Nam A Bank Mastercard Prepaid review

It is a prepaid card, so payments come from money you load rather than from a bank account balance. bunq and Varo Believe Secured Credit Card are debit and debit cards, which ties their spending to an account balance instead. Pick the prepaid route if a fixed ceiling suits you.

Free ATM withdrawals are VND 0, so cash machine withdrawals carry a charge from the operator. Wise lists £250 in free ATM withdrawals, which suits anyone who draws cash often. For a travel wallet, paying by card on mastercard is the simpler route.

The card runs on mastercard, so it is accepted across Europe and in its home market of VN. That makes one card work at home and abroad without swapping between them. Support for anything odd with the card comes through phone, email and help centre.

Support runs on phone, email and help centre, covering phone and email alongside a help centre. Queries go to the bank behind the card rather than an intermediary. The issuing entity is Ngân hàng TMCP Nam Á, based in Vietnam, so the card comes from a Vietnamese bank.

The bank lists travel as the focus, so the intended use is spending away from home rather than day to day spending. Being a prepaid card, the balance falls as you spend and has to be reloaded before use again. If you want an everyday account card instead, a debit card is the other choice.

Spending draws only on the balance held on the account, because the card is prepaid with no borrowing element behind it. That gives a firm ceiling on holiday spending. The trade-off is topping up again, so keep the balance ahead of what the day needs.

It suits people who load money ahead of time and then pay with mastercard while travelling. Because the card is prepaid, it also works as a self-imposed spending limit. It is less useful for someone who relies on free cash withdrawals, given an allowance of VND 0.