Travelex: travel money, currency exchange and what to do if something goes wrong

Travelex is a currency exchange business: it sells foreign cash, runs a prepaid travel money card, and offers currency exchange online, on the high street and at airports. It trades as Travelex and also as ASDA Money for travel money.

The thing to understand before buying is how it charges. Travelex does not generally quote a separate transaction fee on a currency conversion. Instead its charge is built into the exchange rate you are given, so the price of the service is the gap between the rate you are offered and the rate in the market. That is the same model used by other currency services: Barclays, for example, states plainly that its charge "forms part of the exchange rate on each conversion from GBP to a Travel Currency and is referred to in the Barclays app as the 'margin'"¹.

That single fact changes what to compare. Two providers quoting "no commission" can still differ substantially in cost, because the margin is invisible unless you compare the rate you are offered against a mid-market rate. This page sets out what Travelex sells, how the pricing works, how to buy, how to complain, and where protection stops.

What Travelex offers: travel money and currency exchange

Travelex's core business is converting one currency into another for people who are travelling. That covers foreign cash bought before a trip, cash collected at an airport branch, and currency loaded onto a prepaid card. Its named product on this site is the Travelex Money Card, a prepaid card you load with currency and spend abroad.

The wider market it sits in is covered in the guide to sending money in the UK and abroad, and the practical side of spending overseas is set out in money abroad.

Two habits make a real difference to what you pay, whichever provider you use. The first is which currency you are charged in. When a card machine or an ATM offers to charge you in pounds rather than the local currency, taking the local currency normally gives the better exchange rate⁴. The second is timing: less commonly used currencies are worth ordering at least a week in advance, because availability and pricing are worse at short notice⁴.

Travelex also sells travel insurance alongside its currency products. Where a firm sells insurance it does not underwrite, the cover is provided by an insurer behind the scenes. ABTA's own travel insurance, for comparison, is underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A., part of the AXA Group⁵. The insurer named on a Travelex policy is the firm that would pay a claim, not Travelex.

How Travelex's charges are built into the exchange rate

There is no separate line on a Travelex receipt headed "fee" for a currency conversion. The cost is the difference between the rate Travelex gives you and the rate it paid in the market. Barclays describes exactly this structure in its own travel wallet terms, where the charge "forms part of the exchange rate on each conversion from GBP to a Travel Currency"¹.

Two consequences follow. First, a headline of "no commission" tells you nothing about cost, because commission is not where the money is made. Second, the only meaningful comparison is between the rate you are offered and a mid-market rate at the same moment. That is why the same currency can appear cheap at one counter and expensive at another on the same day. Travelex publishes its own rates and charges on its website, and those are the figures to check for the day you buy.

There is also a timing element. Barclays guarantees its exchange rate for 90 seconds for the customer to confirm acceptance¹. A short lock like that protects the provider against the market moving while you decide, and it means the rate you see is the rate you get only if you accept quickly.

For card-based travel money, watch for charges that sit outside the conversion. Barclays notes that other ATM providers may charge for cash withdrawals from a travel wallet, and that those charges are deducted from the wallet balance¹. Those are third-party charges, not the provider's own, but they come out of your money.

What a holiday's worth of travel money really costs

Travelex's rates are not published on this site, and this site does not publish the rates of named providers' products. What it can give you is the official context for what UK households spend on travel, so you can judge the size of the sums involved.

Official statistics put the real-terms increase in UK household spending on package holidays abroad at £4.10, or 14%, per week, in the year to 2025⁶. That is the average change in spending, not the cost of a trip, but it shows that holiday spending is a material line in a household budget and rising in real terms.

Against that, the cost of the currency itself is a small percentage that can vary widely. A margin of a fraction of a percent and a margin of several percent look almost identical on a screen, and on a few hundred pounds of holiday money the difference is modest. On larger sums, such as a deposit on a property abroad or a long trip, the same percentage difference becomes significant.

The practical approach is to decide the amount you need, then compare the total cost of getting that amount, not the headline rate. That means asking what the final amount in the foreign currency will be after everything, including any delivery charge for cash ordered online and any ATM charges at the destination¹.

For budgeting, the wider guide to everyday money tasks covers the mechanics of moving money and paying for things abroad.

Buying from Travelex at the airport, on the high street or online

Travelex sells through three routes, and the route you choose affects both price and your rights.

Airport counters. Convenient and open at the time you need them, but you are a captive customer with no time to compare. Buying at the last minute also means you take whatever rate is on offer.

High street branches. More time to compare, and you can walk away. Note that in-store purchases carry weaker return rights than online ones: high street shops do not have to accept returns unless an item is faulty, while returns for online purchases are covered by statutory rights⁷.

Online ordering. Usually the widest choice of currencies and the easiest to compare, with collection at a branch or airport or delivery to an address. Online purchases carry the statutory rights that in-store purchases do not⁷, and the general rules are set out in the guide to consumer protection in UK financial services.

Whichever route you use, order less common currencies at least a week ahead⁴, and check whether the rate is locked when you order or when you collect.

ASDA Money travel money is provided by Travelex

ASDA Money travel money is not a separate business. ASDA Money is a current trading name of the same firm that operates the Travelex brand, and it appears as such on the FCA Register entry for firm reference number 764861³.

For a customer, that means an order placed through ASDA Money is fulfilled by the same company, under the same authorisation, as an order placed through Travelex. A complaint about an ASDA Money travel money order is a complaint about the same firm, and it follows the same route described below.

It also means the two brands share a single regulatory record. If you are checking whether a firm is authorised, the FCA Register entry for 764861 is the one that covers both names³.

The Travelex cyberattack: what it meant for customers' orders and data

There is no verified account of the Travelex cyberattack in the available record: no date, no number of customers affected, no statement about what data was taken, and no record of what refunds, if any, were given. Nothing on that incident can be stated here as fact, and no figure should be assumed.

What is documented is how firms generally respond to a data breach, and what customers can reasonably expect. In a documented restaurant chain breach, the firm said "immediate steps were taken to close down access to the database, as well as contact any guests who may have been impacted"⁸. That is the standard shape of a response: shut the door, then tell the people affected.

The scale of IT failures at financial firms is well documented elsewhere. A Lloyds Banking Group glitch affected up to 447,936 Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers, who saw other people's transactions or had their data shared with others⁹. A separate Lloyds IT glitch affected nearly half a million customers¹⁰. A global IT outage in July 2024 affected 8.5 million devices, hitting flights, train journeys and healthcare services¹¹. These are not Travelex incidents, but they show how far a single technical failure can reach.

If you are contacted about a breach, treat unexpected messages with care. Fake messages about fraud refund schemes have been used to target people¹², and spear phishing, where a scammer uses personal details to make a message convincing, is a documented tactic⁸. Recovery scammers have also targeted recent scam victims through review sites, with Trustpilot placing permanent consumer warnings on the firms involved and closing their profiles to new reviews¹¹.

Complaints to Travelex: how to raise one and how long it takes

Travelex's own complaints contact details, acknowledgement timescale and final response deadline are not recorded, so none are quoted here. Travelex publishes its complaints route on its own website, and the FCA Register entry lists travelex.co.uk as the firm's website³. Use the route published there rather than an address from a search result or a message.

What is recorded is the standard framework that financial complaints follow, which is a fair guide to what to expect. One currency firm, FairFX, states that it will be in touch within 3 business days and that it is typically allowed up to 15 business days, or in some cases up to 8 weeks, to investigate and provide a final response¹³. The eight week outer limit is the figure that matters most, because it is the point at which a complaint can normally be escalated.

For travel-related complaints more broadly, ABTA's process requires a customer to contact the travel company first, and the company should reply within 28 days¹⁴. Where a travel company has failed, ABTA states that claims can take six to eight weeks to be processed¹⁵. Those are ABTA's figures for its own schemes, not Travelex's, but they show the sort of timescales involved.

When you write, include the order or transaction reference, a dated account of what happened, copies of correspondence, and any evidence such as receipts or screenshots. The Financial Ombudsman Service, for example, expects a policy schedule, policy certificate, full policy terms, contact records, claim forms and notes, a timeline of what has happened, and expert reports when it examines a complaint¹⁶.

If Travelex does not resolve your complaint

If a financial firm does not resolve a complaint to your satisfaction, the next step is normally the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to consumers. The trigger is either an unsatisfactory final response or the complaint not being resolved within the standard period: for mobile phone complaints, for example, the rule is an unsatisfactory final response or a complaint unresolved within six weeks⁶. For financial complaints the eight week figure is the one that appears in the standard framework¹³.

The ombudsman's own data shows how often travel-related complaints reach it. Travel insurance complaints opened in Q1 2025/26 numbered 996¹⁸, and 996 again in the same quarter in a separate release¹⁹. For the full year 2025/26, travel insurance complaints opened numbered 4,451²⁰. The two documents disagree on the quarterly figure, and both are given here because the conflict is unresolved.

Where a complaint is about a holiday rather than a currency order, different routes apply. If a holiday does not match its description, there may be a claim against the tour operator for compensation²¹. Which? publishes a template letter for claims against a travel agent or tour operator over misleading brochure descriptions²³. Package holidays carry their own protections, and the guide to insurance covers how travel cover interacts with cancellation and disruption.

If a firm has failed, ABTA's failure process applies to its members, with claims taking six to eight weeks¹⁵. Where a firm is no longer regulated by RICS, its alternative dispute resolution arrangement excludes complaints already being considered, finally determined, or resulting in compensation through a court or another dispute resolution process²⁴.

How Travelex is regulated and what that means for your money

Travelex Agency Services Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 764861, and the FCA Register lists ASDA Money as a current trading name³. The company is active at Companies House under number 04621879, incorporated on 19 December 2002².

What that authorisation does not do is insure your money. No banking licence and no participation in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is recorded for Travelex. The FSCS protects deposits with banks, building societies and credit unions, not cash held with a currency exchange. If you have a large sum on order or loaded onto a card, that distinction is the one that matters.

The rules that do protect travel money customers are mostly about the holiday rather than the currency. Package holidays are covered by the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, which apply if you paid for two elements of the same holiday in a single transaction, or booked a secondary service such as car hire alongside a hotel or flight²⁵. That cover extends to the hotel, the car hire, the transfers, the tours and the food²⁵. Where a linked travel arrangement is sold in the UK, the law requires the arranger to put in place financial security to protect monies paid if the arranger goes out of business²¹.

That protection has limits. It covers only the arranger failing, and does not cover services still being provided despite the failure, or the insolvency of another business such as a supplier²¹. Unless a travel agent has arranged a linked travel arrangement, the law does not require it to put in place financial security for monies paid for travel services or packages sold in the UK²¹. Surcharges on a holiday price are tightly controlled by law under the Package Travel Regulations²².

For card payments, the Interchange Fee Regulation, EU legislation that took effect on 8 June 2015, capped certain interchange fees applicable to payment cards²⁶. Chargeback and Section 75 rights are separate protections that apply to card transactions, and are explained in the guide to credit cards.