One form of payment we used was the Ozforex Travel Card. This is basically like a prepaid MasterCard which you can have multiple “wallets” on the card. The term wallet is basically the currency you have converted on the card. There are 8 different types of currencies (pr wallets) you can have on the Ozforex Travel Card on it. One reason why we got the Travel Card is that you can withdraw cash from ATM’s that accept MasterCard.
The Ozforex Travel Card gives you slightly better rates compared to exchanging currency at the banks, but they also charge a few fees that you should know about.
How Ozforex Travel Card Works
First of all, you BPAY money in Australian Dollar onto your card where they take a $15AUD initial load fee and you can use the card wherever MasterCard is accepted in any overseas countries. Before you leave, or when you have a good exchange rate, you can create a wallet in one of the supported currencies below to lock in that rate. If you don’t lock in a rate and you make a purchase, the exchange rate will be whatever it is on that day.
. The following currencies are supported:
- Australian Dollar (AUD)
- US Dollar (USD)
- Euro (EUR)
- Great British Pound (GBP)
- New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
- Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
- Singapore Dollar (SGD)
- Canadian Dollar (CAD)
- Japanese Yen (JPY)
In away, you can use to to make money on currency conversions.For example, if AUD is high, you can transfer money into Euro, and when the exchange rate goes down, transfer it back into AUD and withdraw the cash, keeping the profits.
If you use the card in a country that does not support one of the above currencies, you have to pay an extra 3% currency conversion fee.
The good thing about this card, is that you can withdraw cash, however it costs $2.95AUD per withdrawal, plus any other ATM owner fees. You also have to pay a $15 initial load fee, and a $10 account closure fee. I wouldn’t call their support line either because that costs around $15 too.
It’s funny because when we applied for the card, we half-filled out their application form and the next day they rang leaving a voicemail saying “can we help you anything”. We didn’t return the call, because if we did,it would have cost us $15.
Luckily, we got away with paying the initial load fee due to an email mishap, because they accidently sent us an email regarding another companies travel card. Opps.
One good thing about the Ozforex travel card is that they send you two cards, just in case you lose one you don’t have to wait to get another on posted to you
As writing this post, we have only used the Ozforex Travel Card once as we needed cash and we couldn’t find a currency exchange place. The only problem was I forgot the pin number I used for the card.
Should You Get This Card?
My personal opinion is for you to not get this card because in other countries like Croatia where they use Kuna, you have to pay a 3% currency conversion fee, you have to pay account closure fee’s, initial load fee’s, and support fee’s.
I will only recommend this card if you are a person who feels the need they need cash and they have no other way to get it.
I’ve only used the card once because the 28 Degrees Master Card by GE Money is even better.