Travelex, the foreign exchange company behind Supercard, said it has made the “difficult decision” to withdraw the product due to higher than anticipated running costs. Customers are being informed today.

Holidaymakers can continue to use their Supercard until 00:01 GMT on Monday 24 July 2017, after which time the card will no longer work and should be destroyed.

What is the Supercard?

Spend on your domestic debit or credit card overseas and you could be stung with steep foreign usage fees, so a £100 transaction could in fact cost you £109.

To prevent holidaymakers suffering from “post-holiday bank card bill shock”, in June last year Travelex launched the Supercard which incurs no fees and charges when spending abroad. It followed a successful pilot scheme which saved users nearly £1m in foreign transaction costs.

It’s not quite a pre-paid card or a debit or credit card but rather an electronic money payment product which links to your existing debit and credit cards (up to a maximum of five cards) so it’s exactly like using your normal cards at home.

But if you withdraw money from an ATM, you’ll be charged 2.99% of the transaction value. As it is a specialist card for foreign use, there are additional charges if you use it in the UK.

See YourMoney.com’s Take your bank account on holiday: new fee-free Supercard launches for more information on the product.

I have a Supercard, what do I need to do?

As the card will no longer work after midnight on 24 July, if you’re on holiday at that time, be aware that it will stop working based on the time in the UK.

Travelex said there’s no need to unlink your bank cards from the app and it recommends customers keep their bank cards linked until all transactions have been processed.

If you no longer need to use Supercard or to view your transaction history, you can delete the app.

For existing Supercard customers, you’ll still be able to access the app until Tuesday 24 October 2017, so that you can continue to review past transactions. If you’ve previously deleted the app, you’ll be able to download it again until this date.

From today, Travelex will no longer accept new registrations for the Supercard. If you’ve already applied and you’re waiting for your Supercard application to be processed, Travelex confirms it will not be sending out any new cards.

Why has Travelex taken the decision to axe the Supercard?

A Travelex spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the costs of running Supercard and delivering the standards of service we expect have been much higher than anticipated. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close Supercard.

“At Travelex we strive to develop innovative products that provide our customers with great value and exceptional service. We are grateful to all our customers who embraced this new concept and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”