Travelex and Azimo launch new travel money products, and £10 off with Azimo

By coincidence, both Travelex and Azimo decided to launch new travel money products this week.   Both make full use of smartphone technology to improve on their exising products.

The Travelex Money Card

The Travelex Money Card is a replacement for the Travelex Cash Passport.

It is pre-loadable and re-loadable Mastercard which can be funded in 10 currencies:  Euro, $, Dirham, Australian $, Canadian $, Turkish Lira, NZ $, South African Rand, Swiss Franc and £.

Compared to the old Cash Passport product, the new Travelex Money Card has two main differences:

it can be reloaded via an app

it is contactless

If you were wondering how this compares to the Travelex Supercard, which offers 0% FX fees and recharges your transaction to a linked Visa or Mastercard, the answer is primarily no ATM fees (Supercard is 2.99%) and the contactless functionality.

Unlike Supercard, pre-loaded payment cards also tend to work all the time!  Supercard has problems because when you spend on it, Supercard has to obtain a parallel authorisation from your linked Visa or Mastercard provider before it authorises its own transaction.  This often leads to a ‘time out’ and a decline.

The big question, of course, is whether you need a pre-paid payment card or not.  I generally believe that you don’t, which is why I don’t plug the Avios-branded one much.

If you have a credit card then you will, overall, pay less by using that.  This is because the 3% fee on most credit cards – which is also offset by the rewards you earn – is lower than the spread Travelex charges to loads your Travelex Money Card from your debit card.  You also need to factor in the hassle of reloading your Travelex Money Card – even if it can now be done via an app – and the sneaky fees that tend to appear from time to time.

One tweak of the new card is free wi-fi for three months via Boingo.  This used to be an American Express Platinum benefit until last year and lets you connect to hot spots around the globe.  If you miss Boingo via Amex Platinum then getting a Travelex Money Card is an easy way to get it back.

This card may be suitable for a younger person who is off travelling and who does not have their own credit card.  The ability to reload it via an app would also a parent to top up easily on their behalf when required.

If you think the Travelex Money Card may work for you, you can find out more here.

Azimo launches new mobile payment scheme which only requires a mobile number

Azimo has also launched a new product this week which allows you to send or request money using only a mobile phone number.

The idea is that you will no longer need someones bank details, IBAN number etc in order to make a payment.  All you need is their mobile number and the Azimo app on your phone.

This works for both foreign and domestic £ payments.

You link a payment card to the Azimo app and then, to send a payment, simply select a person from your mobile contact book or input their number directly.  That’s it.

Azimo deducts the money from your payment card and sends a text message to the recipient.  The recipient is told to download the app and their money will be waiting for them.  They add their bank account details and Azimo deposits the money.

For future transactions, now that Azimo has bank account details, it will deposit the money directly in the bank account of the recipient.

Full details can be found on the Azimo website here.

£10 off your first Azimo transfer online

Meanwhile, if you need to send money abroad in the next couple of weeks, Azimo has reactivated our special £10 Head for Points discount code.

This is valid for your first transaction, for a new user, of £50 or more on the Azimo website.

The promo code you need to use is HEAD10 and is valid until 16th April.  This only works on the desktop Azimo site and not via their app.

With the code HEAD10 on the Azimo website here every new customer will get £10 off their first transaction.  The code needs to be entered on the transaction page and NOT on the sign up page in order for it to work.  Ignore the box marked ‘Invite Code’ on the sign up page.

Azimo can handle payments to 196 countries, which is pretty much everywhere.  In some countries, such as Ghana, the recipient can pick up the money in cash from selected locations if they do not have a bank account. When sending money to Nigeria Azimo charges no transfer fees and claims to offer the UK’s best exchange rate.