The end of Travelex Supercard - what are you going to use instead?

As posted a little earlier, Travelex is withdrawing its Supercard product in July. What do you recommend using instead?

 

Monzo is a good alternative - prepaid debit card, but easy top-up via app, free ATM withdrawals (beats Supercard there) and same market rate FX without fees.

 

I strongly recommend Revolut. You get XE.com equivalent rates on every currency (i.e. no Travelex mark-up), and there's no fee for the first £200GBP you withdraw from local cashpoints. I stopped using my Supercard after getting Revolut last year because it is much better value. I'd share a link, but I don't have enough posts on the forum yet. Search your app store for "Revolut"

 

Cheers guys - will check them both out!

Ben - does that mean you can basically do £200 free 'manufactured spend' each month through Revolut?

 

No, not at all JoeD. It just means that you get charged a 2% fee on any further withdrawals once you hit that £200 monthly cap. All other payment card spend is completely free, which is great for ensuring you don't end up with a pocketful of worthless change at the end of your trip.

 

I've got a Halifax Clarity. Doesn't earn any points, but it has 0% overseas fees, and no charges for overseas cash withdrawls. The only trick is you start paying interest from the moment you take cash out, so do a payment before you statement date to avoid charges if you take cash out!

Curve only charges 1% on overseas purchases, and works a lot more reliably than my non-beta Supercard ever did, so that's a lot better than most points-earning visa/mastercard cards.

 

Some toe-rag managed to use my Supercard to spend > £700 at GAME recently (while the card was in my desk drawer). I got the money back in the end, but it was a bit of a faff, as I had to fill out and sign a paper form and follow up again to get back the surcharges for UK use.

As an alternative, Nationwide Select credit card has fee-free usage overseas for spending, and 0.5% cashback on UK purchases. The Nationwide debit card has fee-free overseas cash withdrawal. Both give access to the Simply Rewards scheme which offer varying cashback offers, which I wrote about a while ago here

 

That sounds like a winner so far I think (overall). I suppose it is another credit card though, which means there's an opportunity cost (sign up bonuses elsewhere) unless you're comfortable applying for more cards than I do. I get a new card every few months and have never been declined (Amex, MBNA, Barclaycard, Creation). How frequently does everyone else get new cards?

 

Me and the wife trade Amex referrals regularly, but the problem with non-Amex credit card bonuses, is they tend to be one-offs. Both had the Hilton Barclaycard, I got the IHG premium card this year so not much else of interest out there. Not long got rid of the Tesco mastercard as didn't see the point in hanging on to it just for 1 point/£ on fuel. Also just got Amex gold companion credit card for the spend £500, get 3,000 MR points offer.

So to answer your question, quite frequently, but never had one denied.

It is worth keeping an eye on the cashback sites for decent amounts for taking out a new card. Not suggesting getting a credit card just for the sake of a few quid cashback, but maybe I have once,........or twice..........

 

Have you tried the MBNA ones yet? Bonuses are supposed to be one-offs, but I've heard plenty of anecdotes to the contrary. There's some decent bonuses sometimes - I've got AA, United and an old BMI one that's now a cashback card. Thought about getting the Etihad a couple of weeks ago, but went for the iHG Premium instead.