Wealthsimple Prepaid Mastercard: The Best Way to Withdraw Cash Abroad

Between prepaying credit cards to avoid cash advance fees to making sure your regular debit card works abroad in emergencies and battling various ATM fees across different networks in multiple countries, withdrawing cash abroad is something I always think about before embarking on a trip and is one of the major pain points international travellers face.

The Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard emerges as the most obvious solution. While this card has always been a competitive offering, let’s take a look at why it’s now indisputably the number one pick.

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Explaining Wealthsimple and the Wealthsimple Prepaid Mastercard

You can think of the Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard as the debit card for your Wealthsimple chequing account. The Wealthsimple chequing account functions largely like a regular chequing account: you can accept direct deposits, deposit cheques, send e-transfers, make bill payments, and more.

There are no fees and unlimited transactions. Sending cheques is free, and ordering bank drafts costs either $10 (1–3 business days) or $20 (1–2 business days). You can also send wires for $15 CAD or $15 USD (depends on the wire currency).

Wealthsimple also allows you to deposit physical cash at Canada Post locations, further closing the gap between them and a traditional brick-and-mortar bank. The minimum amount per transaction is $10, while the maximum is $3,000. The daily maximum is $9,000, and the weekly maximum is $60,000.

Just by holding money in your chequing account, you’ll earn interest of between 1.25% and 2.25% (depending on your total assets). Both the online and mobile app interfaces are very slick, as you might expect from a fintech company. I can report I’ve sent bill payments, received direct deposits, deposited cash at Canada Post, and sent e-transfers — all without issue.

Wealthsimple also offers international transfers, which can be handy, but it’s not yet a full solution, given that it only supports 10 currencies at present.

Primarily Interested in Cash Withdrawals Abroad?

However, if you’re mainly interested in the prepaid Mastercard for withdrawing currency internationally, you can treat your Wealthsimple chequing account simply as a place to load and hold the cash you plan to withdraw abroad.

You can connect your bank account to transfer money, but the easiest method is e-transfer. After you request an e-transfer from yourself and follow the prompts, the money will be in your Wealthsimple account within minutes. The speed at which your money arrives and how much you can send depend on your external bank.

One caveat: most point-of-sale (POS) systems won’t recognize the Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard as a debit card, meaning it won’t work at establishments that only accept debit or cash.

Wealthsimple Reimburses ATM Fees

When it comes to withdrawing cash in other countries, there are two key ways Wealthsimple comes out on top: no foreign transaction fees and ATM fee reimbursement, worldwide. This puts Wealthsimple ahead of competitors like Wise and EQ Bank.

There’s a real quality-of-life improvement with this feature: no more shopping around for the cheapest ATM fees or guessing how much cash to withdraw just to avoid multiple fees.

I’ve used this feature in the Philippines and Taiwan over the past few weeks and have already been reimbursed more than $30 in ATM fees.

Not needing to carry large amounts of cash while travelling also makes me feel much more comfortable in foreign countries. After all, I can just visit the ATM again and Wealthsimple will refund any ATM fees.

Right now, Wealthsimple doesn’t cap the dollar amount or number of ATM fees it reimburses.

Attach Your Prepaid Mastercard to Any Chequing Account

If you use Wealthsimple as your primary banking solution and don’t want your Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard tied to your main chequing account, Wealthsimple offers a straightforward, native solution.

You can open a second chequing account directly on the Wealthsimple website or app, transfer only the amount you plan to withdraw, and attach your prepaid Mastercard to the second account instead. You can switch the account your card is linked to once every 24 hours.

Do I Need Other Cards When Travelling?

With me extolling the virtues of the Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard, you might think this is your one-and-done travelling card solution. Well, not quite. While you can use your prepaid Mastercard abroad like any other debit or credit card, it no longer earns rewards. Wealthsimple has phased out the 1% cashback feature, likely because they’re now rolling out the Wealthsimple credit cards.

Therefore, it makes sense to carry your usual set of travel credit cards and use them wherever credit cards are accepted. Stick to the Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard purely as a cash-withdrawal solution. Personally, I pair it with the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite. It’s my favourite travel card thanks to its reasonable annual fee, elevated earn rates that apply even to foreign currency, lounge access, and no foreign transaction fees.

Takeaway

The Wealthsimple chequing account has no fees and unlimited transactions. It performs all the usual bank account functions: depositing cash and cheques, accepting direct deposits, sending e-transfers, making bill payments, ordering bank drafts, and more.

The attached debit card is the Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard. This card charges no foreign transaction fees, offers high ATM withdrawal limits, and reimburses all ATM fees abroad. For Canadians, it’s the go-to card for withdrawing cash internationally — full stop.

This means the end of searching for the cheapest ATM fees and debating whether withdrawing $20 is worth a $3 fee. Wealthsimple has effectively removed all the friction, making cash withdrawals seamless and easy.

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