Currency Prepaid Card ripoff

WAYT

vinnyh73 wrote: »

The fact still remains that on no less than two occasions I wasn't able to withdraw money unless I opted for DCC and even with one ATM (Macho Banco) it implied that charges may be higher if I opted for local currency.

Exactly. They word it in such a way as to trick the customer into accepting.
Even if you have been told by your UK financial institution to always choose to pay in the local currency. It can confuse the uninitiated. It is designed to do so. It's a big money spinner for the networks who choose to utilise it



Wouldn't have been such a big problem if more restaurants had accepted cards and the complex we stayed at hadn't of had a technical fault with their card machine for all but the last day we were there.

And even taking DCC out of the equation, the charges the foreign banks levy just to withdraw money is still extortionate.

But I'm sure WAYT will still blame me for them applying these charges.

I know you think that I'm coming down hard on you. It is true that I am not mincing my words.
The main reason being is that you have been a member here for more than two years, so little excuse for you not to seek the best advice.
You decided to jump in the water without checking and you got bitten by sharks.
My sympathies, as it is definitely not a nice feeling to get ripped off. My point is that it is by no means the fault of Sainsburys.
Their product, used optimally, is no worse than many normal debit cards and in some cases slightly better.
The problem here is that you fell victim to DCC, wherein the software in the ATM tricked you into accepting it. A particularly painful experience given the fee structure of the card that you chose to utilise.

Sainsburys can never be held responsible for the dastardly tricks of unscrupulous ATM networks abroad. They can only advise you of the practice and further advise that you pay in the local currency.

The section in bold is yet another misconception you hold. Unless you opt for DCC, the foreign banks don't tamper with the wholesale exchange rate at all. Yesterday's rate was 1.115378 for £1. If you used a fee free card like Monzo, denominated in Pounds, to withdraw from any European ATM, bypassing DCC, that is the rate you would receive.

Though Monzo will introduce ATM fees later this year. So ask here a few weeks before you intend to travel, as the landscape changes often. That way we can give you the most up to date info.
There are a few useful Travel credit cards on the market, but I would guess that you would like to steer clear of credit cards. But it is always useful to have dedicated cards for travel on standby.
So if you have any plan to travel again. Please ask, stating your criteria.



If you chose to let the ATM convert it for you, there is where they set their own rate. This is why you are advised to refuse their offer of setting the rate for you. But many will word it in a manner to deliberately confuse. Cancel the transaction and go to another machine.

But you did a double mistake. You already bought Euros even before leaving the UK. So when you put it in the ATM, it detected that it was a UK card(the machine has no idea which currencies your card stores, it just knows it is a UK card) and offers you the dastardly DCC in a confusing manner.
You accept. So utilising DCC, it gives you cash at an exchange rate of it's choosing but then as it has done the exchange, it bills the Sainsburys card in Pounds instead of Euros. The Sainsburys card see the transaction in Pounds and charges you the 5.75% forex fee, as you have only Euros stored on your card.

So you got hit with a multiple of transaction fees, mainly because you failed to seek advice from the very best source on the web, ironically of which you are a member.

You got hit with a loss buying Euros in the first place. You got hit with another loss on the exchange rate when choosing DCC and you got hit with another loss when the foreign bank presented the transaction to the Sainsburys card in Pounds instead of Euros.

An irritating lesson. Next time, in any financial matter, if you are not sure, ask here beforehand.

eDicky

vinnyh73 wrote: »

The fact still remains that on no less than two occasions I wasn't able to withdraw money unless I opted for DCC and even with one ATM (Macho Banco) it implied that charges may be higher if I opted for local currency.

The implication that it could cost you more by declining DCC is just a way to trick you into accepting it, which often works. That's why you need to be prepared with the correct information.

As for ATMs that gave no choice, that is against the regulations and unlikely. If true it would be occasion to report to MasterCard using the form, if you can identify the locations and bank. The only other instance I've heard of was another Sainsbury card user recently who could find no choice to avoid DCC in German ATMs:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5249833

eDicky

WAYT wrote: »

The only advice that they can give is to choose to pay in the local currency..

Yes, that's the sort of clear advice lacking in their nice description of DCC, which would have helped to prevent OP getting the wrong message from the email:

vinnyh73 wrote: »

, therefore implying that I should opt for the DCC option.

WAYT

eDicky wrote: »

Yes, that's the sort of clear advice lacking in their nice description of DCC, which would have helped to prevent OP getting the wrong message from the email:

Nope. Once again, you are grabbing the wrong end of the stick,

The advice to pay in local currency is already detailed in the Welcome Pack.
If the OP chose to not pay attention to the advice in the Welcome Pack, then the fault is entirely down to the OP..
The email from Sainsburys is in response to a complaint after the fact. They already told them, in the Welcome Pack, to choose to pay in the local currency and also transactions outside of the stored currency would incur further charges.

So in the email they told that the reason for the extra charges were likely due to Dynamic Currency Conversion and then they went into an even deeper explanation of DCC. Even you agree that the explanation was clear enough.

The bit that appears to confuse you is this;

If you opted to pay in the local currency and DCC has not been applied, please complete the attached dispute form and send it to [/FONT]prepaidmgmt_chargebacks_ppc@mastercard.com. They will be in contact with you directly following their investigation.

That paragraph again is clearly with reference to the complaint about the extra charges.

If the OP had asked for advice, the email would have been worded differently. But they did not, they were clearly asking for an explanation of the unexpected charges.The answer, as you admit were clearly stated, were as result of DCC being applied.

The OP cannot complain that Sainsburys didn't tell them in the email, since they had already had the issue by that time. So the onus was on them to understand what to do in the first place, by perusing the Welcome Pack.

But the OP tried to pass the buck by stating that they told him that it was just like a debit card.
As if a debit card would somehow be immune from DCC.

So focussing on whether Sainsburys didn't reiterate yet again that the OP should pay in the currency that they chose to store on the card, is patently ridiculous. Especially since both you and I know that the issue in fact was more to do with the Mastercard + 5.75% forex charge between currencies levied by the card provider, not Sainsburys.. Another thing about which the OP failed to take any notice.

This thing has already been done to death. The issue is that the OP didn't undertake even the most rudimentary of due diligence and was clutching at straws.....as are you.

eDicky

Your 'end of the stick' has never been in dispute -
the OP failed to inform himself. My end is not negating or making excuses for that.

WAYT wrote: »

the Mastercard + 5.75% forex charge between currencies levied by the card provider, not Sainsburys.

Are you sure? I always understood that any 'out of currency charge' is levied by the card issuer, such as Sainsburys, not MasterCard. It varies among different providers.

WAYT

eDicky wrote: »

Your 'end of the stick' has never been in dispute -
the OP failed to inform himself. My end is not negating or making excuses for that. Are you sure? I always understood that any 'out of currency charge' is levied by the card issuer, such as Sainsburys, not MasterCard. It varies among different providers.

Sainsburys is not the card provider. It is likely Raphaels Bank or the like. Haven't checked.

Have now checked and am right.

Sainsbury’s Bank Multi-currency Cash Passport™ is issued by R. Raphael & Sons plc, pursuant to license by MasterCard International Inc. MasterCard® is a registered trademark of MasterCard International Incorporated. R. Raphael & Sons plc is a UK bank authorised by the Prudential Regulatory Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (registration number 161302) and is permitted to issue e-money. Head office and registered office at 19-21 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 7ED,company registration number 01288938

davie150

Did you get any money back from the cash passprt

WAYT

davie150 wrote: »

Did you get any money back from the cash passprt

Why would they??