Originally Posted by
Raffles
Ah ... didn't spot that you can't hold £ on the card. You need to be able to get cash out cheaply
Well, in section 9 of the t&c's it talks about cancelling the card for a cash-out charge of €7.50. It's not clear which currency the cheque would be in, nor what rate they would use if they issued the cheque in GBP.
http://www.tescofinance.com/personal...card/terms.jsp
Given that there's a maximum yearly total of €7500, and a maximum balance of €3000, the options are limited.
By my reckoning, you could load the card with €3000, putting ~£2307 on your Tesco Visa and earning 1384 BA miles in the process. Cash it out immediately for a charge of €7.50 (~£6).
The fact that you can't rinse and repeat puts the dampner on it really (although you can hold two cards one € and one $). I'm sure there are easier ways to earn a couple of thousand miles.
Originally Posted by
Raffles
there is no point using the card to make purchases, because you might as well have used your BMI / BA card in the first place!
If the FX rate is decent (and buying EUR at 1.3 is pretty stonkingly good), it would make it a good way to get miles on foreign purchases for those who are currently using the Nationwide debit card.
Just never use it at an ATM (€3) or in the UK (2.75%). And the usual caveats about prepaid cards apply: Are you happy to fix your FX rate now? How much interest are you missing out on while your money's sitting on the card?