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Travelex Supercard is now live for new applications and is still free

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As of 10am this morning, the Travelex Supercard website is back up, a new app appeared in the app stores and it began to accept new applications.

If you want to get one, click here to download the app and apply.

I would move quickly as the company has told me that it expects a backlog to build up due to the physical constraints on producing the cards.  I imagine that moneysavingexpert.com will give it a big push tomorrow as they have promoted it in the past and their Wednesday newsletter goes to 10m people ….

Note that, if you were on the pilot programme, you must still make a fresh application via the app.

I will do a full article on Supercard tomorrow.  It is, in essence, a Curve-style product which allows you to make purchases which are recharged to an underlying Visa or Mastercard.

Supercard is aimed primarily at overseas use.  It allows you to bypass the 3% foreign exchange fee on almost all UK credit and debit cards.

You pay with your Supercard, the transaction is converted to £ by Travelex using the standard Mastercard wholesale rate, and it is recharged to your underlying Visa or Mastercard.

Supercard

Here is a summary of the card benefits and how it differs from the pilot programme:

Supercard remains totally free.  Free to apply, free to use – although it requires a smartphone to operate.  I must be honest, I expected them to start charging but I was wrong.

It is a Mastercard.  This is a change from the pilot programme which operated on Visa.  As Mastercard FX rates are generally better than Visa, this is to your advantage.

There are NO FEES when using the card for purchases abroad.

There is a 2.99% fee for ATM withdrawals abroad.  This is a change from the pilot programme where ATM withdrawals were free.  Halifax Clarity, Creation Everyday and MBNA Everyday Plus are, I think, the only UK credit or debit cards which allows fee-free global ATM withdrawals.

Supercard is not a credit card so there is no credit check.  They will take steps to verify your identify to comply with general money laundering and compliance rules.

Whilst UK use is not banned, purchases or ATM withdrawals will incur a £1 plus 1% fee which makes them relatively pointless.  The only exception would be if you had a generous card like my old ‘2.5 Avios per £1’ bmi Mastercard – I could withdraw £200, pay £3 in fees and earn 500 Avios.

Transaction limits are generous – £500 cash per day, £50000 in total annual spend and various daily / monthly caps

I will write more tomorrow, but you have nothing to lose by heading to the website to check out the full details and then clicking here to download the app to order a free Supercard.  Even if you already have a ‘no FX fees’ credit card, Supercard could still be a better deal if you link it to a Visa or Mastercard which has richer rewards.

Don’t ask me how Travelex makes any money on Supercard because I don’t know.  There is probably an arbitrage on the interchange fees and some data mining opportunities.  The pilot programme must have convinced them that it does have serious long term potential.

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Comments (123)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Cheshire Pete says:
    14 Jun14 June 10:44

    I won’t be reapplying as my main use was cash withdrawals. I would never trust using it on purchases as they are not blocking DCCs , which means I think it would be a nightmare using their customer services to get code ’76’ reversals done on the many overseas outlets that try and use clandestine means to charge you in GBP, which on this card would then activate further fees. So no thanks Supercard, I enjoyed your trial but for me as the product stands.

  • Gavin says:
    14 Jun14 June 10:46

    Hold a Lloyds Amex and a Clarity, so have free ATM and free points earning opps on Amex (and MC if I choose). Struggling to see a use for Supercard, unless like Simon I link to my IHG card.

    • Rob says:
      14 Jun14 June 11:29

      The MasterCard reward is so weak on Lloyds than using IHG instead would be better – unless you need foreign spend to hit the target for the voucher on the Lloyds card.

      • Alan says:
        14 Jun14 June 21:40

        Also if you’re close to hitting your £7k for the annual upgrade voucher on Lloyds and don’t want to trigger it yet (as happened to me last year) then it’s handy to have alternative options!

  • Zander says:
    14 Jun14 June 10:49

    While I’m happy this has been relaunched, I’m pissed at the fact that my old account wouldn’t let me in and despite signing back up this morning, I got the we’re doing some checks and we’ll get back to you in a few days screen.

    Utter joke, this happened last time as well. You’d have thought they’d be more on the ball this time?

    • Rob says:
      14 Jun14 June 11:27

      They are doing a full money laundering check on you, that’s why.

      • Zander says:
        14 Jun14 June 13:32

        Oh really? Well, I’m done for as I put the address I’m at now rather than my credit address. Whoops.

      • Alan says:
        14 Jun14 June 21:40

        Here’s hoping this bit of the process goes more smoothly that with the beta roll-out!

  • Alex W says:
    14 Jun14 June 10:52

    Is there any benefit to getting Supercard if you already have Curve?

    • Will says:
      14 Jun14 June 10:56

      Yes, curve charges 1% on foreign spend, supercard (excl ATM) charges nothing.

      • Graeme says:
        14 Jun14 June 11:03

        Yes – use Supercard for any purchases. Then you can either use a fee-free debit card to withdraw cash (First Direct current account with First Directory for me) or the Curve as it’s cheaper if withdrawing over £100 (from what I can see).

    • Zander says:
      14 Jun14 June 10:57

      The benefits are that it’s free, you get MasterCard interbank rate (or close to it, better than Curve IR+1% I believe) but you can’t add AMEX (unless that’s changed?). It’s a good secondary card to have as a just in a case, especially as there’s no fee for having it.

      • Alan says:
        14 Jun14 June 21:41

        Yep, can’t use Amex with Supercard – although at present you can’t with Curve either!

    • Andrew says:
      14 Jun14 June 11:35

      It’s free to use for purchases rather than costing you 1% in adjusted exchange rates

    • Mr Dee says:
      14 Jun14 June 16:50

      Curve is now redundant with the launch of the supercard, there is little point in making non amex purchases with Curve as you don’t get any type of loyalty points. The only benefit would be for foreign purchases if you don’t have any alternative because it charges you 1%, with supercard there is no 1% charge so it is a no brainer!

      The costs for withdrawing cash abroad with Curve is 1% + a £2 charge which is not so good compared to free alternatives such as Metrobank.

      The only hope that Curve to survive was the loyalty program, unfortunately they didn’t make an effort apart from some one off offer.

      The fact that Curve is still charging PRE AUTHORISATIONS to the end card is ridiculous, I have transactions that are there for nearly 2 weeks when it was declined, with the amount of problems Curve has I will be considering sending it back if I can’t complete there retention offer this week.

      • Genghis says:
        15 Jun15 June 04:50

        Metro bank only free in Europe. Halifax Clarity best for outside Europe for ATM withdrawals IMO

  • Eshaq Choudhury says:
    14 Jun14 June 10:58

    Ordered it last night when I noticed the app had updated. I think I should be one of the first few that get it as a result.

    It’s a bummer that they now charge for atm withdrawals. That was my main use abroad. I wI’ll now need to convert some cash and plan more purchases when abroad rather than relying on cash withdrawals only.

    • Graham Walsh says:
      14 Jun14 June 11:31

      I ordered last night too once I saw that app updated 🙂

      • Kim says:
        14 Jun14 June 14:39

        Me too – anxiously awaiting the ID checks to go through! (Assuming they don’t block anyone who applied before the 10am go-live?!)

  • Will says:
    14 Jun14 June 11:00

    Raffles, with supercard relaunching and curve appearing to have some kind of structure to their product now I’d certainly have an interest in what product to use for foreign spend with a slant on how to earn points/miles while not paying commission on the exchange.

    Could look at 1. Where to put chip and pin transactions 2.where to put ATM transactions 3. Where to buy cash before departure.

    Also not to forget metro bank still offer commission free debit card transactions (incl ATM) within Europe and it’s a free current account.

    • Mr Dee says:
      14 Jun14 June 16:42

      1. Supercard
      2. Metrobank
      3. Don’t do it

      • will says:
        14 Jun14 June 17:22

        It’s more complicated
        1. Lloyds avios rewards better unless you have old BMi card as you earn 1.25 avios per £ on the Amex
        2. Metro bank charge 1.9% outside of the EU, Revolut is free for £500 per month, some current accounts are free (all the ones I’ve seen charge a monthly fee though) and curve might make sense if you take it out in big chunks.
        3. You might just want to absolutely make sure you turn up with cash on arrival (ever tried using an ATM in Bali?)

        • Mr Dee says:
          14 Jun14 June 18:04

          1. Yes your right I wasn’t considering the Lloyds Avios cards even though I did just use it myself recently. This card first then the supercard.
          2. Nationwide Flex Plus £10 per month offers worldwide cash withdrawals

  • Chris says:
    14 Jun14 June 11:02

    Can you login with your old beta account details, or do you have to register again?

  • rams1981 says:
    14 Jun14 June 11:02

    gutted about the UK charges. This was great to pay HMRC bills. Stuck to simple debit card payments now with no points earned unless someone knows another way?

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