For the travel junkies out there, the challenge before you fly to another country for a short vacation or business trip is always the currency that you need in the country of destination you are going to. You need to scout for the best FOREX in and exchange your current money so that you have something to spend later, at least to pay for the taxi from the airport to your hotel.
EastWest Bank will solve one of your problems during travel as they recently introduced Travel Money. It is the first multi-currency prepaid card in the South East Asian region.
Travel Money is powered by VISA and can carry up to six (6) different foreign currencies to include US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Australian Dollar, HongKong Dollar and Japanese Yen.
Unlike your regular EastWest ATM card, Travel Money is like your re-loadable MTR card. Travelers can withdraw cash in local currencies from VISA’s 2 million ATM worldwide, plus you can make purchase to any merchants that accepts VISA anywhere.
Travel Money by EastWest Bank has a security feature too, that in case you lost your card or it gets stolen, Travel Money comes with a companion card which can be used as an emergency card to access the local funds. EastWest Bank has created a dedicated website to monitor and track load balances, transaction details, change of PIN, locking and unlocking of card. Registered customers can log in to www.travelmoney.eastwestbanker.com
Customers can still withdraw local currencies in countries which are not yet covered by the Travel Money, but you get a fee for this. Fees varies from country to county.
Travel Money is now available in all EastWest Bank branch stores.
I have no EastWest Bank account, can I still avail of the Travel Money?
Good news! You don’t have to open an account to avail of the travel money. It is a prepaid card which is reloadable from the bank. Individual does not need to open foreign currency account too.
How much is the EastWest Travel Money?
You have to pay P500 card application, and a loading fee of USD5. But it currently waived from October until December 31, 2013.
