When travelling abroad, whether for business or leisure, one of the main things that you need to decide is how you will carry your money. There are many options at your disposal, yet more and more people are opting to use a pre-paidtravel moneycard and there are plenty of benefits associated with this option.
You will be able to enjoy the best exchange rates as you can wait until the rates are favourable before topping up your card. You will also be able to manage your money more effectively, and some travel cards even let you earn reward points.
One of the key reasons why an increasing number of travellers are embracing the travel card is because it is a safer method of carrying your cash abroad. There are no connectionsto your bank account which limits the potential for huge losses in the event of your travel money card being lost or stolen.
If this unfortunately does happen, you certainly shouldn’t sit back and accept it. Instead, there are steps that you should take to ensure you rectify the issue as quickly as possible.
As your travel card is pre-paid you will already have money loaded onto it. Whether its £100 or £1,000, the last thing you want to do is loose this money, nor do you want to give a criminal the satisfaction of spending your hard earned cash.
This is why you should choose your travel money card with care. Look for a provider that has a 24/7 helpline available (such as the eurochange Multi Currency Cash Passport provided by Mastercard) so you can ring them to report your card lost or stolen as soon as possible.
It is also a good idea to read customer reviews as there will be previous customers who were in the same position and will explain how the company dealt with it. If the card provider has a bad reputationthen you should be identify this and you will know to look elsewhere.
However, some of you reading this post may be past the stage of choosing a travel money card provider. You may have actually lost your card already or believe it has been stolen. Of course all companies differ when it comes to their policies on lost or stolen cards.
Nevertheless, generally speaking, you will need to get in touch with the customer services team, and they will talk you through the entire process. What usually happens is they will put a block on your card so that no one can use it. They will be able to track the card to see if anyone has withdrawn money since your last withdrawal and whatever remains on the pre-paid card will be transferred to another card that will be sent to you as quickly as possible. You may even be able to get this while you are on holiday – it all depends on your location. If you are unable to get a replacement card while away, you will definitely receive one upon your return. There are some companies that will provide you with emergency cash to tide you over until you come back from your vacation. This cash will, of course, be taken from the amount of money you have on your pre-paid card.
When you take all of this into account it is not difficult to see why so many people are opting to use a travel money card. It is very much like carrying cash but instead it is a lot safer. After all, if you lose cash or have it stolen, you have pretty much no chance of getting it back.
Hopefully you now have a much better understanding of what you should do if you lose your pre-paid travel money card. As mentioned, this is one of the safest methods of carrying money when going abroad, and you can see this by the ease at which you can get your hands on a new card if your current one goes missing. Just be sure to act with haste, as the last thing you want is for someone else to be spending your money.