Caxton FX refund?

*Alice_2

I recently went to New York and, after careful research, chose to use the Caxton FX card while there to get the most from my money. Sadly my holiday ended up not quite going to plan due to hurricane Sandy, so I ended up spending less than I'd anticipated. On my return I waited a week for all my transactions to be processed, then asked for all the funds left to be refunded. I had $391.03 on the card, the $3 fee left $388.03 to be refunded. I checked the rate when I got the confirmation of the refund and it was 1.56. My sums told me I'd receive £248 back, but I only received £236. So an extra $20/£12 was somehow skimmed off by Caxton.

To complicate things further, an additional transaction has now come off, 10 days after it was actually made, so I owe money on the card. I am obviously happy to pay this, but since Caxton have already stolen $20 from my refund, I think this should be subtracted from the amount I owe.

So basically, first of all, are my sums actually correct or am I mixing up my multiplications and divisions? Am I in the right to ask for the $20 that disappeared to be added back to my card? Also, if anyone else has had to correct a negative balance, can I pay the actual amount owed? Because I am not willing to transfer $200 for a $20 payment, when they'll then skim another £10 off that when I get it refunded again.

dzug1

You may be confusing buying and selling rates. If that's the reason, then no, you are not owed anything.

When you say 'I checked the rate', exactly where did you check it?

*Alice_2

Thanks, yeah, I was just coming to that realisation myself looking at the site, and think you're right. I checked it on the site, because it wasn't made obvious it was something different. Very dodgy in how it is worded on the site though, and where it is, a lot of people won't realise how different the rate is. And the confirmation email said 'the prevailing rate', no mention of this being a different rate at all. If this was made clear I would have put smaller amounts on in the first place, so I wouldn't possibly end up having to redeem as much. And since I could return cash at the rate I got it using my receipt, I would have been better taking it out as cash and converting it when I got back then! Thanks for the confirmation though.

Anyone have any idea on the just paying what I now owe then? I'm not loading $200 to end up losing that much between the different rates. (I will obviously call tomorrow, but they're closed now so I can't ask directly yet)

NiftyDigits

Next time get a GLOBAL card. They are denominated in Sterling.

Cash Passport Globe is a good example.

Neil49

Prepaid cards can be useful if you visit the same country (or euroland) on a regular basis but for one-off visits I now favour using a Halifax Clarity credit card for atm withdrawals and paying off the balance asap to minimise interest charges (which are incurred from day 1).

There are no up front charges for use abroad and a further benefit is that as it's just a standard credit card you can use it in the UK like any other card.