Travelex, the world’s largest foreign exchange specialist, has launched a prepaid card for the UK travel market.

The Travelex Cash Passport is a cross between a debit card and a travellers cheque and is aimed at tourists, backpackers and business travellers who are looking for a flexible and secure means of carrying and managing money abroad. It can be loaded with foreign currency in the UK and used abroad at ATM machines and point of sale like a debit card.

Cash Passport is Visa electron branded and can be used at over a million ATM machines and in more than 24 million merchants worldwide. It is available nationwide from Travelex shops at all major airports and at all branches of Going Places and Co-op Travel.

The card can be loaded and reloaded with between £100 and £5,000 and is available in Sterling, Euros or US Dollars. Loading in Euros or Dollars fixes the exchange rate at the point of purchase which means travellers are not then vulnerable to unreliable exchange rates while abroad. In addition, the Cash Passport will be available online in time for the 2007 peak travel season, meaning they can be loaded at the Travelex Price Promise rate, which offers the best rate of exchange anywhere in the UK, guaranteed or Travelex will refund the difference. Unlike other prepaid cards there is no charge for obtaining the card and no charge for loading. The only fee charged is for ATM withdrawals.

As the card is not linked to a bank account there is no danger of overspending and the same set of funds can be accessed by more than one card. This means that two people travelling together can carry separate cards, or one can be kept in the hotel safe so that if the first is lost or stolen, it can be cancelled and the second can be used immediately in its place. Also, because the cards do not carry a name they can not be used for identity fraud. Even better the second card is free.

Cash Passport is PIN protected, it is activated when purchased and may be used immediately. Those wishing to check the balance of the account or change the PIN can do so through a dedicated secure website or by telephone. A reverse charge 24 hour helpline is available for all those using the product and every customer is entitled to free emergency travel assistance wherever they are in the world.

Paddy Earnshaw, Head of Global Marketing at Travelex commented: “This is the latest innovation in travel money and we have developed our card to be the most competitive in the market. Cash Passport offers all of the security of traveller’s cheques with the convenience of plastic. It is ideal for all sorts of travellers, from families or young people on a budget to backpackers that need a safe and simple way of carrying their money.”

Travelex Cash Passport is already in use in more than twenty countries around the world, including North America, Australia and South Africa, with huge success.

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About Travelex:

Travelex is the world's largest foreign exchange specialist with over 700 retail branches and 16,000 business customers. There are retail branches at key airport, seaport and rail locations, in addition to tourist and business centres around the world. Over 40% of travellers and 1.5 billion passengers pass through airports at which the business operates including the major gateways at London, New York, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Sydney.

Travelex is also the world's largest non-bank provider of international payment services, providing integrated payment solutions for businesses. The group is also one of the world's leading providers of outsourced travel money to banks, travel agencies and other financial institutions and one of the world's oldest issuers of Travellers Cheques.