It’s been a few months now since we made one of the biggest updates to the WeSwap app we’ve ever made, allowing you to use WeSwap in over 180 countries.
This meant that as well as swapping in the original 18 currencies, you could now take your WeSwap card with you all over the world and spend in almost any currency imaginable. UAE Dirham. Thai Baht. Mexican Pesos. Pretty much all of them.
So, we thought we’d catch up with you, see where you’ve been, have a listen to your stories, tell you how we think it’s been going, ask if there’s anything you’d change.
Really, the question should be: where haven’t you been?
You carried on visiting those original 18 nations, spending and saving millions in the process. But then you went further afield.
Over 800 of you went to Croatia, spending over £230,000 in the process. Nearly 500 of you paid a visit to Indonesia and Thailand, spending over £170,000 and £140,000. One of you even went to the Gambia and spent £34.
You went all over the world and we’re delighted that we were able to be there with you.
With exotic currencies, we've seen charges of around 6% at Bureaux and 3% on debit cards, but now you’ve been spending and saving in new and far-flung places, further off the beaten track than we ever thought possible.
Since WeSwap went global, you’ve continued saving money in all the places you used to. In fact, since WeSwap began, you’ve now spent nearly £200,000,000 and saved over £7,000,000.
That £230,000+ in Croatia we mentioned? You saved up to £8,000 on that. The £170,000 in Indonesia. You saved almost £6,000.
The £34 one WeSwap traveller spent in the Gambia. They saved £1.19 on that. It all counts.
And just on those new countries alone, you’ve spent over £1,700,500, saving up to £60,000!
Very well, it seems.
But when it comes to card v cash, it was a fairly even split. We found that 55% of all transactions were at the ATM, compared to 45% that used the card.
Kerry and her partner in Dubai
“I just recently used my WeSwap for a holiday in June to Dubai and I couldn’t recommend it enough. It’s just like having another bank card, and because it is a Mastercard, we had no hassle using it anywhere, whether it was switching a single transaction of £1.50 to £150.00 – no need to carry any cash which is a bonus! I also think it actually saved me money on my holiday too as I only spent what I needed, and I could transfer money from my own bank account in the app quite easily whenever I needed it.”
Suzanne and her partner
“Recently we drove through Europe on our way to Turkey, passing through countries which don’t have the euro as their currency. Earlier in the year we were in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and using WeSwap as our main source of payment meant we were able to keep track on our expenditure and not come home to any nasty surprises.”
You can read all of these accounts in full (and even more) by clicking here.
We're going to continue learning more about these new countries - how you spend, what support you need from us when you're out there, your recommendations - and embed all of this into our product and how we communicate with you, so we can give you the best WeSwap experience possible.
Want to help us out? Have you been to one of these distant lands? Leave your spending tips for other travellers in the comments section below - we can't wait to hear them!
Please note: All data correct as of 14:00 on 4/9/18
