Virgin Australia to Launch Global Wallet Card

20th Jul 2013

Virgin Australia continues to improve its product offering as it is about to launch soon its Global Wallet, a prepaid money card tailored for travelers. Aside from the usual function of a wallet, the card will also function as a Velocity Frequent Flyer card.

The new card will bring more good news to the holders as it will earn point for every dollar spent either in Australia or overseas. Every A$2 will earn one point for domestic shopping and the same single point for every A$1 spent outside Australia.

The Global Wallet is a contactless card wherein the holder will only need to wave or hold the card near a reader to make transactions. Aside from Australian dollar, the wallet supports nine other major currencies such as New Zealand, US, Canadian, Hong Kong and Singaporean dollars; British pounds; Euro, Japanese Yen and Thai Baht.

The Aussie wallet feature of the card doesn't only enable the holder to use the card for shopping at home but it also serves as a 'master account', where funds can be deposited as credit when using electronic bill payment methods such as BPAY.

A customer can convert his funds to whatever currency he wants to keep in his Global Wallet by logging in to the airline's Global Wallet account center. Of course, the prevailing exchange rate of the two currencies during the conversion will still apply.

The card holder, however, can't keep all the currencies active in his card wallet. He can only keep a maximum of 5 currencies active at any given moment in which the Aussie dollar is a default currency and should remain active at any given moment.

If the holder wants to withdraw funds from an ATM while on a trip overseas, corresponding fees will be deducted from his account. An ATM operator from the host country may also charge service fees.

If the holder desires to get another card, he will have to shell out a A$10. However, a virtual card can be issued at no cost if so desired. The virtual card will contain a unique number for use when shopping online or via phone or mail order.

Global Wallet is Virgin Australia's answer to Qantas Cash card.