Tap & Go review

The prepaid account has a monthly fee of HKD 0, so keeping the card costs nothing each month, and Tap & Go ranks 1 on monthly fee among 422 brands compared. Top-ups outside cash add nothing either, so the regular cost is easy to set out in advance.

The currency conversion fee runs 1% to 2% on the prepaid card, well above the prepaid median of 0.4%. Paying in Hong Kong dollars costs less, so the card works out cheaper for local spending and dearer for trips abroad.

The card is issued by HKT Payment Limited and authorised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority under licence SVF0002. Because it is a prepaid card rather than a bank account, the balance is stored value for spending, so keeping only a working amount on the card is the sensible approach.

You load the prepaid card with top-ups, and any top-up that is not paid in cash is free, so reloading by other means adds no charge. The card runs on the mastercard network, so the loaded balance is spent wherever that network is accepted.

Tap & Go lists virtual card among its features, so the card sits in a wallet rather than in a drawer. The mastercard network still applies, which means online and contactless payments work in the same places a physical card would.

No. The card type is prepaid, so spending stops at the money already loaded and nothing is borrowed. Readers who want to build a balance rather than empty a stored one should look at the Varo Believe Secured Credit Card, whose monthly fee is $0.

Tap & Go charges HKD 0 a month, bunq's monthly fee is €0 and Wise's is £0, so the three sit in the same band on monthly cost. The decision comes down to currency, market and how often money is converted.

The licence on file is SVF0002 in Hong Kong, so the card is built for a single market. Spending abroad still goes through the mastercard network, but the currency conversion fee of 1% to 2% is the cost attached to each conversion.