*groan* Travelex Supercard

Used this quite a lot on my trip, it worked quite well for the majority of the time, however I did encounter a few issues.

Century 21 - Cashier tried, but the card would not authenticate. Ended up having to use my other travel CC - Worked fine at a different C21 store & no issues at Macys

Duty Free in JFK - same as above - had to use my V CC as my other travel card is MasterCard & the Duty Free would not accept MasterCard! (yet I used it at another Duty Free in JFK & they processed it manually... however no funds have yet to be debited - but guessing, being done manually takes a lot longer than today technology).

Steak Restaurant - Waiter tried it twice & came back to say there was issue & it would not work. Ended up using my MasterCard. However, Supercard still ringfenced the funds from my CC until they dropped off/cancelled the transaction 10 days later.

Petrol Station - would not work/authorise me for fuel.

A few Cash Points - Wells Fargo being one - would not work - other cashpoints worked fine. It was hit & miss.

I did call supercard - as with the app I noticed the double charge the next day. Supercard told me that it takes a bit longer than normal to use their card (im guessing because they need to grab funds from my chosen card before supercard will allow the transaction). I think somewhere it is timing out.

So be safe & make sure you have some sort of backup. Luckily I have a Halifax Clarity.
The advantage of Supercard is that it is linked to my Visa V-Card & there is currently a loophole where you can collect miles on cash withdrawals using the supercard

[mitchja]

I tried one of these foreign cashcards the other year and won't be using them again as whilst they are OK for spending in shops (I had no issues using it in stops in San Francisco), I really struggled to find ATM's in the US that didn't charge a fee to withdraw cash.

[Neil]

I tried one of these foreign cashcards the other year and won't be using them again as whilst they are OK for spending in shops (I had no issues using it in stops in San Francisco), I really struggled to find ATM's in the US that didn't charge a fee to withdraw cash.

Yes, most ATM charge a small fee $3/4 usually, but the rates you get are better than the cash rates offered and it is a safer way to carry a large amount of money.
We have converted to using the cash cards and just make sure we always draw out the max we can at a time to cover us for a few days that was the fee as a % is so minimal it still means we are getting a better exchange rate than just taking cash.

I have had issues with my supercard, but not with purchases. I cannot turn the card off on the app or delete or add another payment card or view my PIN. Customer services in India have been pretty useless, they takes over a week to reply to emails, and on phone can only escalate to an unknown department who have done nothing. I have after a few calls managed to get a telephone number for an automated line that gives me my PIN.

I thought I would try Revolut but I have had major problems with them purchasing virgin america tickets, at the moment my app is showing I am overdrawn by £270!

In future I am sticking to my post office Mastercard for overseas purchases, much less hassle

They certainly have some customer service issues. I have managed to use the card on 3 continents and it worked in 95% of situations, with no pattern in the declined instances. Im not really sure what their on going business model is but while i can get a good exchange rate i will continue to suffer the glitches, but always have a plan B.

I think it is a timeout issue.
Cashier contacts Supercard for money.
Supercard contacts my linked card for money.
linked card authorises money.
Supercard authorises money to cashier.

As there is the extra steps between supercard & my linked card, I think that is where a timeout issue can happen.
Also, Wells Fargo ATM point blank refused my transaction - so it may also be a case of the card just not being allowed.
I believe the first 4 or 8 digits on a card determine to any payment the type of card, the financial provider/issuer, etc. - so maybe some places just dont like travel/pre-loaded cards.

Eggstatico is correct (and I know as I'm very close to this product in the supply chain) and the authorisation process is longer than usual because the authorisation needs to go through to the linked card behind the supercard. For interest, you might like to know that Mastercard's rules mean the whole auth process must complete in under 2.2 seconds.

The type of card is actually nothing more than the first digit (ie Visa/MC/Amex etc), the first six digits are a Bank Identification Number (Visa/MC, not sure how Amex works as we don't deal with them), the next two numbers are for the issuing bank to subdivide that BIN (often by things like the country of issue), and the last 8 digits are just the account number.

The card should not be refused anywhere that accepts MC, there is technically no difference between prepaid and credit card authorisations. in some cases the issuing bank may block certain types of transaction, eg gambling, pay at pump fuel, toll roads, and in all cases a prepaid card should be declined if the authorisation cannot be done online, such as on aircraft for duty free.

An ATM transaction is highly unlikely to be able to determine whether the card is prepaid or not as I am pretty sure that information is not even transmitted.