My first inkling that my NAB Traveller Card won't live up to its slogan and let me "pay like a local" comes early. I'm at my aunt's house in Los Angeles, trying to buy a pair of shoes online. But my NAB Traveller Card is declined. I try again. Declined. I give up and ask to use my aunt's American credit card instead, promising to repay her in cash.
Later, I notice that the cost of the shoes – some $US40 – has been debited, twice, from my Traveller Card balance. Even though the transactions were declined. And because NAB's Traveller Card is a debit card and not a credit card, that means I'm missing $US80 from my carefully saved spending money.
Before I left Sydney, the NAB Traveller Card seemed ideal: it's fee free, has a competitive exchange rate, and – unlike my regular Visa card – has no international transaction fee for foreign currency purchases. Plus I could instantaneously top up my balance using internet banking.
But on holiday in California, the Traveller Card causes me grief. Admittedly, it does meet expectations some of the time: I use it easily at Macy's department store, to buy Disneyland tickets online, and to pay for car hire.
Yet other times – like when I try to buy movie tickets, and at an ice creamery at a Westfield mall – my card is declined. And each declined transaction is met with an equivalent debit, so I'm constantly transferring funds from my everyday NAB account to keep my Traveller Card in credit.
The declined transactions are eventually reversed, but this takes about 10 days. So by the time I fly out of LAX, I'm still waiting for NAB to credit about $US100 back to my Traveller Card; foreign currency that's useless to me at home. True, I can transfer the money back to Australian dollars, but that means losing about 10 per cent on the exchange, given the Aussie dollar has strengthened since my trip.
So what does NAB have to say about this? As a mere customer, my email disappeared into the black hole of cyberspace. But miraculously, after contacting media relations for this story, NAB's Head of Consumer Products personally phoned to apologise for my experience.
NAB acknowledged there's a technical glitch with the Traveller Card, which they're working hard to fix.
But, somewhat confusingly, the glitch relates to the presentation of the transaction record, not the transactions themselves. When purchases on the Traveller Card are declined and it appears that money has been debited – as I experienced – NAB says the funds aren't actually deducted from the cardholder's balance. It just looks that way.
For example, say you have $100 credit on your Traveller Card. You try to pay for a $100 meal using your Traveller Card, but the transaction is declined. If you check your account via internet banking or the mobile banking app, it will show a nil balance. But according to NAB, no money has actually left your account, and you still have $100 credit on your Traveller Card.
What does this mean if you're about to head overseas with a NAB Traveller Card, or are thinking of getting one?
Until the glitch is fixed (and NAB was unable to confirm when this would be), you're better off ignoring your transaction history and creating your own Excel spreadsheet to reliably track your debits, credits and account balance. A simpler (but probably more expensive) option would be to use a different payment method, such as cash or your Australian credit card.
But even when the glitch is repaired, it's worth knowing that the NAB Traveller Card isn't universally accepted. Perhaps the best lesson I've learned from my experience with the Traveller Card is that there's no perfect solution to the conundrum of paying for goods and services while holidaying overseas.
Whether it's a poor exchange rate, or overseas ATM fees, or converting excess funds on a NAB Traveller Card back to Aussie dollars; it's always more expensive to be a foreigner.
The only people who really pay like locals, it seems, are the locals themselves.