Travellers rejoice - the Supercard is here.

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uvarvu

uvarvu

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https://www.supercard.io

This enables you to connect a bank account to a new debit card that eliminates all roaming fees when you go abroad. In addition, you'll still earn any cash back points on the cards you have linked the Supercard to - cool right?
 
No mention of how they calculate their exchange rate compared to MC / Visa / AMEX though which is where their profit margin is.

Whilst it looks good on their website there are cheaper alternatives out there like the Clarity card. And what's with using .io?
 
PapaLazaru said:
No mention of how they calculate their exchange rate compared to MC / Visa / AMEX though which is where their profit margin is.

Whilst it looks good on their website there are cheaper alternatives out there like the Clarity card. And what's with using .io?
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It's not cheaper.
And the website does say. same as clarity card, you get full exchange rate.
Unlike clarity card, everyone should be able to get one and it's simpler.

Just don't use in uk.
 
Glaucus said:
It's not cheaper.
And the website does say. same as clarity card, you get full exchange rate.
Unlike clarity card, everyone should be able to get one and it's simpler.

Just don't use in uk.
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Where is their profit margin? Supercard is Travelex. Travelex make money on FX margins. I can't see the rate being better than MasterCard.
 
PapaLazaru said:
Where is their profit margin? Supercard is Travelex. Travelex make money on FX margins. I can't see the rate being better than MasterCard.
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If you use it in the uk, you get charged. If you read the FAQ's.it says you get full exchange rate. Which is all we can go on until it launches.

It does sound a bit like all the free phone deals, which all go under after a year or so.
 
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I've entered my details. I'm flying out on the 9th April to Sweden so it would be handy. I feel even if I had this I'd still need some cash. Last thing you want is to be paying then it say "sorry sir its been rejected". Even worse is they'll say that in Swedish. As banks do like to block suspicious activity.
I also wonder how well it would work online. I ordered some train tickets with my visa debit but I know the same train will cost more if I pay cash on arrival so it was worth it. the Visa exhange rate + 2.5% fee means it was about £3 extra than if I had one of these.
 
PapaLazaru said:
No mention of how they calculate their exchange rate compared to MC / Visa / AMEX though which is where their profit margin is.
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This is from news coverage:

Crucially the only hard fee charged by the company is the 0.25-0.55 percent spreads Visa and Mastercard tend to charge on top of interbank foreign exchange rates. That compares to real costs of spending euros or dollars on most cards starting at an absolute minimum of just over 1 percent, or with Visa and Mastercard closer to 3 percent.
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http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/travelex-supercard-idINKBN0M800C20150312
 
Does sound interesting, so have registered. Had been looking at getting a Clarity card for the summer holidays this year.
 
I might register for this and give it a go. My HSBC Premier credit card used to have no fees attached for money spend abroad, now they have started adding on something like 2% for every transaction. They claimed it was built into their previous Forex rate, but when I went back and looked at it historically there was no difference.
 
Crucially the only hard fee charged by the company is the 0.25-0.55 percent spreads Visa and Mastercard tend to charge on top of interbank foreign exchange rates. That compares to real costs of spending euros or dollars on most cards starting at an absolute minimum of just over 1 percent, or with Visa and Mastercard closer to 3 percent.
Click to expand...

If that exchange rate is genuine, then it would be cheaper to use my cashback card rather then my normal Halifax Clarity.
 
POB said:
If that exchange rate is genuine, then it would be cheaper to use my cashback card rather then my normal Halifax Clarity.
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Is it not referring to the 3% transaction fee charged by almost every Visa and Mastercard? The Clarity uses the basic Visa rate as well.
 
My take on that was they are charging 0.25-0.55 on top of the standard MasterCard rate, rather than usual 2-3% + transaction fee?

It's not clear in the slightest.

Edit: and just to be a pedant Fox, the Clarity uses the MC rate, not Visa.
 
where are they getting the revenue from - I wonder if they've got a deal with visa giving them some sales margin from the standard visa spread

because aside from that spread, which ostensibly just visa profits from, the only charges seem to be for using it in the UK...
 
PooKer said:
I've entered my details. I'm flying out on the 9th April to Sweden so it would be handy. I feel even if I had this I'd still need some cash. Last thing you want is to be paying then it say "sorry sir its been rejected". Even worse is they'll say that in Swedish. As banks do like to block suspicious activity.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can imagine the phone call:

"My card has been blocked?"

"Yes sir, we noticed a £400 transaction which took place in a bar in Sweden last night and blocked the card for security"

"I only bought 1 pint!"
 
Registered out of curiosity and because I'm going to the States for three weeks at the end of June. I don't usually have problems using my regular debit card abroad, but this would be pretty nice.
 
Call me stupid... but what's wrong with using a standard cash card or credit card? I always have in the past, it seems to give me the best rates even after the fees..
 
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