Cash Passport Platinum Mastercard review - Features, fees, and more

Planning an overseas trip often means figuring out the best way to handle your money. The Cash Passport Platinum Mastercard is a popular choice for Kiwis, allowing you to load and spend in 9 different foreign currencies. But with so many options out there, is it truly the best value for your travels?

Our Cash Passport review walks through how to use a Cash Passport Platinum card, including the fees and exchange rates you’ll need to know about. We’ll also touch on the Wise card as an alternative, an easy way to stretch your dollars when paying in foreign currencies.

What is the Cash Passport Platinum?

Before we get into our Cash Passport review let’s start with the basics. The Cash Passport NZ¹ is a Mastercard prepaid card which supports 10 currencies including NZD, AUD, and USD. It’s intended for travel use and is widely accepted for payments and withdrawals, anywhere you see the Mastercard logo.

You can add money to your card online or in a physical location, with varying fees depending on the top up method you pick. Convert the funds to the currency you need, to spend without additional charges when you travel.

Cash Passport Platinum - Main Features

The Cash Passport Platinum is a travel optimised prepaid card, which supports foreign currencies for holding, spending and withdrawals.

Here are some of the main features of the card so you can get a feel for how it works:

*Details correct at time of writing - 26th May 2025

Fees and charges

When you travel you’ll want a payment method that’s reliable and which offers low costs for spending in foreign currencies. Here are the Cash passport fees which apply when you buy, top up and use your card at home and abroad:

*Details correct at time of writing - 26th May 2025

Exchange rate

When you add money to your Cash Passport Platinum card you’ll pay with NZD, and then your load amount can be converted to one of the supported currencies. You can then spend the balance overseas without any further fee to pay.

There’s no fee for adding money to your Cash Passport Platinum online as long as you don’t pay with a debit card. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s free to use your card for spending in a foreign currency.

Instead of having a conversion fee which is shown as a separate charge, the costs of your currency conversion are included in the exchange rate you get. This means you’re paying a fee even if you don’t realise it, when you top up your Cash Passport Platinum card in a foreign currency.

The easiest way to see this is to compare the costs of adding a certain amount of a foreign currency to your Cash Passport Platinum, against the costs of adding the same amount of money with a different service. In this example, we've calculated the costs of adding 50 euros to your card, and compared it with Wise as a low cost alternative.

*Details correct at time of writing - 26th May 2025

As you can see, it costs almost 5 dollars more to add the same amount - 50 EUR - to the Cash Passport Platinum card compared with Wise. This fee isn’t obvious as it’s in the exchange rate - but the amounts rack up very quickly when you’re using your card regularly or for a longer foreign trip.

Cash Passport Platinum vs Wise - Pros and cons

As we’ve already seen, the Cash Passport Platinum card uses a marked up exchange rate when you convert currencies - and also has a 5.95% foreign transaction fee if you leave your funds in dollars and spend overseas. That can mean it’s not the most cost effective option out there. The Wise card can present a really good alternative, with more supported currencies and mid-market exchange rates.

Compare the options available to you before you decide which travel card is the best fit for your needs. Here are some pros and cons of each to think about:

Learn more in our full Cash Passport Platinum vs Wise review.

Review - Should you get the Cash Passport Platinum?

If you need a card in a hurry, the Cash Passport Platinum card can be a strong option as you can get a card instantly at a physical location without needing to wait for delivery. However, the fees for some services - including currency exchange - can be on the high side. This pushes up costs, and might mean that this is a better choice as a back up card for emergencies rather than for everyday travel needs.

Compare your options against an alternative like the Wise card to help see which is best on costs, convenience and the range of available features - and happy travels!

Looking for a card for international spending? The Wise card helps you save with no foreign transaction fees.

The Wise card is a simple way to save up to 8x when you're spending internationally. You can spend in 150+ countries at mid-market rate — basically the rate you see on Google. With no foreign transaction fees and low, transparent pricing, Wise usually gives you the best value for your money.

Simply create a Wise account for free, order a card and top-up NZD to get started. Having a physical Wise card allows you to make chip and pin payments, as well as make some free ATM withdrawals each month for when you're abroad. You can get digital cards and add to your Google or Apple Pay wallet for instant use. Spend directly with the Wise account in NZD and let auto-conversion do the trick or convert in advance to your desired currency. You can hold and exchange 40+ currencies in your Wise account and spend the currencies you hold for free.

Wherever your travel takes you, the Wise card makes spending money abroad cheaper and easier.

🚀 Get your Wise card

Savings claim based on our rates vs. selected New Zealand banks and other similar providers in Jan 2025. To learn more, please visit https://growth-layer.live/nz/compare%3C/a%3E%3C/small%3E%3C/p%3E%3Csmall%3E

Please see Terms of Use and product availability for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.