Have a Europe trip coming up and the wife has been nagging me about using a prepaid travel card rather than just Amex.

Have a Europe trip coming up and the wife has been nagging me about using a prepaid travel card rather than just Amex. The Velocity Global Wallet has appeal as we are a VA/SQ household. Any advice/comments gratefully received.

Taking several cards is imperative these days, in case of loss or theft or problems with a card or an account. The VA product is probably as good as any, although I have the NZ Onesmart and the QF cards so I don't really know. I'd say you should take two prepaid cards anyway.

I use the QF Cash card and although the exhange rate can be a bit hit and miss it's easy and convenient plus both the QF and VA one gives you 1 pt per $ when overseas so can be a good little cash bonus if you were just using cash.

Travel cards are great if you have the opportunity and wisdom/luck to pre-purchase at an advantageous rate.  If you are just going to load as you go you are better off using a credit card with zero exchange commission.

My friend looked into the VA prepaid card a while ago and found the exchange rates not very favourable at all, plus all the planning you need to do to figure out how much foreign currency you should preload can be time consuming. He reckons its better to use a Velocity branded credit card even with the commission rate and you still get VA points with your purchase. Although Amex is not accepted everywhere so better to have a Visa/Master backup.