Post Office travel money card (Post Office Travel Insurances)

Member Name: becca140

Product:	Post Office Travel Insurances
Date:	16/07/08 (725 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: stopping identity theft abroad

Disadvantages: rigorous identity check

Just a quick review as a word of warning against the Post Office Travel Money card.

Before I went backpacking in South East Asia I thought it would be a good idea to set up a travel money card. The post office travel money card is basically like a debit card, but the you preload the card with the amount you want to take away with you. There are three options for currency on the card, dollars, euros or sterling. Loading the card is free for dollars and euros but a small charge is placed on loading it with sterling. There are still charges for withdrawing money in foreign countries but not if the currency you are withdrawing is the same as on the card.

Anyway I though this was a good idea, its not tied to bank accounts so if it was stolen fraud and identity theft would be protected against. Also in the event of the card being stolen the post office would refund the balance of the card. The card can be loaded with currency by phone internet or within a post office branch.

All well and good. so i opened a card and loaded it with £100 worth of US dollars. I filled out the relevant forms and gave a photocopy of my passport as ID. I thought that was that, and the card would be opened. I rang the confirmation number given the next day to activate the card.

About a week later I received a letter stating my identity could not be confirmed and I would have to provide copies of three different documents to prove this. The list of documents was extensive I could provide : a passport, driving licence, council tax notifications, gas/electricity bills, bank statements, benefit letters. However being a student I had a big problem with providing these. I gave a copy of my passport but I dont have a driving licence. Nor do I pay council tax or receive benefits. My flatmate deals with all our bills so I couldn't provide these as my name was not on them. My bank statements were registered to my home address so I could not use them either. After several tense phone calls to the help line and despite the very helpful assistant I spoke to, the managers would not budge on the identity check. I changed my bank addresses to my flat address and sent them confirmation of this, however they said it did not look official enough so would not work. I then sent them copies of my student loan documents, again this was not official enough. After spending a day and a great deal of money faxing over different documents , nothing would work. I had to cancel the card.

The next problem was that there was £100 on the card which the post office could not give back to me. After much discussion on the phone I managed to get them to keep the card activated for 4 weeks so I could spend the money from it while I was away.

Despite the problems I have to say the person on the help line was extremely helpful and calm while I was panicking.

The card is a good idea if you can get past the identity check, so not a good idea for anyone without a fixed address.

Summary: good idea, bad in practice