Any reviews on the new launch of Youtrip multi-currency wallet? Is it really better than going to a money changer in terms of rates?

Im answering this in the area of online shopping on taobao. My usual drill is to use ratex, however this time i tried youtrip as youtrip seems a dollar cheaper than ratex.

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Ratex 349 china yuan cost about 71 sgd

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Youtrip - based on their mastercard website 70.14

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Results - Winner ratex

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However at the end, youtrip charge me 360RMB instead of 349RMB. Theres a 3% not sure if its from mastercard or youtrip.

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(Disclaimer: Running YouTrip so please discout my comment if you see anything biased. But I only plan to make factual comments here for your reference)

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Rate wise from our research so far we are very much on par with some of the most competitive money changer. I also see other comments in this post that our user have done the head to head comparison with money changer to show our rate is better.

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Bottom line is - compare. I run a financial comparison site before so I would always encourage user to compare the rate. There is no fee or obligation to sign up the product so it’s relatively straight forward (though you need to wait for your approval), then you can compare the rate.

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One another advantage I would see is the optionality to change, or let the app do it for you when you are making the purchase, from our SmartExchange technology. Meaning that if you make a USD purchase, you can either:

1) Change upfront to USD, then spend, so you 100% lock down the rate before you spend

2) Spend directly without changing, then the app will change it for you. The rate will be the same as if you are actively changing your currency upfront if done at the same seconds / minutes.

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There are quite a few other comments particularly on Seedly facebook group and this site I suggest you can read. Also our website www.you.co should also give some good enough information as well!

So I'll just use USD as an example.

As at 22/08/2018,

xe.com: 1 SGD to 0.731695 USD

YouTrip app: 1 SGD to 0.7299 USD

http://www.raffles1.net/currency.php: 1 SGD to 0.7278 USD

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Of course rates might change but it's always good to have an alternative and this alternative is very straight-forward to use and can be done in the comfort of your home/office. The top up can be done via debit/credit card and exchange rates are displayed on the app.

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You also get to set a 4 digit pin on the app. I know some countries follow a Chip-and-Pin system so no worries on that. It also have contactless payment mode. But it cannot be used as mobile pay such as Google Pay. Hope this helps.

I used the youtrip to purchase an item from Amazon. The currency USD/SGD conversion rate was even better than google rate! So I am quite happy with the card in terms of its currency exchange. I also received the promised $20 after I topped up my card.

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However, my name printed on the card had my surname placed in the wrong order due to the first name / last name swop. In western country, the displayed name is first name last name . But this is often not the case in Asia. When making the application for the card, there is no provision to specify how your name should be displayed on the card. So your full name (supposely according to your NRIC) will appear on the card. This is unlike when you apply for a credit card issued by a bank, the credit card application form allows you to specify how your name should appear.

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Another thing I am not happy with is that it is not possible to opt out of their marketing spam. So far I haven't get spam.

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The terms and conditions are shown after you upload your NRIC. This means if you are not happy with the T&C, it would be too late because you would have uploaded your NRIC to them. You can't find the T&C on the website if you are searching from the homepage. It appears they tried very hard to to hide the terms and conditions. BTW, the terms and conditions can be found here: https://www.you.co/en-SG/terms-and-conditions/. So read it carefully before you upload the NRIC. I was not happy with the following:

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8.1. By providing your personal information to us, or using our website, or signing up for or accessing products or services we offer during any of our interactions, either directly with us or through our agents and / or partners, you are consenting to the following:

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8.1.2 The Company and its partners may reach out to you regarding our services or marketing of other related services to you via email, phone, SMS, mobile application, and other applicable channels.** **

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As it can be seen above that the T&C clearly states that we are deemed to have consent to allow our data to be given to its partners once we sign up the youtrip service. I have reach out to youtrip on why I cannot opt out of marketing spam and they said they will include the opt-out in the app eventually. However, after reading the T&C above, it is impossible to opt out.