MasterCard’s multi-currency, prepaid Chip and PIN travel card, is now available from 54 American Express Foreign Exchange bureaus in South Africa. The MasterCard Cash Passport card can be preloaded with up to four currencies (U.S. Dollars, Pound Sterling, Australian Dollars and Euros) at once. A standard card fee is payable when purchasing the Cash Passport for the first time, and then amounts from US$100 to US$60,000 or the alternative currency equivalents can be loaded and reloaded anytime, anywhere.
Additional security benefits include emergency cash disbursements and a free replacement card if it is lost or stolen. Also, Global Assistance is available 24/7 and can be accessed toll-free in 50 countries. The card’s embedded chip technology offers increased protection against counterfeiting and fraud.
Preloading specific currency amounts onto the Cash Passport prior to traveling reduces currency conversion charges as cardholders are able to lock in the exchange rates for each currency. This means cardholders will know exactly how much they’re spending in the currency of a particular purchase.
In each destination country, the Cash Passport card uses advanced technology to match the transaction currency with the appropriate currency loaded onto the card so that no further foreign exchange conversions take place. Furthermore, to ensure that purchases are not declined due to an insufficient balance, the Cash Passport will also convert the transaction amount into another available currency loaded on the card when required.
American Express (AmEx) says the success of the first Multi-currency Cash Passport, a co-branded card that AmEx launched with Absa in 2013, has paved the way for AmEx to make the Cash Passport product available through more outlets across South Africa this year. The card is now available at 85 Absa branches and American Express Foreign Exchange outlets around the country.
RESOURCES:
For more data on Cash Passport access CardData®. For information and commentary on Cash Passport visit the searchable CardFlash® Library of more than 58,000 articles published since 1995. Custom RAM Research® projects on Cash Passport are available exclusively through CardWeb.com.®
NOTES:
The Cash Passport card can only be used outside the Common Monetary Area, i.e. outside South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia. In addition, the Card may not operate in some countries, due to sanctions.
