OneSmart BNZ morphs into OneSmart Travelex

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antoniosk

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#205313 8-Nov-2016 16:35

OK, got the email this afternoon from AirNZ:

"We've recently welcomed a number of new partners into the Airpoints™ programme, as well as a new partner to operate OneSmart™. This means we're issuing you with a new Airpoints card, which will also be your new OneSmart card. It should be in your letterbox in the next couple of weeks. This new card replaces your existing card and you'll need to transfer all of your existing OneSmart funds across to your new card, so you can keep spending overseas, just as you do now.

Airpoints card
Everything you need to know about the new OneSmart product is outlined in the documents below. Please read these and keep them for future reference.

Our records show that you have funds on your existing OneSmart card. You will have until 31 January 2017 to transfer all of your existing OneSmart funds across to your new card in the same currency. We will be closing your existing OneSmart card on 1 February 2017. This is in-line with your current OneSmart Account Terms and Conditions.

Keep an eye out for your new card and we'll email you soon after you receive it with all the information you need to transfer your funds and continue earning Airpoints Dollars next time you're overseas."

They are moving to using the Travelex cash passport product, which has been around for a few years but is also a standalone product: it appears none of the banks now offer a backed card, preferring to outsource and brand to this third party.

A few years ago, I had NB (then ANZ) travel cards which were eventually closed.... and migration offered to Travelex. I declined and used OneSmart, because the fees were cheaper, and as many folks here know they allowed address not verified payments (useful for places like Amazon etc).

I don't want to use travelex, but in looking around there seems to be no alternative offered in NZ. I don't know what Westpac's product is, but I'm surprised there is a lock on this market too.

What do people think?

________

Antoniosk

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#1672472 17-Nov-2016 02:09

I just received my new card today and have activated it online. I've compared the exchange rates offered with other cards and OneSmart appears to offer the worst rates. Alternatively, have a look at Loaded for Travel offered by NZ Post.

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MickeyD

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#1672482 17-Nov-2016 06:12

You're lucky to be able to activate it online.

Their date validation only works if you're born before the 13th of the month.

I found the card itself quite useful when overseas, so if I can get over myself being angry at the poor testing of their signup validation I'll phone them and give it another try one day.

mentalinc

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#1672485 17-Nov-2016 07:14

Disappointing its now just a re branded travelex card (https://www.travelex.co.nz/prepa...).

The $1 monthly fee needs to go!!!!

The travellex card so long as it's used once per year is free in comparison

https://www.travelex.co.nz/med...

Monthly inactivity fee ($4 per month)

Charged at the start of each month if you have not made any transactions in the previous 12 months Unless your Multi-currency Cash Passport is used again, or reloaded, this fee applies each month until the Multi-currency Cash Passport is closed or the remaining balance is less than the inactivity fee

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wazzageek

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#1672524 17-Nov-2016 08:51

MickeyD: You're lucky to be able to activate it online.

Their date validation only works if you're born before the 13th of the month.

I found the card itself quite useful when overseas, so if I can get over myself being angry at the poor testing of their signup validation I'll phone them and give it another try one day.

I tried to activate last night, and it just didn't get past the "Verifying" stage. Calling the 24/7 number indicated very high call loads (odd at 11pm at night, I gave up in the end)

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to bother with continuing - the experience thus far is not great.

antoniosk

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#1672530 17-Nov-2016 08:58

I did a quick check with my normal credit card for purchases.

For $100NZ I got $71.96 on Westpac, and $68 on onesmart/cashpassport. The only benefits is the ability to draw cash from an ATM, which is kinda useful, and that OneSmart allowed address not verified transactions for places like Amazon etc.

Ah well, times change, but travelex isn't getting my business, and nor will AirNZ.

Of all the cash passports I've seen, the Qantas branded version has the best fees but the same horrendous conversion: https://www.qantascash.co.nz/rates-fees/fees-charges/

________

Antoniosk

asmcar

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#1672563 17-Nov-2016 09:31

Received my new card yesterday - previously have used OneSmart when travelling in countries without Westpac Global Alliance ATM's (Fee free ATMS in a number of countries if you're a Westpac Customer). I opened a Westpac fee free account purely for travel purposes, probably saved $40-50 in ATM fees last trip.

One smart is still reasonable value if you stick to the three fee free withdrawals on a trip. On a trip to Asia, UK & Europe earlier this year I made sure to save withdrawals for India and Thailand then used Westpac card in UK, France, Italy and Germany where I could use the ATM's without the fee from Westpac.

littleheaven

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#1672583 17-Nov-2016 10:06

I got my new card this week and swapped my meagre balances over. I tend to use it once a year for travel when visiting the GC, but it also comes in handy because some overseas services don't recognise it as a New Zealand card. Unfortunately Hulu won't accept the card number. Looks like I'm back to buying gift cards for that. But my US iTunes account still took it happily.

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sbiddle

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#1672637 17-Nov-2016 11:31

antoniosk:

I did a quick check with my normal credit card for purchases.

For $100NZ I got $71.96 on Westpac, and $68 on onesmart/cashpassport. The only benefits is the ability to draw cash from an ATM, which is kinda useful, and that OneSmart allowed address not verified transactions for places like Amazon etc.

Ah well, times change, but travelex isn't getting my business, and nor will AirNZ.

Of all the cash passports I've seen, the Qantas branded version has the best fees but the same horrendous conversion: https://www.qantascash.co.nz/rates-fees/fees-charges/

How did you core these? Did you remember most credit cards incur a 2.5% conversion fee?

The Air NZ Onesmart rate is about 1.5% worse than Travelex themselves offer on their own branded card. Most banks offering the branded Travelex card are around .5% lower than the Travelex branded card.

This .5% is the commission for the bank or Air NZ and in the case of Onesmart the extra 1% is so they can give this back to you in APD. You're really just paying for these yourself unlike a regular credit card where APD is funded by interchange.

sbiddle

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#1672638 17-Nov-2016 11:31

antoniosk:

I did a quick check with my normal credit card for purchases.

For $100NZ I got $71.96 on Westpac, and $68 on onesmart/cashpassport. The only benefits is the ability to draw cash from an ATM, which is kinda useful, and that OneSmart allowed address not verified transactions for places like Amazon etc.

Ah well, times change, but travelex isn't getting my business, and nor will AirNZ.

Of all the cash passports I've seen, the Qantas branded version has the best fees but the same horrendous conversion: https://www.qantascash.co.nz/rates-fees/fees-charges/

How did you calculate these? Did you remember most credit cards incur a 2.5% conversion fee?

antoniosk

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#1672654 17-Nov-2016 11:42

cashpassport = https://www.cashpassport.co.nz/features/check-exchange-rates/?currency=USD

Westpac = https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html as advised by Westpac NZ

OneSmart I use the portal, which produces identical results as cashpassport above

I forgot that you get APD with OneSmart, but the earn is pretty poor if you don't put all your transactions through it. And AirNZ costs so much more than everyone else...

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#1672830 17-Nov-2016 14:21

Got my card. Went to activate it... Entered name, address, mobile phone number and password. All accepted but...

Password wouldn't let login. Reset it via login page, got a temporary password, entered the same password as before, didn't work. Reset again but entered a shorter password. This time it worked.

They accept passwords of any length but truncate it causing this kind of problems - besides being unsafe and dumb.

Then I noticed my phone number was not in my profile. I tried to enter it but got an error message saying "Sorry, an error has occurred". That's it. I was just adding my phone number.

Also home phone number is required. How dumb is that?

freitasm

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#1672893 17-Nov-2016 15:17

Well, since the new OneSmart can't be used to pay for Hulu anymore I just cashed out and cleaned the account.

dclegg

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#1672903 17-Nov-2016 15:33

freitasm:

Well, since the new OneSmart can't be used to pay for Hulu anymore I just cashed out and cleaned the account.

I couldn't use my old OneSmart with Hulu either, when I tried to use it a few months ago. So now I have to get our Hulu sub via the iTunes store. Here's hoping there's no issues with that accepting the new OneSmart card.

littleheaven

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#1672956 17-Nov-2016 16:58

I heard a rumour that iTunes is no longer accepting new Hulu subscriptions. But having said that, when I loaded my new OneSmart to US iTunes it accepted it just fine.

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bj99

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#1673032 17-Nov-2016 18:11

littleheaven:

loaded my new OneSmart to US iTunes it accepted it just fine.

Did you do anything special to get it accepted? Did you need to change your default currency to USD?

Mine was declined.

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