Here you go!!

5/5/2005 "Mirror"
PAY AS YOU EURO

MASTERCARD yesterday launched a plastic alternative to the travellers cheque.

Cash2Go, a pay-as-you-go card, works like a debit card and will be protected with a Pin code.

Unlike an ordinary debit card, which takes cash from your bank account, the Cash2Go card will be "loaded" with a fixed amount of pounds, euros or US dollars.

The minimum load will be 50 units of any of these currencies; the maximum 2,500.

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Cash2Go is being targeted at travellers who need to keep a strict control on how much they spend on their trip.

Unlike travellers cheques - introduced in 1874 by travel agent Thomas Cook - you can use the new card to draw cash from ATMs abroad, although you will incur a fee for each withdrawal.

People without bank accounts will be able to buy them, and they could also prove attractive to backpacking students who need to control their spending.

The Cash2Go card is being piloted at Heathrow airport, ICE exchange bureaux and selected branches of Travelcare travel agents.

Becoming more widely available over the next three months, it will be accepted at ATMs in 210 countries and by eight million shops, hotels and restaurants.

The issuers also claim they will replace a lost or stolen card within 48 hours, and supply emergency cash even sooner. Rival Travelex, which owns Thomas Cook travellers cheques, has already introduced its own version, Visa Cash Passport, in America, Australia, South Africa and parts of Europe, and will shortly be launching it in the UK.

Like debit cards, much of the travel cards' appeal will lie in eliminating the need to queue to cash travellers cheques in overseas banks.

HOLIDAYS account for the biggest slice of spending on credit cards.