Travel has been hit with unprecedented disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates all companies registered with Open Banking.
Many are trying to claim compensation for Easter and summer holiday arrangements which have had to be cancelled. For those who would like to reschedule or plan ahead, it’s uncertain what the landscape will look like in the months to come.
We’ve put together some points which could help minimise any downsides and risks.
Currensea travel debit card
With the economic implications of the virus taking hold, no one knows what the future holds for travel. However, a number of airlines, travel agents and hoteliers are offering significant discounts for future bookings. To take advantage of these, it pays to ensure you’re well protected.
While media coverage tends to focus on travel insurance and “section 75” credit card guarantees, what is less well-known is that debit cards also offer protection.
The Currensea travel debit card gives peace of mind to our customers by providing purchase protection based on the Mastercard chargeback scheme. It ensures our customers get refunds in case of bankruptcies, flight cancellations and hotel closures.
If you book your holiday through a third-party agent, pay by debit card or even better a travel debit card where possible. If you book your holiday with a credit card via a third party and the hotel goes bankrupt, the Section 75 protection provided by your credit card will NOT pay out. By contrast, the debit card/travel debit card chargeback scheme will cover you.
Credit cards will repay only if the agent/third party itself went bankrupt, not the final service provider. Something to consider when booking your next holiday.
Pre-paying for holiday deals may be tempting, given the frequent discounts. However, you need to be particularly careful booking these at the moment. Paying by a card will help protect against many scenarios, but you also need to check your insurance small print to cover any wider cancellations (see below the travel insurance section).
If you’re protected, make sure you don’t get hit by foreign exchange rate fees. Paying in pounds nearly always means that you’ve already been charged a high FX rate somewhere else in the chain. So wherever you can, it’s a good idea to pay for your holiday deal in the local currency at the time of booking. Using a Currensea travel debit card you’ll get the debit card protection and you’ll also save the 3.5% in fees charged by the average high street bank.
For example, if you use the hotel aggregators to book a hotel deal in Spain, use your Currensea travel debit card and pay in Euros. You’ll pay what you see on the day and won’t pay any bank charges.
Many travellers could find themselves without insurance, due to the confusing small print of their policies. We’ve done some research and put together a few travel insurance tips that you may find helpful.
The FCO (Foreign Commonwealth Office), WHO (World Health Organization) or local authorities haven’t issued any advice before you bought your policy. For many insurers, this might have had to include an optional extension which covers events such as a pandemic or other natural disasters – check the small print!
The FCO has now, since buying your policy, advised against all or all but essential travel.
When you bought your policy with the optional extension, there wasn’t a publicly known outbreak or quarantine in the resort you’re travelling to.
In these unprecedented conditions, we are also facing many cases of hotels, travel companies and airlines going out of business. Some premium travel insurance policies may protect you in these cases under the terms ‘end supplier failure’ or ‘scheduled airline failure cover’. You’ll need to check carefully for these when you purchase your travel policy.
We hope these tips help. In the meantime, do ensure you have your Currensea travel debit card to hand to get the best live interbank exchange rates both for booking your next holiday and ultimately when we all get to travel again!
Currensea Limited is registered in England and Wales (No. 11413946), authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (Reference No. 843507) and is a Principal Member of Mastercard. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (Registration No. ZA524676).
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