Capital 1 Aspire - no foreign exchange fee?

Abrazote

In the MSE Cheap Travel Money page the Capital 1 Aspire World is recommended as having no foreign exchange fee on overseas spending.

Yet in the Terms and Conditions for this card, it states:

14. Foreign transactions. Should you or an extra cardholder use your card to make a purchase or a cash withdrawal in a foreign currency, the transaction will be converted into Sterling at the relevant date and at the relevant exchange rate set by Visa or MasterCard (as appropriate). The relevant rates will be identifiable from your statement or the Visa or MasterCard website. We will charge a foreign transaction fee, see "Key Information" section for details. Other fees may also apply depending on the type of transaction.

Foreign transaction fee sounds like a foreign exchange fee to me unless I am missing something......

cse

We will charge a foreign transaction fee, see "Key Information" section for details

When you look at the 'key information' section, you'll see that the foreign transaction fees are charged at a rate of 0%. Slightly clunky way of wording it, but looks like a decent card otherwise

reclusive46

Yeah it still has no fee, its just something that every issuer has to put in on the summary box, even if it is fee free.

giblet10

Does anyone know if this applies to existing Aspire World cardholders? I got mine in January - they then stopped selling this product and now it's back - my last statement was still quoting the 2.99% foreign loading fee..

guesswho2000

giblet10 wrote: »

Does anyone know if this applies to existing Aspire World cardholders? I got mine in January - they then stopped selling this product and now it's back - my last statement was still quoting the 2.99% foreign loading fee..

Probably not; when I had a progress card they changed the terms to 2% reduction every six months down to 17.9% after 3 years, rather than the 5% every six down to 19.9% after 18 months...I know that was a change for the worse, but luckily I kept the better offer.

Just closed my Aspire card as I have the Nationwide Select, I'd be tempted to get it again if it still had the 5% cashback intro - that appears to have gone

msallen

I was thinking about applying for the CapOne Aspire World as my main cashback card - it looks like a better deal (for my circumstances) since its relaunch. The problem is I still have an old CapOne card that I'm still paying off (4K debt/15K limit, should be cleared by December). Are they likely to refuse me as I've already got one of their cards (branded simply as Capital One Platinum, I've had it for over 10 years)? Would I be better waiting until I've cleared the existing card and then ring them and ask them to switch to an Aspire World?

Herbalus

From their FAQs:
"if you've had a Capital One account for over 6 months you can also apply for some of our latest products. Take a look to see if one of these great cards also suits you."

Whether you'd be better waiting I don't know. You could ask them if existing debt with them is going to be a problem.

ja1a

As an existing Aspire World card holder who is being charged 2.75% foreign transaction fee, I contacted them to ask if they would transfer me to the new Ts&Cs. They said this was for new customers only and I would have to stop my current card and re-apply and there was no guarantee I'd bee accepted.
Pretty poor, I think.

ja1a

Further update. I gave them a call to ask the same question about transferring to the new Ts&Cs. Confirmed by a call centre manager that they cannot/will not transfer existing customers to the new Ts&Cs. The only way to do it is to close the existing card and re-apply. However, doing this means you lose any existing cashback accrued since Jan.

I'll be finding a new card (Halifax looks good) and leaving my Capital One card dormant until Jan to get my cashback already earned and then closing it.

They've lost a customer.

cats2012

I understand existing customer frustration with this, but from my experience this is pretty much always the case with new offers. I had a Barclaycard BT for 15 months then next month they launched a longer offer - I wouldn't expect them to just transfer me to the new product if I asked as I would have been scored on the old one.

I think C1 have made a mistake launching this as Aspire again, if it had a new name people wouldn't expect to be given the new benefits. Looks tempting though to have both cashback and no forex.

liver-bird

I have just applied for one of these as I plan to go abroad in September - Quidco gives you £15 too, in case anyone else is thinking of doing the same!