Prepaid Travel Cards guide

eDicky

eDicky wrote: »

The Loot prepaid debit card and account (provided by Wirecard) may be a new addition to the range of useful travel cards. If the card is delivered before my departure I'll give it a spin.

There are no fees at all for both UK and overseas use, except £1 per ATM withdrawal after the first two per month free. It gives the MasterCard exchange rate with zero loading. The limits for ATM withdrawal are £250 per day / £3,000 per month / £15,000 annual - more generous currently than other fee-free cards.

It features a sort code and account number and uses Faster Payments for receiving funds from, and sending to, anyone's UK bank account within two hours. I already tried both with small amounts and it works well. Top-up by debit card is planned. The in-app CS chat is quite quick to respond (on weekdays).

I must have installed the Android app sometime last year, then forgot about it when put on a waiting list - maybe there is still one.

https://loot.io/

A brief update. Loot can now be topped up by debit card as well as by transfer from a UK bank account, and there is no waiting list to sign up. I have used the card in several European and Asian countries and in my experience it works well for purchases and withdrawals.

However, I have to point out that for non-sterling transactions the app does not update the GBP amount on settlement, it remains shown in grey as the authorised/estimated amount at the time of transaction. The CS say that their engineers are working on this bug and the actual account balance is always correct. They can provide a list of the authorisation and settled amounts, with the running balance, but I've noticed that deductions from my balance correspond to neither, being a third figure in between those two. As they say, this 'mishap' in the transaction list for non-sterling payments is taking them some time to rectify, it has been a couple of months since I noticed it and I've not seen any app updates.

So, although the anomalies are only plus or minus a couple of pence or so on the cost of a meal, until they demonstrate that they have the resources to sort this issue out I am not going to recommend this card, except as backup. In all other respects it functions well and would be very useful for travel, so I hope they can fix it. Meanwhile I don't leave any balance on my Loot account, it can be topped up any time by FP or debit card when needed.

jpndrds

Hi,

Was just wondering if I could get a second opinion on these debit cards. I am going away with some friends in a couple of weeks and am leaning towards a monzo card over a revolut card. The reason being that we'll be paying for many things (dinner, drinks etc) as a group so its easier to have cash on hand rather than being the one who pays on card - monzo has no withdrawal fees compared to revolut which charges 2% after £200. So even though the interbank rate on revolut is better than the mastercard rate on monzo it may cost me more in the end if I'm making withdrawals above £200 (expect it to be around the £600 mark)? Not sure how big the difference between the rates is.

Sorry for the waffle and I am aware I might have answered my own question but any advice would be very much appreciated

Neil49

Monzo has restricted use when it comes to ATM withdrawals.

Currency equivalent of £250 per day, £1,000 per month and £3,000 per annum.

See the link below for their terms and conditions - section 17

https://monzo.com/terms/#charges

The card is designed to be used for day to day purchases, where Monzo can make a bit of a profit, whereas they make little or nothing when you use an atm.

Monzo don't make it clear what happens when you attempt to exceed these limits.

So for you, I don't think a Monzo card would be ideal.

Neil49

jpndrds wrote: »

Hi,

Was just wondering if I could get a second opinion on these debit cards. I am going away with some friends in a couple of weeks and am leaning towards a monzo card over a revolut card. The reason being that we'll be paying for many things (dinner, drinks etc) as a group so its easier to have cash on hand rather than being the one who pays on card - monzo has no withdrawal fees compared to revolut which charges 2% after £200. So even though the interbank rate on revolut is better than the mastercard rate on monzo it may cost me more in the end if I'm making withdrawals above £200 (expect it to be around the £600 mark)? Not sure how big the difference between the rates is.

Sorry for the waffle and I am aware I might have answered my own question but any advice would be very much appreciated

Further to my reply above you should be aware that you will need to get your id confirmed with Monzo to get the standard account limits. See section 17 in the link on my above post.

If you don't get that sorted then you will find the card to be of minimal use.

I've had a Monzo card for quite a while and use it abroad a lot, but only for specific purposes, not atm withdrawals.

Hope this helps.

jpndrds

Thanks Neil,

I don't think I'll be withdrawing more than £150 in a single day, if I can get ID confirmation would Monzo be worthwhile option? - there shouldn't be any fees that I incur for withdrawals of that or small purchases. Sorry if I'm being a bit dense

eDicky

jpndrds wrote: »

Was just wondering if I could get a second opinion on these debit cards. I am going away with some friends in a couple of weeks and am leaning towards a monzo card over a revolut card. The reason being that we'll be paying for many things (dinner, drinks etc) as a group so its easier to have cash on hand rather than being the one who pays on card - monzo has no withdrawal fees compared to revolut which charges 2% after £200. So even though the interbank rate on revolut is better than the mastercard rate on monzo it may cost me more in the end if I'm making withdrawals above £200 (expect it to be around the £600 mark)? Not sure how big the difference between the rates is.

For card use there's no significant difference between the MasterCard exchange rate and the interbank rate.

Revolut has a handy 'Split Bill' function, and instant transfers in the supported currencies can be made between users. Monzo can do the latter for GBP. So there would be less need for cash if everyone in the party signed up to one or the other, but that may not be realistic. In the case of Revolut, perhaps not everyone would need to buy the £5 card, just pay their split with the app, zero fees.

Neil49

jpndrds wrote: »

Thanks Neil,

I don't think I'll be withdrawing more than £150 in a single day, if I can get ID confirmation would Monzo be worthwhile option? - there shouldn't be any fees that I incur for withdrawals of that or small purchases. Sorry if I'm being a bit dense

If you are ok with the restrictions then it's a good card to have. When I used it to buy coffees at Dubai airport the transaction and conversion details appeared on my phone within seconds. As it is based in £ you don't end up with foreign currency notes and coins that you don't know what to do with.

I use mine all the time in the UK for contactless purchases as the phone app allows me to monitor purchases and remaining balance in an instant. If the card is lost or cloned you can block it via the phone app in an instant.

Iain1804

In short, don't. Its not worth the hassle. Used a Revolut card putting in most of our holiday money. On arrival at our Hotel in New York the card declined even though it had alot of money on it. There is literally nobody to contact about this card. Absolutely useless. Continued to have problems with the microchip in this card (both) during visit. First and last time will use one. Had great satisfaction cutting both cards up on return. Do not get one. Yes, it might save you a little bit of money but is simply not worth the hassle. AVOID at all costs.

eDicky

Iain1804 wrote: »

On arrival at our Hotel in New York the card declined even though it had alot of money on it..

Prepaid cards in general are often not acceptable for hotel check-in, especially in USA, regardless of how much is held on them at the time. Hardly surprising...

Gloomendoom

Neil49 wrote: »

I use mine all the time in the UK for contactless purchases as the phone app allows me to monitor purchases and remaining balance in an instant. If the card is lost or cloned you can block it via the phone app in an instant.

I got one as a backup card for abroad. The fact that it can be used in the UK is a bonus as I it means I don't have money locked away on it between foreign trips.