What are some life hacks for reloading on visa prepaid cards?

Hi Gices. I lost almost an hour with them today. I used to put the money straight into the visa card even if the deposit in rupee or currency and even if the card is in rupee or currency. In other words, I used to buy currency at exchange rate shops and deposit then on the card directly. But now it's such a mess.

'' If you had a Mauritian Rupee bank account and your prepaid card was in the same currency, are you saying you still need to pay a loading fee?'' Yes you pay.

I'll explain what happened to me and my friend today. I wanted to put currency into a visa prepaid card same currency.

They told me to put the money in rupees in the debit card then transfer to the prepaid card.

Senario 1: I had to go to the counter, deposit in rupees, go to the customer service, re create an internet banking account, tranfer the rupees into my card which is in currency.

Senario 2: If I had the amount in currency. I'll have to deposit it in my normal debit rupee card ( the bank buys my currency) then transfer from the debit card (in rupees) to the prepaid card (in currency). The bank sells currency to me. See how much money i'll be losing?

Add to this they kept pestering me to use juice but i requested internet banking.

My friend went to SBM. I told her the account she need to deposit is in currency so she can buy currency at exchange rate shops then do a currency deposit on the account. They asked her to change the currency back to mauritian rupee then do a deposit. The account is in currency!

The other day I wanted to put money in my smile card. They told me that I couldn't do this directly. I had to put money in my current account then transfer (MUR 50) to the smile card. And you always pay a loading fee no matter the currency

It's a real mess Gices.

in short you cannot reload your card directly anymore. you need to put it in your normal account and then transfer to your card. You pay the top up fees and the exchange rate of the bank

This is crazy!

You end up paying twice the currency conversion fee. How on earth are they getting away with this? I thought if you had the account and prepaid card in the same currency, you'd be exempted from all fees.

indeed. and they don't mention other options as well. I'll do like you suggested on the paypal question, i'll create an account in currency and i'll pay only the top up fees when transfering to my card. I'll be able to buy currency outside the bank in this way