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Child Item

An Post PostFX™ prepaid MasterCard® currency card

davidlynchis

First time poster to this forum so hope this is right!

Traveling to the states in a few weeks (thanks to a flight deal I saw on bargain alerts!) and as you probably know the Post office seem to give the best overall value in dollars. But they are offering a new service which gives you a Dollar or Sterling prepaid mastercard. No fees to use it at point of sale and a $2.50/£1.50 charge for withdrawing from ATM. No comission!!!The card is free, free to reload and any money left over you can get back in Euro at a pretty favourable rate! You can also get a second card linked to the same "account" for free as a back up in case you are robbed.

Seems to me to be the best deal to bring dollars/euro's over on holidays but feel free to let me know if I am missing something, seems a bit too good!?

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3_BOoYA_X

Marylouise10 wrote: »

Make sure and ask for the second card at the time you recieve the first one. It only came to my attention after I received my card that you can only get it at the same time as the original one. There is no getting it after the fact. Annoying.

Almost same problem here. Partner stated on the form he required two, when he got home the envelope only had one. After being sent from Billy to Jack and ten employees later..... AnPost refusing to correct their clerical mistake unless we top up at least $130.. Disaster we should of never bothered. Now were stuck with one card for going away or else refund our money and get a good chunk less back.. :mad:

Marylouise10

Make sure and ask for the second card at the time you recieve the first one. It only came to my attention after I received my card that you can only get it at the same time as the original one. There is no getting it after the fact. Annoying.

RayCarley

dublin-texas wrote: »

I have used both £ and $ cards online both with my Irish address and a NI/US address set as temporary address respectively.

In fact the $ card is my US iTunes store card and the £ card was used for example for the Tassimo deal but also for other PM shopping.

Now I noticed that the AnPost person entered my Irish address strangely so I corrected it when I registered, so you might want to check if the address they have used is matching what you enter at the merchant exactly.

Good call. I was actually trying to find out what address they had on file, when I finally noticed the little "My Profile" button on the top right when you log in. They had my address formatted very strangely, so I changed that. I tried using it again online straight away, but it didn't work because I reckon it will take like 24 hours or something for that to make it though the system.
Fingers crossed it works tomorrow now.

Yggr of Asgard

RayCarley wrote: »

Haven't used this in person yet, but I tried using it online and despite me using my Irish address (which I registered the card to) as the billing address, it says that the address doesn't match the one my bank has.

Anyone have any success using the card online?

I have used both £ and $ cards online both with my Irish address and a NI/US address set as temporary address respectively.

In fact the $ card is my US iTunes store card and the £ card was used for example for the Tassimo deal but also for other PM shopping.

Now I noticed that the AnPost person entered my Irish address strangely so I corrected it when I registered, so you might want to check if the address they have used is matching what you enter at the merchant exactly.

RayCarley

Haven't used this in person yet, but I tried using it online and despite me using my Irish address (which I registered the card to) as the billing address, it says that the address doesn't match the one my bank has.

Anyone have any success using the card online?

GavMan

Just wondering about the fact that its not personalised.

Has anybody that has used it in the States (specifically Boston, MA) had any issues in shops because their name is not on the card??

Gav

RED PASSION

What is the £10 sterling shortfall fee and the non-emergency cash out fee through card services £6 on this PostFX card

Yggr of Asgard

RED PASSION wrote: »

paddyp wrote: »

Looks good just don't make any other currency transactions.

"Merchant transactions and ATM withdrawals in a currency other than the currency of the Card will be exchanged to the currency on the Card at an exchange rate determined by MasterCard® on the day the transaction is processed, increased by 5.75%."[/QUOTE]

What does this mean, is it if I have sterling on a card and buy something in Ireland for euros.

Yes

RED PASSION

paddyp wrote: »

Looks good just don't make any other currency transactions.

"Merchant transactions and ATM withdrawals in a currency other than the currency of the Card will be exchanged to the currency on the Card at an exchange rate determined by MasterCard® on the day the transaction is processed, increased by 5.75%."[/QUOTE]

What does this mean, is it if I have sterling on a card and buy something in Ireland for euros.

hfallada

Why would any one use this card over a visa debit. The rates on visa are pretty good and the commission is only 1,75% on pos. You don't have to charge it up

Golfer50

Thanks again. I would intend signing up as the account holder and giving the use of the second card to someone else. I think that should be legit.

Yggr of Asgard

Golfer50 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Can you then top up the primary card using the secondary card (eg if the primary card is abroad)?

Apologies to all, I realize this is straying from a Bargain Alert . .

In theory to comply with money laundering law only the registered card holder is allowed to top of the card (which is why you need to show ID to top up) and the secondary card should only be used if the primary is lost (i.e. the card is only a backup card in case you loose you primary one).

Having said that, I think someone here posted that he had success doing this in his local post office.

Golfer50

dublin-texas wrote: »

lso when going back later to load the card make sure you remember the PIN

Thanks for your reply. Can you then top up the primary card using the secondary card (eg if the primary card is abroad)?

Apologies to all, I realize this is straying from a Bargain Alert . .

Yggr of Asgard

Golfer50 wrote: »

Can anyone help please - is there a delay in issuing the card if you show up with correct id etc or do you walk out on the day with card in hand?
Thanks

The cards are not personalised, so what the post office staff does is give you one (or two if prefer) cards in an envelope with all the information you need about them. The name on the card is "Currency Card".

A tip, if you get the 2 cards make sure when you to register online that you register using the primary card number (it's pointed out on the envelope & the receipt what the primary card number is).

Also I found that the online interface is great as it even shows information about the pending transactions.

Also when going back later to load the card make sure you remember the PIN because you need the PIN plus your ID to load the card again.

Cheshire Cat

Golfer50 wrote: »

Can anyone help please - is there a delay in issuing the card if you show up with correct id etc or do you walk out on the day with card in hand?
Thanks

No delay. Took 10 to 15 minutes until I walked out with my preloaded cards. Very straightforward!

Golfer50

Can anyone help please - is there a delay in issuing the card if you show up with correct id etc or do you walk out on the day with card in hand?
Thanks

VonLuck

Marylouise10 wrote: »

Is there anyway to check the balance of the card online when you are away so you know how much is left on it? Save embarrassment in a restaurant etc

Yes. Here is the link: http://www.cashpassport.com/1/en/ie/Using-Your-Card/My-Account/

Marylouise10

Is there anyway to check the balance of the card online when you are away so you know how much is left on it? Save embarrassment in a restaurant etc

Ky Abu

From reading all the posts, think there is a lot of confusion. Was wondering if I have it all picked up right...

Am heading to the States soon and from what I gather, the handiest way of getting this to work, is to have 2 cards, one at home and one on holiday.

Anything else relevant?

Advantages?

Disadvantages?

Yggr of Asgard

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

Well she is paying the hotel cost in cash. She just wants to use the card to cover the $50 a night the hotel take as a pre-authorisation in case the mini-bar etc is used.

Does it take 30 days for the pre-authorisation funds to be put back onto the card? Thanks for the help..

It can take anything between 7 and 30 days for the funds to be released, it depends on the hotel and their merchant agreement.

In principle the hotel should when she checks out get a final authorization while entering the reference of the pre-authorization in that case the amount will be debited correctly and the pre-authorization goes away immediately. unfortunately not all hotels do that correctly and you might get stuck with a longer freeze period.

MarkyMark22

dublin-texas wrote: »

Yes they can but the usual warning for debit cards applies here as the card is coded as a debit card.

This means the funds will be blocked (and remember hotels take 20-50% more than the hotel rate to cover minibar and restaurant you might use) and if they during check-out not enter the authorization number that they got when taking the pre-authorisation you need to have enough funds in the card to cover both transactions with the pre-authorisation blocking funds for up to 30 days.

Debit cards are never good for hotels.

Well she is paying the hotel cost in cash. She just wants to use the card to cover the $50 a night the hotel take as a pre-authorisation in case the mini-bar etc is used.

Does it take 30 days for the pre-authorisation funds to be put back onto the card? Thanks for the help..

antodeco

Heading to Disney next month, and want to split my Dollars between cash and card. Are there, in general, any issues I need to be aware of with using this card?

Yggr of Asgard

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

Hi guys, does anyone know if these cards can be used for a pre-authorisation in a hotel? My mother is heading to the states soon and was wondering if she could use hers for pre-authorisation in a hotel.

Appreciate any help.

Yes they can but the usual warning for debit cards applies here as the card is coded as a debit card.

This means the funds will be blocked (and remember hotels take 20-50% more than the hotel rate to cover minibar and restaurant you might use) and if they during check-out not enter the authorization number that they got when taking the pre-authorisation you need to have enough funds in the card to cover both transactions with the pre-authorisation blocking funds for up to 30 days.

Debit cards are never good for hotels.

MarkyMark22

Hi guys, does anyone know if these cards can be used for a pre-authorisation in a hotel? My mother is heading to the states soon and was wondering if she could use hers for pre-authorisation in a hotel.

Appreciate any help.

Yggr of Asgard

bigpink wrote: »

Pain with I.D and forms.Got my O2 money card no forms or anything

And both serve completely different purposes/audiences.

The AnPost cards are to avoid the foreign currency charge and allow you reasonable high loads (up to 30000$/18000£ a year). Usage in € is possible but would cost you 5.75% fee. This is aimed at people going on holidays to avoid them using cash. The other features of iTunes or NI PM usage are just for some of us.

The O2 money card can only be loaded up to 2500€ before you need to present ID (at present until the new 100€ EU guideline kicks in) and it would cost you 2.75% to use the card in any other currency. It's aimed at those who can't get a credit card/debit card or those who want to spend money "anonymous".

Cheshire Cat

bigpink wrote: »

Pain with I.D and forms.Got my O2 money card no forms or anything

No big deal really. I find the O2 card much more painful, because the maximum topup per day is €350

bigpink

Pain with I.D and forms.Got my O2 money card no forms or anything

Kenny Powers

Would this work for buying devices from the UK Google Play store with parcel motel?

slave1

Just to let ye know, in the US at the minute and in places like Sam's Club which only accepts debit cards, our Visa debit cards come up as credit cards on their systems and therefore unusable.

Yggr of Asgard

McP2011 wrote: »

So in terms of the online shopping does it work like the visa cards? Do you just put in the card number and the expiry date and the code?

And could you pay for items over the phone in the same way as you can with a visa?

Thanks.

If the company accepts MasterCard branded cards sure you should not have an issue.

However you can not register the card for MasterCard Secure Code (the counterpart to verified by visa).

And also it is against T&C to use the card for some activities (gambling etc.).