Re:Thomas Cook Mastercard Travel Cash Card - Anyone out there expereincing similar problems?

Lordgivemepatience

Dear Mr Lewis,

I am hoping you may be able to advise me on the following.

On the 4th March this year I received a letter (dated 13th February 2020) from Mastercard regarding my Thomas Cook Multi-currency Cash Passport.

They were writing to inform me that they would be discontinuing my currency card (everybodies not just mine) and that I should aim to have spent all funds on my card before the 6th April 2020 as after this date my card would no longer work.

I wrote immediately, recorded delivery to Mastercard Prepaid Management Services Ltd. Peterborough Office.

I waited until  the 29th April for a reply and then rang leaving a recorded message as I had tried 3 times previously to be put through without success to Ms Kirsty Ross-Garrett Senior Coordinator Global Customer Service.

I know the letter regarding my travel cash card was received as it was in the same envelope (recorded delivery) as the letter regarding my late Mother's travel card to which I received a response dated March 11th 2020 requesting a copy of the death certificate, Grant of Probate and my I.D. from Ms Ross-Garrett. I sent these off immediately. 

To return to why I am writing to you in my letter (dated 14th February 2020) to Mastercard I wrote: 

"I am very unhappy about this as last year when Thomas Cook's went into liquidation I visited two branches here in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire  (Waitrose branch and High Street) and both assured me the card would long continue as it was run by Mastercard.

Now I have received this news that I have until the 6th of April 2020 to either cash out my money or use up remaining funds until the balance reaches zero.

That gives me just one month to spend the money I have on this card.

I am wary about travelling at present with the Covid19/Corona virus situation and have a substantial amount of euros on my cash passport.

If I cash out will I be able to receive the money in Euros as on my card without losing value or will it be given in Sterling meaning I will lose because of the exchange rates?

Is there any way I can transfer this money to another travel cash card without losing out?

If this is not possible could I have an extension on how long I have to spend it in view of the Corona virus pandemic?"

*****************                     ************************               ***************

As I had not received a written response to the above letter I called Card Services UK Freephone number and had to explain the above story to a lady in the Philippines. 

I was finally contacted by telephone and told if I wanted to receive the money in Euros (the currency it is on my travel cash-card) I needed to set up a Euro account.

As I do not wish to lose £50 pounds plus changing it back into GBP sterling I set up a Euro account with TransferWise immediately and

sent my IBAN and Swift plus other necessary details to the email address I had been given.

After a few days I had not heard so I emailed asking for confirmation that Mastercard had received my bank details. I repeated this for 2 further weeks without response. You do get an automated response.

I then called the Card services Freephone number again this time speaking to someone in Missouri, U.S.A.

I had to explain the whole story again. At this point I had also sent an email to the adress which I had been given saying if I did not hear back/confirmation of bank details within 48 hours I would be writing of my experience with Mastercard on TrustPilot.

The following day I received a 45 minute call from the Philippines.

I was told by a different lady because the Euro account I have set up has an IBAN number starting BE (Belgium) and not GB that they by law? cannot pay my money from the card into it - it has to be a UK bank account.

This I cannot fathom as Mastercard are global working in all currencies.

The money is legally mine and the acount set up is in my name!

She was insistent it has to be a GB account. 

Due to the Covid19 pandemic it is not possible to make an advance appointment online or by telephone. 

You have to go into the branch in person. 

Fortunately I was able to speak to someone in authority and was told at present due to Covid19 they are not allowed to open new accounts.

I was told to request a cheque in Euros which as soon as it is possible HSBC will set up the account for me and it can be paid in.

I wrote to the Philippines explaining the above and requesting a cheque in Euros.

I received another 45 minute telephone call from Mastercard, Philippines and they are hesitant to issue the cheque.

This has been going on since receiving the 'notice' letter on the 4th March 2020 - having to repeatedly chase them up due to no response to my emails, having set up a Euro account as advised to then to be told it has to be a GB bank account and now their seeming unwillingness to write a cheque for my money (a substantial sum).

In the last telephone call something was also mentioned about a monthly fee being deducted because I am not using the card which was then backtracked on as you can imagine my response!

It is now being reviewed but I was told to see if a different bank could set up an account.

Please could you advise me of my rights Mr Lewis? As the money on the travel cash card is already in Euros and that is how I would like it to be returned to me ... Do Mastercard have no obbligation to oblige?

Thank you for your time.

Yours faithfully

Barbara.

jonesMUFCforever

Barbara,
Mr Lewis is far too busy to answer - he has next to nothing to do with this site since he sold it to Money supermarket and now appears on his own tv show.
Now the letter as written is 90% too long. Please use bullet points and shorten it .
Master card have no obligation to oblige you with Euros.
Take it out on Wirecard who run/ran  the card for Thomas Cook. 

IMO your best bet is to get the money back in sterling. As the card no longer works you are running out of ideas.

TheRightOne

Indeed, I would have simply insisted that the money was returned in Sterling with the 5.75% currency fee waived, as the issue is through no fault of your own.
Another option, find an ATM that dispenses Euros.
You made it far too complicated.

Neil49

jonesMUFCforever said:

Barbara,
Mr Lewis is far too busy to answer - he has next to nothing to do with this site since he sold it to Money supermarket and now appears on his own tv show.
Now the letter as written is 90% too long. Please use bullet points and shorten it .
Master card have no obligation to oblige you with Euros.
Take it out on Wirecard who run/ran  the card for Thomas Cook. 

IMO your best bet is to get the money back in sterling. As the card no longer works you are running out of ideas.

Wirecard are having severe financial issues at the moment so I strongly urge you to get your money back as soon as possible. If their operation (which is based in Germany) gets bailed out by third parties then you may encounter further delays in resolving this issue.

If it means losing out through exchange rate issues then just accept the fact. 

Lordgivemepatience

Thank you for the replies. "Neil49" 's is a copy of  "jonesMUFCforever" ... or the same person?
Firstly I realise Mr Lewis is too busy/inundated hence my sharing the letter on the blog!
Second addressed to "The RightOne" the card is no longer usable as stated in my letter. Mastercard stopped it on April 6th 2020, so cannot use at an ATM that dispenses Euros!
Thirdly the whole point is that I wish to retain the currency as it is ... in Euros!
Addressed to "jonesMUFCforever" In your humble opinion my best bet is to get the money back in sterling ... Why should I lose £50 plus on the exchange rates when the expiry date of the card was not for another couple of years, when they will not transfer the money to another Mastercard for me and when they will not write cheque in Euros or so it seems at present time!!!
The best idea is as suggested by "TheRightOne" for Mastercard to waiver the 5.75% currency fee as the issue is through no fault of my own but I do believe if they were willing to do that they would have suggested it by now!
I will give it a try next time I hear from them if the 'review' has not resolved the issue.
Thanks again for your input. 

jonesMUFCforever

Lose £50 or lose a lot more if Wirecard goes bust!
In my estimate you have less than 700 Euro on this card - the £ has fallen against the Euro so now would be the best time to convert back. If you had thousands of Euros on it fair enough - you are running out of time - back to you.

NB I am not Neil49 - he copied my post.

TheRightOne

Lordgivemepatience said:

Thank you for the replies. "Neil49" 's is a copy of  "jonesMUFCforever" ... or the same person?
Firstly I realise Mr Lewis is too busy/inundated hence my sharing the letter on the blog!
Second addressed to "The RightOne" the card is no longer usable as stated in my letter. Mastercard stopped it on April 6th 2020, so cannot use at an ATM that dispenses Euros!
Thirdly the whole point is that I wish to retain the currency as it is ... in Euros!
Addressed to "jonesMUFCforever" In your humble opinion my best bet is to get the money back in sterling ... Why should I lose £50 plus on the exchange rates when the expiry date of the card was not for another couple of years, when they will not transfer the money to another Mastercard for me and when they will not write cheque in Euros or so it seems at present time!!!
The best idea is as suggested by "TheRightOne" for Mastercard to waiver the 5.75% currency fee as the issue is through no fault of my own but I do believe if they were willing to do that they would have suggested it by now!
I will give it a try next time I hear from them if the 'review' has not resolved the issue.
Thanks again for your input. 

Erm...no. 
Sometimes people need a reasonable suggestion to get things moving.
But it may all be too late for you.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/wirecard-ceo-quits-as-search-for-missing-us21b-hits-dead-end-in-the-philippines

In your push to not lose anything, you may lose everything.

eDicky

If it's not too late already, give them your UK bank details so they can cash out your funds in sterling, politely requesting (but not insisting on) waiver of exchange fee.

You had a month to clear the card in euros before the cutoff, there's no way your euros could be transferred to another card so forget such things and hope you can still recover even a reduced amount in pounds.

Grandmama

Rang MasterCard 're prepaid Thomas Cook the day I got the letter. I only had 300 euros on it, they refunded to my bank account within the week in sterling. Lost a little bit on exchange rate but very happy with the outcome.