Velocity Global Wallet to change earn rate and reduce fees

Velocity Global Wallet has made some changes to their prepaid travel card, with earn rates and fees affected, which will go live 4 May 2020.

Velocity Global Wallet Visa is Velocity’s prepaid travel card that allows holders to load multiple currencies onto the card and make purchases at any worldwide location that accepts Visa. Your purchases will be transacted in the local currency subject to you having that currency loaded onto your card

The changes include:

• Fees paid when using the Velocity Global Wallet card are reduced, including removing the 2.25% currency conversion fee  (foreign exchange rates apply), supplementary card issue fee, and the $1.95 ATM transaction fee
• Earn rate from Domestic spend will reduce to 1 Velocity Point for every $4 spent on qualifying purchases, down from 1 Velocity Point for every $3
• No more ATM transaction fees when withdrawing cash in Australia and overseas.
• The Inactivity Fee will change to 0.5% of the Available Balance, with a minimum of $1 for accounts that have been inactive for 12 months.

Note that the following will NOT be changing:

• the Overseas earn rate remains the same, 2 Velocity Points for every $1 spent, on qualifying purchases
• BPAY will still be FREE when you load into a Foreign Currency Wallet and will have a fee of 0.5% of Funds Credited when you load into your Australian Wallet, with a minimum of AU$1 per Load

Below is the original Velocity Global Wallet guide. We have currently kept the old rates below so you can clearly see the changes that have been made.

While Velocity Global Wallet’s direct competitor is Qantas Travel Money, given both these cards allow the earning of frequent flyer points on purchases, the card also goes head-to-head with other non-points-earning travel cards in the market, including the NAB Traveller Card.

Note: Point Hacks do not earn commission for this card.

Unlike Qantas Travel Money, Velocity Global Wallet does not come standard with your Velocity card, and you will need to opt in to have a Velocity Global Wallet version of the Velocity membership card sent out to you.

Fee Schedule

The fee schedule for the Velocity Global Wallet card is summarised below.

In addition to the changes above, transactions at the ATO and other national or local Australian tax authorities will no longer earn points, again effective immediately for new cardholders and starting 1 October for existing cardholders:

“Qualifying Purchases exclude ATM withdrawals, quasi cash transactions (e.g., money orders, travellers’ cheques and foreign currencies in cash), payments made to the Australian Taxation Office or other national or local Australian tax authorities, fees and charges, account adjustments, reversed transactions, gambling transactions and business transactions.”

Source: Velocity Global Wallet Product Update

All information in this guide are now updated to reflect the changes.

Features of Velocity Global Wallet

Card Details

As a result of the changes, the overseas earn rate is now increased to 2 Velocity points per $1 AUD spent overseas and decreased to 0.33 Velocity points per $1 AUD spent in Australia.

The card allows you to load 11 currencies, which are:

• Australian Dollar
• Canadian Dollar
• British Proud
• Euro
• Hong Kong Dollar
• Japanese Yen
• New Zealand Dollar
• Singapore Dollar
• South African Rand
• Thai Baht
• US Dollar

These currencies can be converted on the go, meaning that you can lock in your exchange rates using your computer or via the app at any time. Loading funds onto the card can be done through a bank transfer or by using BPAY. The card remains separate to your bank account, however, so if you do lose your card, nobody would be able to access any of your bank information.

Velocity Global Wallet now charges a flat ATM fee of $1.95 for withdrawals made in Australia and overseas.

An annoying feature of the card, however, is a $1.95 inactivity fee charged monthly after 12 months of inactivity.

The following transactions won’t earn any Velocity Points:

• ATM withdrawals and quasi-cash transactions
• Payments made to the Australian Taxation Office or similar government authorities
• Fees and charges
• Account adjustments and reversed transactions
• Gambling transactions and business transactions.

How does the Velocity Global Wallet Visa Travel card work?

As a pre-paid debit card, you load money onto it before travel, which can remain in Australian dollars or converted to any of the ten supported foreign currencies.

Your stored foreign currencies can be converted on the go, meaning that you load your AUD wallet now and exchange it to other currencies whenever it suits you, via the app or website.

The Velocity Global Wallet funds remain separate to your bank account, so if you do lose your card, nobody would be able to access any of your other bank funds.

Loading funds onto the card can be done through a bank transfer or by using BPAY. The bank transfer method is fee-free for both AUD and foreign currencies.

If you are planning to go somewhere which isn’t one of the ten supported currencies (e.g. Malaysia), then it is best to load your funds into Australian dollars.

Spending is easy – just use the card at the checkout or ATM as you normally would in Australia. It works wherever Visa is accepted, which is practically everywhere cards are accepted.

Whenever a transaction is made that isn’t a supported currency, the funds will be converted out of other currencies in an order of your choice.

For example, let’s say you have 20 AUD and 10 Euros on your card at the end of a European holiday. While stopping over in Malaysia on the way home, you buy some duty-free for 90 MYR (about AUD $30).

Since Malaysian Ringgit isn’t a supported currency, here is what could happen (numbers have been rounded for clarity):

• 20 AUD is converted to ~59 MYR (including 2.25% exchange fee)
• 7 EUR is converted to ~31 MYR (including 2.25% exchange fee)

After the transaction, you would be left with 0 AUD and 3 Euros remaining.

For currencies that are supported directly with Velocity Global Wallet, the transaction will be settled in the chosen currency with no further fees, unless you do not have enough funds. In that case, money from other currencies would be converted with the 2.25% fee.

Velocity Global Wallet charges a flat ATM fee of AUD $1.95 for withdrawals made in Australia and overseas. If the withdrawal is made in a supported currency, then no other fees apply. Otherwise, the ‘drawdown’ will occur again with a 2.25% conversion fee for each exchange.

An annoying feature of the card, however, is a $1.95 inactivity fee charged monthly after 12 months of inactivity. Be sure to remove all your funds from the card if you won’t be using it for a while.

The Velocity Global Wallet funds remain separate to your bank account, so if you do lose your card, nobody would be able to access any of your other bank funds.

How to get a Velocity Global Wallet Travel Card?

Check the back of your Velocity card in case you previously opted-in to Global Wallet but never got around to activating it. Then, all you have to do is activate it via the Global Wallet website.

Otherwise, log in to your Velocity account, go to ‘My Benefits’ and look under ‘Membership Card with Global Wallet functionality’ to opt-in to it.

Once you receive your card, head to the Velocity Global Wallet homepage and active or sign-up there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summing up

Velocity Global Wallet is definitely a competitive card in the prepaid travel market, and one of only two cards that allow for frequent flyer earn per spend on the card.

For those looking to accrue Velocity points, then this is a decent card for you, given that the earn rate is similar to many Visa credit cards in the market.