Travelex Supercard

psweet1952

I have been using the Supercard in Malaysia. Most of the time it worked well, however on 2 occasions it has not applied a currency exchange factor and I have had £680 extra deducted from my bank account.
Getting hold of their customer support is a nightmare, when i eventually got through they promised that the money would be refunded very soon . 4 days and it has not yet appeared. Their service no today is unobtainable and no reply to emails.
I would be very wary of using this card again.

bagand96

Unless it's for a backup card, I don't understand why people with a Clarity were applying for the card anyway. Curiosity? Fear of missing out on something?

I got it as a back up card mainly. But also there was a bit of curiosity. Ironcally, mine actually dropped through the letterbox at lunchtime. Talk about coincidence.

That said with the very mixed reveiws here I think i'll still be sticking with the Clarity card for now.

Gloomendoom

c-m wrote: »

Unless it's for a backup card, I don't understand why people with a Clarity were applying for the card anyway. Curiosity? Fear of missing out on something?

It was the zero interest on cash withdrawals that interested me. At the time I was unaware the Visa exchange rate was inferior to Mastercard's. Having said that, when I checked the difference today, there wasn't really much in it.

c-m

Yeah the exchange rate difference is a bit of a distraction really. It's negligable. Equivelent to the few pence run up in interest when using the Clarity to withdraw cash abroad.

What annoys me is you can't view Mastercards current exchange rate. The facility on their site asks when the statement date is and it's always a few days prior.

donna1979

I have yet to use mine and will be going away in 3 weeks to Turkey. I was planning on using this card to get cash rather than making purchases. I have a natwest debit card so will save a decent amount with the supercard. What would you guys recommend? I had also planned on using it to buy my visas as they need to be paid for in dollars.

eaton

After three weeks in the USA and Canada I'm now back home and so here are a few more thoughts about the card.


I've spent £3500 on it in that time. I used it for non travel purchases (ie I'd pre paid hotels and flights before leaving) so it was mainly restaurants, cash, supermarkets, fuel and presents. There were about 50 transactions in total. About £1000 of this was cash withdrawals.


My existing cards are Amex gold and Tesco MasterCard. Therefore I have saved £104 based on Amex spend and £96 on Tesco spend. I have HSBC advance so no fee for foreign FX withdrawals.


The app has performed flawlessly throughout, using three roaming data or wifi where available. I did mention that I had a problem with a taxi in LA which has since disappeared from the app (after a phone call) and also a $20 dollar transaction in Hawaii that failed twice in store has also now disappeared (two transactions appeared, cleared after a phone call). On both occasions the operator did say that they could see the transactions had failed and would have disappeared without any intervention from me. Both calls were done daytime USA (+9/+11 hrs) and were answered immediately.


Transactions have mainly all appeared on my Tesco online statement now. The available credit reflects (subtracted from credit limit) the total spend in the app, even if not all transactions have appeared. With regards to delay in transactions showing on the linked card, I have always found Tesco to be very slow in showing this on normal card transactions anyway, unlike Amex which is instant, so the delay form supercard showing up is not surprising.


Overall my impression are largely positive. I could have gone for a clarity or post office card but didn't want to incur additional credit and credit searches due to remortgageing house imminently.


However, I question if saving £100 in fees was worth it. spending £2500 on my Amex gold would have netted somewhere between 5000 and 7500 MR points (first year welcome bonus + outbound spend bonus etc on Amex) which I have missed out on. I have added 875 clubcard points in the process though but value the MR points higher (eg MR>avios bonus conversions that happen periodically).
I have enjoyed the interest free cash advance ‘feature‘ though which helps with cashflow. Going forward I will likely continue using it for cash withdrawals as it saves a trip to the bureau de change or using Amex travelmoneynow website and means I dont have to carry lots of cash around.

Erme

Right wonder if you folk can help? Made a transaction in US dollars on I think thursday or friday? $5 - took out two and went as pending on my santander account. Wasn't worried. Knew I'd only get charged for one. Today no pending and nothing has left my santander account. How long before this all hits my Santander account (UK)? Any ideas?

Thanks

E

glentoran99

First transaction performed, an online transaction for tickets for Dublin zoo, Everything perfect. wasn't sure what to select, Visa Debit or Credit went for visa debit and worked fine, Transaction appeared in app immediately

roubiliac

Used the card linked to my debit card last week in Greece.
No problem at all and got a great rate.
I'll just use it all the time now. A great find.
So it's that for cash and a Clarity card for credit deals abroad in the EU for me from now on.

lfc84

Until they release a windowsphone app I am still using the alternatives:

Metro debit card
Halifax Clarity credit card
Post Office credit card