Better Than Cash: Travelex Cash Passports April 07, 2008
By Anne Marie D. Lee
A fter much anticipation, Travelex Cash Passports are now available in pounds sterling and euros in North America. At the Prepaid Card Expo in Vegas, Travelex unveiled the prepaid foreign currency cards that make spending money abroad more manageable, and risk free.
The Travelex Cash Passport holds a preloaded sum of foreign currency on a MasterCard-branded card that can be used at most ATMs and anywhere else MasterCard is accepted. Unlike bank cards or traveler's checks, with the Travelex Cash Passport there is no need to worry about conversion rates when keeping track of spending, since the conversion has already been done. Cards have PIN protection, can easily be replaced and hold zero risk of identity theft, since there is no personal information embedded, as opposed to debit and credit cards.
Travelex Cash Passport cards first appeared in 1997 in Africa, in the form of U.S. dollar–funded cards. The corporate applications of the Cash Passports are numerous, says David Sear, divisional managing director, global outsourcing for Travelex, based in London. Card holders can log on to a "My Account" Web site to check their balance and track their account. The cards also lock in currency value, so that one preloaded with 500 euros six months before a trip will maintain its value of 500 euros, no matter how the dollar may fluctuate in the time between.
In addition to its most popular use as a daily spend solution for meeting or incentive travel abroad, Sear adds that Travelex Cash Passport cards are also a popular incentive reward for employees abroad, and are also given out by some airlines as compensation to passengers for any complaints or inconveniences.
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