Earn $50 cashback on every $5,000 of eligible card purchases before the 31st March 2021 (up to a total of $500) as a new Airwallex customer. All international card purchases and spend with exclusive merchants like Facebook and Amazon will go towards your cashback.
Only available to new Australian customers of Airwallex who sign up and are approved for an Airwallex account between 27 Nov - 31 Dec 2020.
Full T&Cs: https://www.airwallex.com/terms/birthday-card-cashback-promo…
For international transactions Airwallex charges only 0.3-0.6% conversion fee (one of the best in the market, Transferwise is just slightly more, the banks are several times more + fees) and now you get 1% back. Seems reasonable to me.
So effectively up to 0.7% cashback?
Can you please point me to another provider that is offering cashback on international transactions? That has better FX rates and also no fees?
@PointsFiend: I would be happy to do some comparisons, but I can't find live rates listed anywhere on the Airwallex website.
@HomeAlone: Thanks for helping me out! I don't know how to paste a screenshot of the rates into the comments, but for example right now it's showing me a rate of 0.7337 to convert AUD into USD. This is compared to an interbank rate of 0.7384. So the margin is 0.6%. Please let me know what you find - could save me a lot of money!
@PointsFiend: So at 0.7337 the $5000 AUD ($4950 after cashback) would equal $3668.5 USD
This would make your effective rate after cashback 0.7411 (3668.5 / 4950)
At Up Bank the zero fee mastercard rate is currently at 0.7399
(0.7411 - 0.7399) x 5000 = $6 USD
So yeah your deal does work out better with a $5000 AUD purchase, but only by $6 USD and it gradually declines depending on how much over $5000 you go. With a purchase of $5967 AUD the gap is $0
So basically Airwallex is better for purchases between $5000 to $5967 AUD, giving you up to $6 USD (0.1621%) better value, or any purchases in multiples of $5000 AUD.
@HomeAlone: Amazing, this is really helpful, thank you!
Do you know where on the Up app I can see the exchange rates/where did you get 0.7399 from? The Mastercard exchange rate site seems to be having technical difficulties: https://www.mastercard.com.au/content/mastercardcom/us/en/pe…
Given the current interbank rate is 0.7384, Mastercard/Up would actually be losing money if they're offering conversion at 0.7399, but I'm definitely keen if they're willing to convert at a loss.
@PointsFiend: Unfortunately the Up app doesn't show the exchange rates. I asked support about it once and they referred me to that same Mastercard webpage that you linked to.
As for the interbank rate, this help article from Airwallex explains how they determine their interbank rate.
https://help.airwallex.com/hc/en-gb/articles/900001759283-Wh…
Given the nature of foreign exchange markets, there is no single interbank rate. Our interbank rate is determined by us having reference to live exchange rates from our banking partners and market data sources and then calculating a blended rate from those sources. The blended rate may involve calculating the weighted average of one or more exchange rates available to us.
We do not include a markup specific to you in the interbank rate. However, foreign exchange markets generally only operate 5 days per week Monday to Friday. During the weekend, and other times when markets are closed, or where rates are unavailable to us, an additional markup may be applied to our interbank rate to account for such situations.
Ha 1%. Thanks for the laugh.
You're welcome. Can you point me to another provider where I can get cashback on international transactions? Without being stung by excessive FX conversion fees and international transaction fees? Genuinely curious.
I'm getting 2% on HSBC (instant credit) and 3% on Zip (paid in $30 lots) at the moment.
HSBC is only tap and pay up to $100. Zip pay has account limits and requires a credit check to set up.
Airwallex has good international payment rates (very close to inter-bank rate) whereas others charge mark-ups and fees.
Just checked HSBC FX rates for international transactions. They are trying to charge over 2% margin on the FX conversion.
So generous…
I guess the real deal here is the forex rates, and the 1% is just a cherry on top?
up to 1%