UKash Pre Paid travel Card

Ian_Stewart_2

Please can anyone help?
Ukash recently emailed me the attached. I appear to now have to pay for simply having the card. Can anyone enlighten me?

Fees

EUR

USD

Old Fee

New Fee*

Old Fee

New Fee*

Monthly Fee

Free

€ 1.20

Free

$1.40

ATM Fee (International)

Free

€ 2.00

Free

$2.50

POS Fee (International)

Free

€ 0.50

Free

$0.60

Inactivity Fee**

Free

€ 5.00

Free

$5.00

* The new fees come into effect on 10th April, 2016
** The Inactivity fee is applied if there is more than 60 days of inactivity

Ian_Stewart_2

Apologies, just read the others who have had similar emails. I have also emailed them and awaiting a response. Will update but I intend on closing the account at a loss of 12 euros which I think is a con.

Slinkyswimmer

My email definitely says changes come into effect 10 April but fees will be charged from 2nd April. Wonder why some are different.

HLouiseR

I've tweeted Martin Lewis about the ukash issue and he has replied - "we're looking at it check the bees section of my site next week"

Fingers crossed!

eDicky

The balance on most prepaid cards, in pounds, US dollars or euros, can be cleared for free by using Revolut and their smartphone app. I have done this myself. I am not sure if it will work with Ukash because I don't have one to check, but it should work unless the Ukash card is recognised as a credit card by Revolut and declined. Anyway it will cost nothing to try, and (I believe) Revolut is still giving a £5 reward when you sign up using the promo code "MSE" and top up at least £10.

Top up Revolut instantly with your prepaid card, exchange to pounds (if not already) at the interbank rate, then withdraw to your bank account (takes several days). No charges for this, or for obtaining their prepaid MasterCard, which is ideal for travel in place of the Ukash or whatever.

One thing to be aware of when topping up two or three times in succession with a card is that Revolut will block your account as a security measure until you enter the 4-digit code given in the statement of the card account, when it appears. So either clear the whole balance from your Ukash (or other) in one shot, or wait after the first top up until it appears in your statement and then have that code ready.

System

I've got €1.40 on my card.

When I phoned them I was given 2 options

1. Add €10.60 to the card to have enough to cover their cancellation fee and cancel it or
2. Don't use the card and let it expire. This will attract a €5 non-use charge but as there is only €1.40 than that is all they can take.

I've gone for option 2. I wasn't going to argue over €1.40

Nossen66

I had a balance of EUR 14.08. I easily transferred EUR 14.07 to my Amazon UK account (rate of 1.33 but charged in EUR) and left EUR 0.01 on UKash card. They are welcome to the EUR 0.01 and I hope their systems cost them more than EUR 0.01 to recover it.

Anthorn

I find it interesting that people are saying they have recently received a communication from Ukash or they have contacted Ukash when Ukash is no more. It was acquired by Skrill back in April 2014 and is now merged into the Paysafecard.

Are you all certain that the communications are genuine? By now Ukash credit should have been merged into Paysafecard.
https://www.paysafecard.com/en-gb/lp-products/ukash-welcome/

consumerunfocussed

Re: transferring funds to REVOLUT

Interested in your suggestion. You say you have done this with other prepay cards? How long ago? I just looked at the REVOLUT website to see if this would work for me and their FAQ section states:

"What card can I use to top up my Revolut account?
We currently only support debit cards to top. Unfortunately Maestro and pre-paid debit card's aren't supported."

consumerunfocussed

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Just utilise and/or withdraw the funds before then....

Fine to withdraw if you're travelling outside the UK before April, but if you use an ATM in the UK to withdraw the funds from your UKASH Euro/US$ card you will incur a 2.75% currency conversion fee and an ATM usage fee of 1.8 euros or $2.50. So they win again!