Gap Year Card press release

The Ultimate Travel Tool:
MasterCard® Prepaid Card, advice and discount network for young first time travellers
Website: www.gapyearcard.com

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Revolutionary ‘Travel Float’ for worried parents

"You can only have so much control. My biggest fear is that she won’t eat or have a safe place to stay at night"
Ursula Warlock

"If I give my son my credit card for emergency and occasional use on his world tour I’ll have to accept that I’ll suffer from credit card and identity fraud. The perception is that the fraud happens abroad, more so in the distant countries not many people go to... which is exactly where he’s heading!"
Susan Rudland

"Sarah travelled with her UK debit card. If it was stolen and the cash removed from her account I’d be more upset about her losing all the money she’d spent over a year working hard to save up for"
Paula Meredith

Awarding winning youth travel site*, gapyear.com is today launching a MasterCard® Prepaid Card for the 230,000 gap year students aged 18 to 24 who travel the world and the half a million parents and relatives left behind. The Gap Year Card comes complete with a global discount network and free advice that will calm parents’ worries about their children travelling the world, help them to budget their children at arms length and should save young round the world travellers over £500. As a MasterCard it will also be accepted in more than 25 million locations worldwide.

*Best Website: 2007 Britain Youth Travel Awards

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1. Parents’ peace of mind

With the Gap Year Card their travelling children cannot:

1.	Be stranded without cash Money in minutes to anywhere in the world
2.	Rack up huge travelling debts The prepaid card limit is what you put on it
3.	Lose ALL their travel funds through theft Money stolen from the Gap Year Card can be replaced
4.	Put their UK bank account at risk Prepaid cards are not linked to a bank account
5.	Put their parents’ credit card / identity at risk No need to give them a copy of your own card

The Gap Year Card and FREE advice guides from gapyear.com also help:

-	Locate quality / ‘safe’ hostels through the gapyear.com global ‘Recommended hostel’ network
-	Stop the children overspending on travel kit before they go
-	Parents to give important, quality up-to-date travel preparation advice to their children

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2. Real financial SAVINGS

click here for a breakdown of these figures >>

A gap year customer on a round the world trip for six months could save:

1.	GLOBAL DISCOUNT NETWORK Some cardholders can save on the top 7 items for a Round the World trip Discounts are available on over 1,000 other products worldwide	£350
2.	GAPYEAR.COM TRAVEL ADVICE Some cardholders can save following the advice in the FREE downloads	£350
	EXPECTED CARDHOLDER SAVING Equivalent to a month’s wages (post tax) for many of the cardholders	£500

Tom Griffiths, Founder of gapyear.com,
who launched the Gap Year cashplus prepaid MasterCard says:

"This is the ultimate travel tool for the 21st century backpacker that will give invaluable peace of mind to worried parents and also deliver their children an extra £500 to spend from their hard earned wages. A travel float that worried mums and dads can top up at very little cost within minutes no matter where their child is travelling in the world, to keep them fed, watered and give them a roof over their head. If lost and the money stolen, those vital travel funds can be replaced. We can't say 'risk free', but this is as close as it gets. Usually £19.95 to buy and £4.95 per month to run when activated the average backpacker can recoup this cost ten times over, so it more than pays for itself. For launch we have a special offer until October 31st of a £9.95 purchase fee. Even more savings!"

Parent, Wendy Squire from Leeds,
whose four daughters have travelled separately overseas, comments:

"All four of my daughters have had problems with their finances on their travels and it’s something that worries us most as parents. Over the years I have known many parents who have given their children copies of their credit cards for general or emergency use. However, we are all more nervous of this now - what if simultaneous transactions in Leeds and Mexico City are thought to be fraudulent and my credit card company quite rightly protects me by blocking my card? Knowing my luck I’d find out my card had been cancelled at the front of the queue at Tesco whilst loaded up with shopping or having just filled up the car with petrol. I’d be really stuck!"

"My youngest daughter will no doubt follow her sisters and take a gap year at 18 and I look forward to her using the Gap Year Card. It’s great that she will be able to have a MasterCard without the ability to get into uncontrolled debt, even better that I won’t have to worry about unexpected bills and always having the threat of impending fraud looming. They’re away for such a long time you almost expect it nowadays. The fact that she’ll save loads of money using the card and be shown how to plan and prepare for her trip by trusted experts is a fantastic bonus. I wish this card had been out before as the savings from the first four girls may have paid for my last one going through!"

Zoe Squire, a daughter says:

"I wish this card had been available when I went on my gap year. Because our debit cards didn't work where we were staying, we had to use our credit cards more than normal. Our bank spotted this and blocked them; a common occurrence for backpackers. Unfortunately my friend and I were in a small Mexican town called Campeche at the time. We were left stranded with no money and an extremely worried mum, as it took several days and expensive phone calls to reconnect us both again"

Chris Reddish, Group Head, Prepaid Product Manager, MasterCard Europe, commented:

"We're delighted to see the launch of the the Gap Year cashplus prepaid MasterCard, the 'Gap Year Card'. It's yet another exciting example of what can be achieved with this versatile product. By taking our core MasterCard prepaid card product and adapting it to meet the needs of young travellers and their worried parents, gapyear.com and APS have launched a fantastic offering. Not only does it work as a travel float, helping to keep young backpackers safe and with access to funds, as a result, calms parental fears, but it can also save them a lot of money when they use the global discount network. On top of that they offer free around the world trip planners and advice guides on everything from 'solo female travel' to 'buying a car in Australia'. This modern day travel tool is a great example of the next generation of credit, debit and prepaid cards that is now upon us. A combination of a MasterCard prepaid card, expert advice and travel discounts, it helps backpackers to travel safely and manage their finances, and any debt they might accrue, simply and responsibly"

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