New options for foreign currency

A soaring dollar often sees travellers stocking up on travellers' cheques, but now Aussies have another way to stash their foreign cash. American Express is the latest entrant to the pre-paid travel card market. It joins ANZ, Commonwealth and Travelex.

According to AMEX, Australians are locking in record high exchange rates by buying foreign cash or prepaid currency products - even if they don't intend to travel overseas any time soon.

Travel cards allow you to load them with foreign currency which you can then access through ATMs and EFTPOS outlets or use to pay for purchases.

While all four travel cards essentially perform the same function - allowing consumers to lock in an exchange rate so they don't have to worry about exchange rate volatility - they do differ in fees and features.

Make sure you read the fine print on ATM fees, emergency card replacement costs and any fees to do with reloading the card, not using the card or getting a balance update. Check what exchange rate you are getting as there can be surprisingly large variations.

AMEX'S GlobalTravel Card costs $15 to buy and allows you to load up to three different currencies (USD, EUR, GBP). Commonwealth's Travel Money Card offers up to nine currencies if you include the Aussie and New Zealand dollar.

A unique built-in feature of the AMEX card is Global Assist which entitles the card holder to 24/7 emergency assistance.

The GlobalTravel card can be found at American Express Foreign Exchange outlets and Australia Post. You can reload the card from where you bought it or via BPay. A maximum $10 reload fees applies. The other three cards charge by percentage - 1 percent on the amount reloaded for both the Commonwealth and Travelex, ANZ charges 1.1 percent.

MONEY VERDICT

Good! What Money likes about this card is that it ticks all the right boxes. Lose the card and AMEX will organise to have it replaced with access to emergency funds at no additional cost.

Best of all, funds never expire and there are no monthly inactivity fees unlike the other travel cards where funds are generally forfeited when the card expires.

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