Is the money on my card safe?

Absolutely!  We are an Electronic Money Institution authorised in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. As part of this, we safeguard all funds on our cards in accordance with Regulation 21 of the Electronic Money Regulations to ensure funds are safe and protected. It's important to understand that e-money institutions are not banks, and as such, the protection of your funds will differ from banks. 

The funds on your card are classified as electronic money. This electronic money is subject to a set of laws known as 'Safeguarding', which outline how e-money institutions must protect your money. For your protection, the money on your card is backed by money kept by us in a separate safeguarded bank account. This money is held separately and is only available for the purposes of returning your money on your request, if applicable. This safeguarded money is not available to our creditors, our bank or third parties. It means that whenever you, or the party who has requested the card for you, ask us to redeem (withdraw) the e-money, that money will be available. In the event of us becoming insolvent, the balance on your card will be paid out to you by the insolvency practitioner from our safeguarded bank account once any applicable costs of insolvency proceedings are settled. This means that the total of funds available to our customers and, therefore, to you may be decreased by the amount of insolvency costs related to the distribution of the funds.

We are an e-money institution, and not a bank. Banks participate in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) – e-money issuers do not. The FSCS acts like an insurance policy for bank accounts and pays out up to a maximum of £85,000 per eligible person, per bank, building society or credit union or up to £170,000 for joint accounts. E-money issuers are not covered by this Scheme. 

More information about using a non-bank payment service provider and the protections they offer can be found on the FCA’s website.