Additional questions about bunq Travel Card

Sander

Frank you can use it already for online purchases. 👍😁

Flo1979

Sander Danke Sander. Mir ist klar, wie die Travel Card funktionieren soll. Ich besitze eine ähnliche Karte der Fidor Bank. ;)
Deswegen freut es mich sehr, dass bunq genau dies ebenfalls einführt.
Mich wundert nur, dass man die Karte bisher nicht bei GooglePay hinzufügen kann.
Habe ich die Begründung hierfür irgendwo überlesen?

Sander

FloLoL79🌈 Might be similar to Apple Pay, maybe they need a bit more time for that. I only recall a specific mention about Apple Pay, I expect that Google Pay will also be enabled for the cards. 🙂

Frank-Maroon-Eagle

Sander As far as I understand this, the card can’t be allocated to a sub account like the debit card, no? Even for premium subscribers, it is always managed with its own card account that is less flexible and limited in functionality compared to the regular bunq accounts? Or are all these „limitations“ lifted when using wit/ premium?

JeroenE

Frank Voor zover ik begrijp zijn die extra restricties alleen als je een Travel Card abonnement hebt. Als je Premium hebt dan is het gewoon een andere betaalkaart die je aan alle rekeningen kan hangen. Net zoals de reeds bestaande betaalkaarten. Je kan de betaalrekening nu al in de app wijzigen, ook al heb je de fysieke kaart nog niet binnen.

Frank-Maroon-Eagle

Jeroen 🏳️‍🌈 Thanks for confirming this!

Esther-Orange-Unicorn

Frank I used my Travel Card data already for my online purchases 2 days ago, it worked exactly like the Mastercard debit. Especially for this online shopping I connected the Travel Card to one of my accounts I want the money take from. After the transaction goes through (immediately), I changed the account the Travel Card is connected to again, no problem. The feeling was like before with the Mastercard debit. With a premium subscription everything is possible 🌈 👍.

AllanPeterson

Will the travel card be hit with DCC in non-Euro countries? It's a massive problem for both TransferWise and Revolut MasterCards, but I'm wondering if it being a credit card would make a difference?

Tom

Alain Hi!

This depends on the terminal. As far as I understand it, the terminal reads the card currency and if it doesn’t match the local currency, it offers to convert it for you.

For anyone who doesn’t know, dynamic currency conversion (DCC) is where the shop offers to convert the purchase into your local currency for you. Usually at a bad rate.

Of course, you should always be able to choose to be charged in local currency. Which you should, because then you get bunq ZeroFX 🌈

Is there something I’m missing that makes this a huge problem for Revolut and TransferWise cards?

Whenever I hit it while travelling, I just choose local currency and move on 😄

Frank-Maroon-Eagle

Alain Unfortunately, yes. DCC is only controlled by the merchant. There is no technical method of blocking it. (Mastercard recently updated their merchant terms and DCC is now not allowed anymore for prepaid cards where the customer changes into foreign countries beforehand but that does not apply for this new card.)

JohnDo

Gooood afternoon fellow bunqers! 🌻

It's Sunday... so time for some creativity 🖍. I made a simple overview of all the current and old memberships, their key features for easy comparison and all the up- and downgrade options.

Hope it helps 👍🏼

DaveFlash

John Do very lovely overview! good dog! 😂

JeroenE

John Do Mooi overzicht! 1 klein kritiekpuntje, ook bij Pack is de rente verdeeld over het aantal gebruikers (net zoals bij Joint) en ligt dus niet per se vast op 2500 euro.

LH-Black-Wolf

John Do As another suggestion, might be nice to add something to the discontinued list that shows people still on any package in the left table can convert/upgrade to the right table. Now it’s a bit confusing, as if premium, joint, pack and travel card are also discontinued. :P At least, I thought that bit was confusing.

JeroenE

Dennis Voorheen werkte dit wel als je van Premium naar Free ging en dan later weer terug. Maar Free bestaat nu niet meer.

Ik vermoed dat het wel kan, maar dit wordt nergens officieel uitgelegd als mogelijkheid voor zover ik weet (de mogelijkheid bij Free werd wel uitgelegd).

In dit topic: https://together.bunq.com/d/13578-additional-questions-about-bunq-travel-card heeft John Do een mooi overzicht gepost van de verschillen tussen de abonnementsvormen en hoe je kan wisselen.

Maar het opnieuw kunnen activeren van oude bevroren betaalkaarten wordt daar niet genoemd.

In dit topic: https://together.bunq.com/d/13722-travel-card-in-combinatie-met-joint schrijft Ewout een soortgelijke workaround om van Joint eerst naar Premium te gaan om extra betaalkaarten te bestellen en dan weer terug naar Joint zodat hij daar een ander type betaalkaart kan activeren.

Frank-Maroon-Eagle

Tom That’s right, just one minor detail: terminals can’t read a card‘s currency. What they do is they use third party BIN databases and look up the country of issuance and then guess the account currency. Sometimes these databases aren’t correct, outdated, or when a new card hits the market, they aren’t updated yet. And the method fails if a card is issued in the UK for example but is in reality a USD denominated card. And it fails as well for all multi currency cards.

AllanPeterson

Tom Hey Tom!

Unfortunately many restaurants and ATMs for example in India and Poland don't properly confirm DCC... TransferWise has been helpful filing chargebacks for getting the money back, but it's still extra hassle.

I've heard it's not a problem for Visa cards and I was wondering if there would also be a difference in credit vs debit

SimonM

Alain Tom According to this article (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/04/got-a-prepaid-mastercard--you-won-t-be-offered-rip-off-currency-/), it looks as if mastercard has changed their rules:
"From 12 April, businesses and retailers will no longer be allowed to offer customers paying with prepaid multicurrency cards on the Mastercard network the choice between paying in pounds and the local currency."
and
"Mastercard says it's made the new rule because customers who opt to pay with a prepaid travel card have already effectively chosen to convert their pounds to the local currency. This means it doesn't make sense for these customers to be given the choice to convert the transaction back into pounds."
So maybe it would be a possible solution for bunq, instead of issuing a multi-currency prepaid card, to introduce a switch for the users, that says:
"I would like to be charged in local currency" and to send this over the mastercard network, for not to allow DCC?
If the user has already chosen, not to be charged in EUR, but in local currency (using ZeroFX), as stated in the quote above, it would not make sense (and should not be allowed) to offer DCC to the BUNQ user ?
What do you think / others?

JohnDo

Jeroen 🏳️‍🌈 Aangepast :) Thnx!

JohnDo

LvH Something like this? 👆

Tom

Frank Cool thanks for clarifying. I see how that causes an issue with UK issued cards that hold euros.

NiB

Frank terminals can’t read a card‘s currency. What they do is they use third party BIN databases and look up the country of issuance and then guess the account currency

Sorry, but this is wholly incorrect with regards to POS terminals.

While online merchants or their payment processors might resort to BIN databases to suggest a card‘s currency, physical terminals can and do read out a card‘s currency. You can, in fact, do it yourself at home, with a computer and acheap USB smart card reader. And I’ve never ever been offered any other DCC currency than my card’s currency at physical terminals.

Arcardy

Frank
Ah, is it like that? I don't think so.
Because on my bunq mastercard debit there is something called "currency code". Which is set to euro in my case ;)

Frank-Maroon-Eagle

Tom Yep. Fortunately, there are solutions to localize cards. Since about the second half of 2018, Revolut cards use either 8 digit BINs or something Mastercard calls account ranges (I am guessing account ranges). Since then, cards are recognized better based on a customer‘s registered address. It allows also to use the cards for services where the merchant uses the card issuing country for digital rights management (iTunes Store, for example). And it helps to prevent DCC when at home. It’s also one of the options to control availability of services like Apple Pay based on countries.

LH-Black-Wolf

John Do Yep, looks good!