A closer look at the BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard

You can use the BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard® to spend money in Canada or further afield. However, you’ll need to pay a few fees for using your card – and it’s important to understand these costs before you start spending.

We’ve put together a guide to the BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard, including key features, fees, exchange rates and how to replace your card if you lose it.

We’ll also take a look at the Wise card, your flexible international alternative!

The guide at a glance
BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard Overview Key Features Fees Exchange rates How to replace a lost or stolen BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard The Wise Card - spend like a local wherever you go

BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard Overview

The BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard is designed to help you spend money abroad. You can load funds onto your card – and you can use your card as a standard Mastercard credit card, too.

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know.

Key Features

The BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard is a convenient option if you regularly travel to the US for work or you’re heading overseas on vacation.

It’s safer than cash, and you can easily load funds to your card through online banking or via the BMO mobile app.¹

Use your BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard to:

• load up to 10,000 CAD from your other BMO accounts
• load up to 1000 CAD from accounts with different banks²
• spend money at over 30 million locations across the world
• access extended warranty and purchase protection
• take out cash from a million ATMs worldwide
• run a BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard credit check

You won’t pay an interest rate for purchases or cash advances with your BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard – and you can use the BMO app to easily track your spending.

Mastercard uses a few security features to keep your money safe while you travel, including:

• protection if you lose money due to fraudulent card activity
• advanced security and identity checks when you spend money online
• BMO Alerts® to help you spot suspicious transactions¹

Fees

There are a few costs associated with the BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard. It’s important to think about these costs before spending money abroad.

Let’s take a look at some BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard fees.

Fee	Cost	Details
Annual fee	6.95 CAD³	You’ll pay your annual fee in your 1st monthly statement – and you’ll pay the same fee every year on the anniversary of your account
Card balance refund processing fees (by direct deposit)	3 CAD³	You’ll pay this fee on the day your transaction takes place
Card balance refund processing fees (by cheque)	10 CAD³	You’ll pay this fee on the day your transaction takes place
Inactivity fee	5 CAD per month³	You’ll pay an inactivity fee until you reach a zero balance or request a refund from BMO.

Your BMO Prepaid Travel card expires after 3 years, and it’s not automatically renewed. If you don’t apply for another card, you’ll need to request a refund of any remaining funds before your card expires to avoid paying a monthly inactive fee.

You can also use your travel card to take money out from ATMs, but you may pay a fee for this service, as cash advance fees apply to your BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard.⁴ It’s important to look into these charges before making ATM withdrawals abroad.

Exchange rates

It’s also important to think about how much you’ll pay for currency conversion with the BMO Prepaid Travel Card, particularly if you’re loading multiple currencies.

When converting foreign currency transactions into CAD, Mastercard uses the current exchange rate plus 2.5% of the transaction³. This is a currency exchange markup – and it means you’ll end up paying a significant margin when using your card in different currencies, online or in person.

You may not know the exact Mastercard International exchange rate at the time you make your transaction. This can make it hard to predict exactly how much you’ll pay for using your BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard.³

How to replace a lost or stolen BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard

If you lose your BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard, don’t worry! You can easily lock your card if you think you’ll find it. This means no one else can use your card, but you can easily unlock it again once you find it.

You can lock your card through online banking. Go to “My Accounts” and select the card you want to lock. Select “Manage card” and then “Lock this card”. You can go back into your account to unlock it at any time.

If you don’t think your card will turn up – or you suspect it has been stolen – you’ll need to replace your prepaid BMO Travel Mastercard. Follow our step-by-step guide to ordering a new card via online banking.

Step 1. Sign into your BMO online banking account

Step 2. Go to “My Accounts” and select your card

Step 3. Select “Report a Lost or Stolen Card”

Step 4. Follow any prompts from BMO to order your new travel Mastercard

You can also complete these steps via mobile banking – and you can track the progress of your new card from the app, too.⁵

If you prefer to speak to someone over the phone about your stolen or lost card, you can contact BMO for more information:

Canada and US: 1-800-361-3661

Outside North America: 1-514-877-0330¹

The Wise Card - spend like a local wherever you go

Travelling to the US? Backpacking through India? Take your Wise card to experience your next destination like a local.

Your Wise card is the most international debit card in the world, with no annual fees or monthly charges. Spend your money in multiple worldwide currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, INR, AUD and more – all from the palm of your hand!

Many banks and online money providers add a markup to the mid-market exchange rate – but not Wise. You’ll only pay for what you spend. Because that’s only fair, right? Say goodbye to monthly and inactivity fees -pay only for what you use.

Nervous about spending abroad? Wise uses two-factor authentication to protect your overseas spending – and real-time notifications to your phone can help you keep an eye on your accounts wherever you travel.

Grab your stylish physical Wise card or access your instant virtual Wise card. You can even pay with Google Wallet or Apple Pay on your smartphone or smartwatch.

To start spending in 150+ countries across the globe, check out Wise.

Please see the Terms and Conditions for your region and visit our pricing page for the most up-to-date pricing and fee information on Wise products.

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Sources

1. BMO
2. BMO
3. BMO
4. BMO
5. BMO

Sources verified on 12 March 2024