With Christmas now on the horizon, many of us will be thinking about the gifts we’ll be buying for our loved ones. This time of year witnesses a surge in online shopping, accompanied by a heightened usage of both physical and virtual cards for making purchases, both online and in physical stores.
While there may be nothing new in online shopping and the use of debit cards, there’s one important advantage that MeDirect offers which could help make your festive online shopping easier and potentially cheaper.
One of the pain points with online shopping is the charges that usually apply for currency conversions when buying from non-Euro retailers. MeDirect clients can avoid this because they are able to open accounts in multiple currencies, including British Sterling and US Dollars. When using the MeDirect debit card to make a purchase, funds will automatically be taken in the currency the transaction is denominated in, avoiding the current conversion costs at that point.
Opening and maintaining multi-currency accounts with MeDirect is completely free of charge. Accounts can also be opened in Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars and Japanese Yen as well as in various Nordic currencies including the Norwegian Krone, Danish Krone and Swedish Krona. This means clients can make their online card purchases in any of these currencies as well as instore purchases when visiting any of these countries, without paying currency conversion fees with every transaction.
On top of the advantages of being able to open, maintain and use accounts in multiple currencies, MeDirect’s debit card users can also take advantage of numerous other benefits. Being a Mastercard, MeDirect’s debit card can be used globally wherever Mastercard is accepted. The physical card can also be used to make free cash withdrawals of €350, or equivalent if another currency is being used, per month. Cards can be ordered and managed fully online through MeDirect’s banking platform and Mobile App.
MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc, company registration number C34125, is licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority to undertake the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371).
