This user review is provided by Nitin Sukumaran who wanted to share his knowledge of the MCO Visa Card with all of our readers.
Hey folks!
I am one of those million customers in the cryptocurrency space who invested in Crypto.com project, purchasing and staking 500 MCO tokens for 6-month term.
I was excited when I heard the information that my MCO card got shipped 7 months ago. I live in New Zealand and it took 2 months for my card to arrive. I was thrilled and excited to see a letter on my post box from Singapore. As my prediction turned out right, I got my brand new shining Royal Indigo metal MCO visa card in front of my gleaming eyes. My heart skipped a beat and I was looking forward every day for this card. I logged in to my Crypto.com app and activated my card by entering my 3-digit CVV and card PIN. The card felt heavy on my wallet since this is the first metal card I have had in my wallet. I decided to load the card with some local fiat currency. Since It’s my first time I decided to top with $50 and see how it goes. The MCO fiat wallet doesn’t support NZD yet so I decided to load some SGD and AUD. Now to ‘top up’ my MCO card wallet there are two options, namely “crypto wallet” and “credit card”. I decided to go with the “credit card” option since I already linked my bank visa card in the Crypto.com app.
A couple of points to note here
- First and foremost, make sure you enable international usage of your MCO visa card if the card is shipped from another country.
- Just so you are aware, there is a small fee of 0.1 SGD when you first link your bank visa debit card to MCO card wallet. Currently, Crypto.com doesn’t charge any fee for card top up option however your bank might charge a foreign currency conversion fee.
- Since the MCO card got issued from Singapore, the only top up option right now is in SGD. You can however convert your SGD to your local currency such as AUD, GBP etc. if you would like to.
- I had no issues topping up my wallet and it took less than a minute from my local bank however I have heard some of my friends needing to call their bank if the transaction doesn’t work. So be wary of that!
All done and dusted, now it’s time to test the card! I decided to use my card the next day for shopping. I went to my local supermarket to shop for some groceries and used my card for the first time. The retail assistant at the counter stared at my card as something strange and unique and though I am a traveler from overseas. I used the contactless pay option and it worked like a charm!
So here I go on my new journey!
A couple of days later, I decided to order food delivery from Uber eats and thought I would link my card to Uber eats app. I need to mention here that, whenever you add your card to any app or purchase online for the first time, If a question pops asking “where is the card issued”, it’s good to remind yourself from which country you got the card issued. At first, when I added the card for online purchase using Uber eats, I selected my card as New Zealand based. Although the order processing went through without any hitch, it did take a while to process and I decided to remove the card and add it again with ‘Singapore’ as my country of the card issuer. I got an immediate card rebate of MCO in the Crypto.com app wallet after my online purchase which added a little sweetness to my moment. Since then I have used the card for online shopping to purchase clothes, household items etc. until now, and get up to 3% cashback. I haven’t encountered any technical glitch.
On the flipside, I haven’t had the opportunity to make use of the recent promotional offer from Crypto.com to buy gift cards or shop online on their selected stores for 10-20% cashback since I live in New Zealand. I must say, I am a bit gutted on that downside but I expect there will New Zealand stores added in the future with more promotions. But if you live in Europe or USA probably you got the best deals on online purchases!
Now one of my intriguing thoughts crept in and I felt, is it worth topping up my card in a foreign currency such as SGD or AUD and shopping every time when my local currency is in NZD? Turns out, the cashback and rebates I get from using my card compensates with slight profit albeit the currency conversion rates in Crypto.com app. Not to mention but the currency conversion rates in Crypto.com app is reasonable and mirrors Forex rates most times so it’s quite decent.
I decided after a week to try the other option of using ‘crypto wallet’ to top up my MCO visa and had no issues with that. This method again incurs no fee from Crypto.com however be mindful of the spread and the price at which you are selling your cryptocurrency.
In terms of ‘crypto earn’ feature, due to my 500 MCO stake, I have staked some USDT (12% APR) and Bitcoin (6.5% APR) on a 3-month term and might stake more coins in the future.
I am a big fan of movies and music and I use my MCO visa card to my Spotify and Netflix subscription. For both Spotify and Netflix, the amount is instantly rebated in MCO when you’re charged for subscription up to the value of US$12.99 per month. The only difference between subscribing for Netflix and Spotify is that for Netflix you can directly pay using your card while for Spotify I have had some issues when directly charging my card since the card is issued in Singapore. If you encounter this issue with Spotify, I suggest attaching your MCO visa card to PayPal to pay for Spotify or change your Spotify account to Singapore using VPN and then pay for it.
I have had only one travel experience using my MCO visa card for Airport lounge access which checking in at Changi airport during New Year. One important thing to be aware of is to make sure you register your name and card details online through Crypto.com website before traveling so that you can enjoy the perks of the airport lounge. Once registered your lounge key gets activated and the process is straightforward from thereon. All I need to do is present my MCO card in the airport lounge. As a Royal Indigo cardholder, I need to pay USD $32 to take my girlfriend along with me as only one guest gets a free lounge pass but that didn’t deter us from using it. On that note, I would like to mention that with higher tiers, two guests can get a free lounge pass. One of the best parts of lounge access benefits is that I revisited the lounge again while returning from Singapore to Auckland and just so you know, the number of lounge visits is unlimited. Made my day!
Overall, I am quite satisfied with my MCO visa card experience and I am hoping to upgrade my MCO card to the next tier level to enjoy more perks. If you enjoyed reading my article, feel free to sign up using my referral code q3xq76xp2a and we both receive $50 USD bonus or just simply click on my referral link I have attached below
Use my referral link https://platinum.crypto.com/r/q3xq76xp2a to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $50 USD 🙂
Cheers!
Nitin Sukumaran
