FairFX Euro card Warning

Rod999

I have used a FairFx travel card all over the world for at least 10 years and at first there were many benefits, customer support used to be great. This August I loaded all my holiday money onto it, received no hint of any problem and headed off to the Far East (as I have many times in the past). However when I arrived I found the card no longer worked in any far Eastern destination. A desperate email to customer services was eventually replied to saying as they had suffered some frauds in the East, for their protection and mine they had turned off all Euro cards in that part of the world. I replied I had no way of paying for hotels or food but they just repeated their message. Phoning them in the UK (difficult and expensive) they still refused to help repeating several times that they no longer recommended new customers to use the Euro card for the Far East which they thought justified holding my holiday money on an existing card leaving me stranded. I pointed out I was anything but a new customer and in the past they had actively promoted using the Euro card for all travel except the Americas but they just repeated the mantra they had acted to protect themselves and their customers. This is obviously nonsense as they still offer other cards which (for now) will work in Far East. Their web site still contains old testimonials promoting the use of their cards in the Far East.


They offered to return my money to my UK bank for a fee and charge me the exchange rate margin too. I now advise everybody to AVOID AT ALL COSTS. WHEN THEY BLOCK THE COUNTRY YOU ARE VISITING WITHOUT WARNING YOU ARE COMPLETELY SHAFTED!!!

csgohan4

Never rely on one card for your spending abroad. I have Halifax, Barclay card, starling and revolut. So spread the risk.

eDicky

You made the mistake of relying on a single card, and in any case why would you be using a card holding euros in non-euro countries, incurring additional 'out of currency' fees..?

To avoid the fees and adverse exchange rate in getting your money back, you could try using it to load euros on to the euro balance of a Revolut account, after opening one. Exchange to GBP at interbank rate (weekdays) and withdraw, zero fees. I did this to unload my own FairFX euro card successfully and binned it, but that was over two years ago, not sure if it would still work but costs nothing to try.

redux

I'm not going to delve into all the terms and conditions to remind myself, but at a rough guess a Euro card might have currency loading in non-Euro areas (even at home in UK?), so there probably isn't any advantage over any ordinary card.

Personally I stopped using FairFX when I discovered Kalixa (now closed) then Revolut, as even in the intended areas FairFX still has some currency loading anyway.

jimbo26

A salutary lesson to us all.

a. Don't really on one source of funding

b. Don't load all your money at once onto a travel card (I use Caxton FX, and load a few hundred at a time as your money isn't protected if the company goes belly up)

FairFX

Rod999 wrote: »

I have used a FairFx travel card all over the world for at least 10 years and at first there were many benefits, customer support used to be great. This August I loaded all my holiday money onto it, received no hint of any problem and headed off to the Far East (as I have many times in the past). However when I arrived I found the card no longer worked in any far Eastern destination. A desperate email to customer services was eventually replied to saying as they had suffered some frauds in the East, for their protection and mine they had turned off all Euro cards in that part of the world. I replied I had no way of paying for hotels or food but they just repeated their message. Phoning them in the UK (difficult and expensive) they still refused to help repeating several times that they no longer recommended new customers to use the Euro card for the Far East which they thought justified holding my holiday money on an existing card leaving me stranded. I pointed out I was anything but a new customer and in the past they had actively promoted using the Euro card for all travel except the Americas but they just repeated the mantra they had acted to protect themselves and their customers. This is obviously nonsense as they still offer other cards which (for now) will work in Far East. Their web site still contains old testimonials promoting the use of their cards in the Far East.


They offered to return my money to my UK bank for a fee and charge me the exchange rate margin too. I now advise everybody to AVOID AT ALL COSTS. WHEN THEY BLOCK THE COUNTRY YOU ARE VISITING WITHOUT WARNING YOU ARE COMPLETELY SHAFTED!!!

Hi Rod999, we're sorry to hear that you had an issue with your Euro Card - if there is anything else that we can do to help, please reach out to our customer service team.

Whilst our Euro Cards can be used in most countries around the world, we do advise our customers to order an Everywhere Card if you are heading outside the Eurozone as you will get better value and more flexibility. The Everywhere Card automatically converts your Pounds to the local currency in over 210 countries.

Thanks
FairFX

eskbanker

FairFX wrote: »

Whilst our Euro Cards can be used in most countries around the world, we do advise our customers to order an Everywhere Card if you are heading outside the Eurozone as you will get better value and more flexibility.

Is the OP correct in stating that you've disabled access from some countries, and, if so, can you post which ones they are?

Rod999 wrote: »

A desperate email to customer services was eventually replied to saying as they had suffered some frauds in the East, for their protection and mine they had turned off all Euro cards in that part of the world.

JGUK

Bit disingenuous;

https://www.fairfx.com/currency-card/euro-card

Everywhere Else
The card can be used worldwide, however a 1.75% out-of-currency fee applies if you spend in a currency other than Euros.

However if you dig into the FAQ page;

Where can the FairFX card be used?132
The FairFX cards are MasterCard Prepaid Cards and can be accepted where MasterCard is accepted.

You will be able to use your card in Chip and Pin readers within shops and restaurants and at ATM's to withdraw cash. You will also be able to use your card online and within a bank to withdraw cash over the counter.

Please note that there are some restrictions on our cards;

There are restrictions at automated petrol pumps and toll booths on all FairFX cards,
Euro card for fraud prevention reasons, it cannot be used in the following countries,
Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Canada, Burma, Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, China, USA, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana and Suriname.

3. The USD card cannot be used in Target USA for fraud prevention reasons.