STA Travel MasterCard – facts and figures
By MoneyHighStreet Staff 8 Comments
One of the many trusted issuers of prepaid currency cards is the STA travel money card. Prepaid currency cards have become useful companions for travellers as they allow you to carry money on your travels without worrying about security, convenience or exchanging currency.
Prepaid currency cards can be used like cash to pay on your travels, and many high street banks and specialist providers like CaxtonFX and FairFX. We now continue our currency card review with a focus on the STA travel money card.
Who are STA Travel MasterCard?
The STA Travel cash card is issued by the STA Travel, the world’s largest travel organisation for students and young people. You can use it in any shops in the world that accepts MasterCard payments.
It is not a credit card so you can spend only the amount loaded in your card.
An introduction to the STA Travel MasterCard
You can use the STA Travel MasterCard like cash, pay any money earned on your travels into the account, and they can even be topped up by someone in the UK.
Benefits of the STA Travel MasterCard
- Facility to hold money off the card in your eccount and transfer over when required
- Instantly block and unblock your card as and when you need to for extra security control
- No more travellers cheques or the need to exchange currency
- Manage your money and avoid getting into debt
- Use worldwide, anywhere you see the MasterCard acceptance mark – over 28 million locations including 1.5 million ATM’s
- Easy to activate – No credit checks are carried out, simply provide either a copy of passport or 2 alternative forms of ID
- The card can be topped up: With cash at over 19,500 Paypoint locations or 14,500 Post Office branches.
- Online by credit/ debit card or by bank transfer – parents or friends can also top-up your card in this way if you run out of money
- Wages or salaries can be received on the card with ease
- Share your money with friends and family by adding them as an authorised user.
- Your money can be managed 24 hours a day online, by text or via automated telephone service
How much does the STA Travel MasterCard cost?
Getting a STA Travel MasterCard costs £19.95 and £20 if purchased at PayPoint branches. Add £10 cashback to get you started. The second card is free but succeeding cards will cost £4.99.
Initial minimum load is £10, maximum amount per load is £1,500; and maximum card balance £5,000.
You can load money by bank transfer (free) or online by using your credit/debit card (3% fee).
Withdrawal fee is £1.50 in the UK and £2.25 abroad.
How can I get the STA Travel MasterCard?
You can buy the STA Travel MasterCard three ways. Online, by logging on to the company’s website; visiting any STA branch nationwide; and by calling 0845 872 0812.
MoneyHighStreet.com special offer
You can get a FREE FairFX currency card here – just sign up and load €10 and get the card free – it usually costs £9.95.
Don’t you mean MAXIMUM amount per load is £1,500?
Thanks, Peter.
You are correct and we have have updated the article to say “maximum load is £1,500.”
Anyone else had trouble topping up their STA cash card?
I’ve just got myself an STA cash card and they seem to have very specific ways of topping up even though they make it seem very easy. I’ve added two debit cards to my account to top up from and so far, every time I’ve tried to do so, it tells me that this service has been disabled on my account and I should contact customer care. They in turn, do not seem to “care” and tell me they don’t see what the problem is. I try again to avail. At the moment it seems the only way you can top up for sure with no fees is through bank transfer and even then in a specific way, with specific details which are laid out on your account section on the website.
Varied worth as far as I can see so far…
As I’m going travelling this summer, I thought the STA cash card would be ideal. I received mine at the end of March and after activating it and receiving my PIN, I started to transfer any spare money onto the cash card to save for spending money during my trip. The possibility to manage the account online is really convenient. However, when I went to withdraw some money from the card last week, it didn’t work. i didn’t think much about it but when I went to check my account online later that day, it said the account has been deactivated. I have since then called customer service but all I ever get is that this issue has been passed on to the compliance team and I need to wait for them to get back to me….and I am still waiting now…. 4 days later! Therefore, I would recommend to spread your money out onto other cards as well and not to rely solely on the STA cash card as it can take a while if problems do occur.
I have just got back from traveling and reviewed my statement. The exchange rate they provide is shocking! I am now trying to obtain the remainder of my money and have been told that i will be charged £10 to close account and between 50p to £1.50 to get the money from cashpoint which ofcourse only give you tens and twentys therefore i wil not be able to collect all my money.
There are far better cards to use and i wish i had researched more to find a better one. It is very unclear what there rates are when you purchase this card, and i found it very difficult to top up from my bank account to the sta card and had to use the top up at the post office to do it, where you can only do £250 at a time.
I honestly cannot recommend this card and strongly advise you to look into other cards, my money didn’t go as far as i had hoped and on my return to England i found out why, because the exchange rate was so terrible, worse than my uk bank debit card!
Hi,
I just bought one, before reading many many bad reviews. Out of interest, what is the exchange rate for STA, do you know?
Thanks, Katie
Yes that £10 closure fee is a bit sneaky but they do give you £10 on the card when you first open it. Personally I didn’t have any problems using the card and used it all over SE Asia. It is a bit of a faff to transfer money and there ARE specific instructions for doing so which you’ll find on your account online (Top Up page then View Bank Transfer Details). I’ve read a lot from people who struggled/ couldn’t transfer money and it turned out they were using the wrong instructions (i.e. it’s NOT the numbers on the front of your card).
Besides that, its Mastercard/ banks who set all the exchange details and like every other card of its nature that’s available, there are going to be times when its the more/ less expensive option.