Velocity has announced the end of the Velocity Global Wallet. It has published a timeline of a phased withdrawal of the travel card from the market.
Launching in 2013, it was a combined Velocity membership card and multi-currency travel card. In doing so, it offered Velocity members valuable benefits.
Firstly, it allowed you to earn Velocity Points on transactions. While this started out with a reasonable earn rate, over the years, the number of points you could earn slowly eroded.
Timeline for Withdrawal
That’s all about to come to an end. Velocity has published details of a staged withdrawal of the card over the coming months. Perhaps the most important date in the journey is 1 February 2021. This is the date it will cease being a Velocity product, and you will no longer earn Velocity Points with the card.
But there is a step before that. You will only be able to load funds onto the card until the end of the year. Come the new year, on 1 January 2021, you will no longer be able to load funds onto the card.
Then from 1 February 2021, you will no longer earn Velocity Points. While you will still be able to use the card, there will be some fees charged if you make a withdrawal from an ATM.
From 1 July 2021, you will no longer be able to request a new card. If you need a new one, for some reason, you will have to request the card by 30 June.
And finally, come 1 August 2021, you will no longer be able to transact on the account. If you have any finds remaining in the account you will be able to retrieve these for 7 years after this date.
Thoughts
The Velocity Global Wallet was introduced with much fanfare at around the same time as the similar Qantas Cash product. While I hold an account, it was not something I ever used to a great extent. There were usually other options that were either cheaper to use, or provided more Velocity Points.
