EQ Bank Launches New Prepaid Mastercard

2 Comments
  1. John

    I’d be interested in your opinion about the following terms in the cardholder agreement; what is the “markup” in your opinion? It’s the first time I see it used in an agreement other than to show the bank’s 2.5% markup.
    “Transactions made in a foreign currency will be converted to Canadian dollars using the Mastercard Conversion Rate in effect on the day the Transaction is posted on your Card, and the Mastercard Conversion Rate may include a markup by Mastercard”

    I wonder if Mastercard is changing the way they calculate the currency exchange – for example I have an HSBC Mastercard with no FX fees but for some transactions there is very noticeable difference between the CAD amounts calculated on the Mastercard website and what I see in my statement (calculation made for the date the transaction is posted as per CC agreement)…for instance I see a differences in Mastercard’s favor for GBP and some EUR transactions but not USD or other EUR transactions.

  2. RS

    Hmm. Surprised not to see more scepticism as this is the start to a movie we’ve seen before. Perhaps being tied to a bank with other revenue streams will help this card avoid the same fate, but the track record for gee-whiz-all-conquering pre-paid cards in Canada hasn’t been great.

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