problems - Beware

jazmindancing

This card does not always work at innopportune moments. When Ive been travelling across the country (Argentina) and used it to buy petrol it has been declined even though its loaded.
I have a big problem with them ongoing for the last two months. My car insurance payment was deducted from the card but FAIRFX insists that it was not decliened and keeps asking me for more and more paperwork to prove it. I have sent them a screenshot of the insurance company's record showing "Declined" and the receipt they demanded. Now they say that it isnt a receipt. I told them that this is the receipt that you get in Argentina and obviously the insurance company would recognise it but they have not answered me for more than 3 weeks.
Not particularly FAIR - I am out of pocket between one of these companies ripping me off

Porcupine

I've had similar problems. Have a Sterling card with GBP100 on it, and trying to buy a ticket at Swedish Railways (SJ) which is SEK994. At current interbank that translates to GBP96.40, plus 1.4% point of sale commission is GBP97.74. So I should have enough.

But the transaction won't go through - SJ site just says 'you entered the wrong card details' when I didn't. The 'mini-statement' on the FairFX site shows no record of any transactions at all.

And Fairfx support is only 9-5.30 Monday-Friday, so if you do have a problem out of hours there's no-one to ring.

stilltheone

I think there is something in their terms and conditions that cover what has occurred.

Read about it here:

The commission you are seeing on your card is temporary and only relates
to pending transactions. Along with the standard 1.5% charge there is a
2% charge which is temporary. This is known as FX padding.

When you make a transaction in a currency outside of the currency of
your card the exchange rate is the MasterCard wholesale rate. This
calculated at the exact time you make the transaction and is typically
very close to the spot rate for that day.

Nevertheless foreign exchange markets are constantly moving and the
exact rate you would get would be the average rate on the date that the
transaction finalises. As a result FairFX block 2% of the value of the
transaction to cover in case the average rate differs from the rate you
initially made the transaction at.

The transaction finalises when the merchant takes the funds from your
card. The 2% covers any difference between the rate you received
initially and the average rate on the date that the transaction
finalises. However in nearly all cases the rate finalises at the same
rate you purchased at and the 2% that is marked as "Auth Commission"
would be returned to your card as an available balance as soon as the
transaction finalises.

This measure is put in place to protect your funds and to make sure your
card does not fall into a negative balance when the transaction finalises.

So, don't cut it too close to the bone when you use the card abroad.

clairbear1000

There are often issues with using pre-pay cards for petrol. We couldn't use ours for petrol in the US.
Having said that, I've used several FAirFX cards in both USD and EUR and other than petrol they've I've been able to use it in stores and in cashpoints OK.

realaledrinker

Hi - I've used FairFX dollar and euro cards to buy petrol without a problem in US, Spain and France and just yesterday used a Canadian Dollar Travelex prepaid card to buy gas in Toronto so don't think this is necessarily always a problem.