Aqua Reward MasterCard exchange rate

unhinged

Hello..just got my aqua MasterCard bill after a trip to Spain.. noticed rate on January 20 for a euro purchase was only 1.1796.
Online sterling -euro exchange rates for that day show the exchange rate never dipped below 1.18. The same occurs on every day of that holiday.. the rate is less than lowest recorded on the online exchange tracker. Sometimes the difference is 0.7 cents. I purchase in EUR at the tills. I always read on this site that the aqua card gave a 'perfect' rate. Has this changed or am I having expectations of the card that are too high? Thanks

CliveOfIndia

I'm not sure that the MasterCard or Visa exchange rate is "perfect".  It's more a case of it's as close to perfect as the average consumer is likely to get.

It doesn't matter what the brand of the card is (Aqua or another one), they'll all use the prevailing Mastercard or Visa rate as applicable.  Though it'll be the rate in force on the day the transaction hits your account, which may not necessarily be the same date as when you actually made the transaction.

It's also worth bearing in mind, if you do intend on travelling (or even buying stuff online that's priced in a different currency), it's worth getting one of the so-called "travel" credit cards that don't charge an FX fee.  This can save you a decent chunk of money if you make a fair few foreign currency transactions.

unhinged

I take your point Clive on transaction date v day it hits the account.. the payments were over 16 days.. xe.com has the low in the past 30 days as 1.18213..yet the aqua card had 3-4 days under 1.18. perhaps naively I thought the rate shown on Xe.com was the rate I get. Many thanks again.

CliveOfIndia

No problem.

Yes, there may be a very small difference in exchange rates (Visa and Mastercard are usually very marginally different to each, for instance), but really the difference is too small to worry about - unless you're exchanging many many thousands of pounds-worth.

But take solace in the fact that you're almost guaranteed to be getting a far better rate than any you could get by buying currency at any Bureaux de Change or whatever.

You could in theory make a gain by watching the currency markets like a hawk for months in advance of your trip, then buying what you need when the rate is at its most favourable.  But really, do you want to be doing that when you're planning a holiday?  It's what currency traders in all the major banks do, and they make or lose hundreds of millions - but that's a tad different to Joe Public buying a few Euros for his holiday

Olenna

CliveOfIndia said:

I'm not sure that the MasterCard or Visa exchange rate is "perfect".  It's more a case of it's as close to perfect as the average consumer is likely to get.

It doesn't matter what the brand of the card is (Aqua or another one), they'll all use the prevailing Mastercard or Visa rate as applicable.  Though it'll be the rate in force on the day the transaction hits your account, which may not necessarily be the same date as when you actually made the transaction.

It's also worth bearing in mind, if you do intend on travelling (or even buying stuff online that's priced in a different currency), it's worth getting one of the so-called "travel" credit cards that don't charge an FX fee.  This can save you a decent chunk of money if you make a fair few foreign currency transactions.

The Aqua Reward IS one of the so-called "travel" credit cards - it's no longer highlighted as the product is no longer open to new business. If the OP is getting Aqua Reward 0.5% cashback then it will provide one of the best credit card forex rates available. 

unhinged

Cheers both.. that's been very helpful and cleared up my concern!

penners324

Use the Mastercard exchange rate, it can be found online

penners324

CliveOfIndia said:

I'm not sure that the MasterCard or Visa exchange rate is "perfect".  It's more a case of it's as close to perfect as the average consumer is likely to get.

It doesn't matter what the brand of the card is (Aqua or another one), they'll all use the prevailing Mastercard or Visa rate as applicable.  Though it'll be the rate in force on the day the transaction hits your account, which may not necessarily be the same date as when you actually made the transaction.

It's also worth bearing in mind, if you do intend on travelling (or even buying stuff online that's priced in a different currency), it's worth getting one of the so-called "travel" credit cards that don't charge an FX fee.  This can save you a decent chunk of money if you make a fair few foreign currency transactions.

The Aqua reward card is a travel card, offering the Mastercard rate