MasterCard’s multi-currency Cash Passport, a prepaid chip and pin-protected travel card, is now available from 54 American Express Foreign Exchange bureaux throughout South Africa.
The card can be preloaded with up to four currencies at once – U.S. Dollars, Pound Sterling, Australian Dollars and Euros – enabling travellers to pay for goods and services at millions of merchant locations and withdraw cash from ATMs wherever MasterCard products are accepted.
Additional security benefits include emergency cash disbursements and a free replacement card if it is lost or stolen. Global assistance is available 24/7 and can be accessed toll-free in 50 countries. The card’s embedded chip technology offers increased protection against counterfeiting and fraud.
Preloading specific currency amounts onto the Cash Passport prior to travelling reduces currency conversion charges as cardholders are able to lock in the exchange rates for each currency.
The Cash Passport will match the transaction currency with the appropriate currency loaded onto the card and even convert the transaction amount into another available currency loaded on the card when required.
A standard card fee is payable when purchasing the Cash Passport for the first time, and then amounts from $100 to $60,000 or the alternative currency equivalents, can be loaded and reloaded at will.