FNB Cashpassport

A

abandonallhope

Expert Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2011
Messages
3,384
Reaction score
7
If you ever thought about getting a FNB cashpassport for a 2 - 3 week overseas holiday, save yourself a decent amount of money and rather use your credit card.

I got one today, and it works out insanely expensive when compared to just using your normal FNB VISA credit card overseas. Just getting the card and buying euros to put on it, worked out to about R1000. Banking charges on your CC for a 3 week stay should not exceed R500.

It also doesn't help that FNB only give vague details when asked about a product like the cash passport. I'm actually quite annoyed with myself for not quickly doing some calculations before I went ahead getting the card.

Also thanks to FNB for not making me aware of all the pros and cons.
 
Also be very aware of the fact that FNB charge you 1.8% on the total R amount you buy and they charge you about 30c more than the current base exchange rate.

I probably was quite stupid to believe otherwise, but I would have appreciated if the consultant I spoke to over the phone made this a little clearer. Seems you literally have to pull the information from them over the phone, otherwise it's just : yes, yes.
 
A friend of mine has used one, which he got through his company, but I would suspect it's the same deal : a certain percentage of the total rand value and a hiked exchange rate.
 
It seems like it's just so much easier these days using your credit card for everything. You'll attract around 2% commission fee on all FX transactions, but that's about it.

Just remember that the exchange rate you see on websites and in the news is the middling rate, which is an average of the buy/bid rate and sell/offer rate. For example, the British Pound to the Rand is currently sitting at around 12.8424. Standard Bank is currently showing a bid rate of 12.6423 and an offer rate of 13.0298. So, you can sell British Pounds to a SB for R12.6423 and buy GBP for R13.0298. I don't believe there's any commission on this, it's just the market value. So that's where that 30c extra comes in.
 
Last edited:
+1 for Denouncer.

I spent 4 months in Egypt, bought the Cash Passport thing and had about $1500 (as a safety) My normal Visa Electron and Visa Credit card worked 100%. I think there was a withdrawal limit of R3000 but didnt phase us as we only withdrew R1500 at a time

IIRC ATM withdrawal fee was about R21 (this was in 2010)
 
Virgin Money Credit Card - withdrawals are [-]R11.50[/-] R12 anywhere in the world...
 
Denouncer said:
It seems like it's just so much easier these days using your credit card for everything. You'll attract around 2% commission fee on all FX transactions, but that's about it.

Just remember that the exchange rate you see on websites and in the news is the middling rate, which is an average of the buy/bid rate and sell/offer rate. For example, the British Pound to the Rand is currently sitting at around 12.8424. Standard Bank is currently showing a bid rate of 12.6423 and an offer rate of 13.0298. So, you can sell British Pounds to a SB for R12.6423 and buy GBP for R13.0298. I don't believe there's any commission on this, it's just the market value. So that's where that 30c extra comes in.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm with you there, but then what rate is your CC charged at if you swipe overseas ? Your Bank's offer rate or the middling rate ?
 
abandonallhope said:
Yeah I'm with you there, but then what rate is your CC charged at if you swipe overseas ? Your Bank's offer rate or the middling rate ?
Click to expand...

I believe most banks these days will offer you the wholesale exchange rate (ie. what you see is what you get), and then just add a commission fee on top of that, but check with your bank first. And you'll be paying the "offer" rate. You'll never get the middling rate, whether you're buying or selling currency, as it's just an average of the two for reporting purposes.

I don't know where FNB shows their full exchange rates, but check out SB's page over here: http://ws9.standardbank.co.za/forexWebsite/

'Bid' is what you'll get if you exchanged foreign currency for Rand.
'Offer' is what you'll pay to get the foreign currency with Rands.

This should be pretty much exact to what the market is doing at the moment, and so most banks should be the same.
 
swiped for 10.50 euro on my fnb CC this morning and it reflected R111 on my statement.

you do the math, it seems to be the middling rate + 2.75% to me ?
 
Last edited:
So is FNB cash passport worth it in 2024 or what's the best option now to exchange ZAR to other currencies?
 
marhsava said:
So there is zero benefits from using the cash passport?
Click to expand...

I’ve never quite understood why anyone would go that far.

Unless you are literally travelling internationally on a monthly basis it may start to make sense.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X