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Important information
Should I use my EZ Pay Prepaid MasterCard® to Guarantee hotel rooms?
No. Doing so will create a pre authorisation.
A pre authorisation will be created as hotels reserve a larger amount of funds on your card than is needed to cover the cost of your room. They do this to protect against any damage to the room, undeclared mini bar usage or pilferage. The pre authorisation is removed entirely from your card history once the bill is settled but this can take up to 72 hours or more as it is administered by the hotel themselves.
Therefore this could mean that you book a hotel room for £200.00, the hotel ‘ring fence’ £500.00 for security purposes and you are left with £300.00 on your card that is frozen and unavailable to spend for 72 hours or more.
Our tip: Use your bank credit or debit card to guarantee your room reservation but settle the final bill with your EZ Pay prepaid MasterCard – this way you don’t tie up your available funds on your EZ Pay prepaid MasterCard and you still get the benefit of the great foreign exchange rates when you pay.
Should I use my EZ Pay prepaid MasterCard to guarantee a hire car?
No. Doing so will create a pre authorisation.
A pre authorisation is where the rental company will reserve a larger amount of funds on your card than they need to cover the cost of the rental car. They do this to protect against damage and fuel usage that customers do not declare and pay for. The pre authorisation is removed from your card history once you have settled your bill but this can take up to 72 hours or more as it is administered by the hire car company themselves.
This could mean that you book a car for £200.00, the rental company ‘ring fence’ £500.00 and you are left with £300.00 on your card that is frozen and unavailable to spend for 72 hours or more.
Our Tip: Use your bank credit or debit card to guarantee your reservation but settle the final bill with your EZ Pay Prepaid MasterCard – this way you don’t tie up your available funds on your Escape card but you still get the benefit of the great foreign exchange rates when you pay.
Should I choose ‘local currency’ or ‘£ Sterling’ when I am given the choice by an ATM or when I’m paying for goods in a shop or restaurant?
You should always, always choose local currency when given the choice. It is common practice (especially in Spain and Thailand) to be offered the choice and if you choose sterling, the local bank will decide your exchange rate – which is normally a considerable amount higher than the rate offered by your EZ Pay Prepaid MasterCard.
Can I use my EZ Pay card to pay for petrol at the pump?
Unfortunately this is not currently available. Though it is possible to pay inside the petrol station kiosk. Please note this applies to all prepaid credit cards, and not just those from EZ Pay.
Can I use my EZ Pay prepaid MasterCard to pay at toll roads abroad?
Not always – Your EZ Pay prepaid card is a MasterCard card and should be accepted everywhere you see the MasterCard Acceptance Mark. However, some toll road payment kiosks are “offline”, meaning they cannot check that the card has the available funds before they allow you through the toll. Because of this, they often choose not to accept prepaid cards. Please note this applies to all prepaid MasterCards, not just those from EZ Pay.
Are EZ Pay Prepaid MasterCards Classed as Credit Cards?
No, as there is no access to credit, and the money available is all preloaded, and therefore not classed as a credit card.
Are EZ Pay Prepaid MasterCards classed as Debit Cards?
No, EZ Pay cards are not linked to a bank account and balances do not accrue interest.