Reminder to withdraw money from your bopo Visa card

To all bopo Visa cardholders,

Following the notification to you in mid-July 2008 that your bopo Visa card will cease functioning on 15 August 2008, Cuscal Ltd would like to thank all cardholders who have proceeded to withdraw funds from bopo cards.

For those with money still on bopo cards, you are reminded to please spend or withdraw your money via ATM or EFTPOS transactions before 5pm on Friday, 15 August 2008.

If you are unable to withdraw funds or seek to withdraw funds after 15 August 2008, access to your funds will only be available through a reimbursement process via Cuscal. The money stored on your bopo card is safe and will be returned to you, subject to identity verification. The reimbursement process, however, will be slower than if you drawdown your own funds via an ATM or EFTPOS store purchase before 5pm on 15 August 2008. A new website at www.boporefunds.com.au will go live from 18 August 2008, with a refund request form and details about the reimbursement process.

Cuscal can guarantee that the money on your bopo card is secured because as the 'issuer' of bopo cards, Cuscal is an APRA regulated Authorised Deposit-Taking Institution with a AA- Standard & Poors' credit rating. Cuscal is an entirely separate company to bopo cards (Australia) and Bill Express Ltd.

Background to this situation
Bill Express Ltd, the company that provided services to support your bopo prepaid Visa card is in administration. Bill Express, owners of bopo cards (Australia) Pty Ltd, appointed an administrator on 8 July 2008. The administrator has now shut down the operations bopo cards (Australia) Pty Ltd.

Cuscal, the issuer of the bopo card, communicated the situation directly to cardholders via email, SMS (where a mobile number was available) and letter (where an address was available). Cuscal has been working hard in order to minimise any inconvenience in relation to providing access to your money.

For cardholders who are concerned that this message is not legitimate, please see suggestions to independently verify the information at the end of this email.

Who can cardholders contact with any enquiries?
Due to directions by the administrator, the bopo call centre is no longer operational, however bopo cardholders can contact Cuscal's experienced staff with any enquiries on (02) 8299 9000 between 7.30am and 6.00pm (AEST) Monday to Friday.

Cardholders should be aware that Cuscal does not have access to bopo systems and therefore Cuscal may experience difficulties in rapidly accessing certain data.

During this period we appreciate your patience and understanding, as access to information and data may be cumbersome.

For further information, Cuscal has established a Q&A page for bopo cardholders at www.cuscal.com.au.

We are working hard to ensure bopo cardholders' interests are met. Our aim is to ensure any inconvenience, as a result of this process, is minimised.

Regards,

David Heine
Cuscal General Manager, Product & Operations

Suggestions to independently verify the information in this email

  1. Check that Cuscal Limited is the issuer of bopo cards by reading the bopo Financial Services Guide or noting the reference to Cuscal on the back of your bopo card.
  2. Identify Cuscal Limited on the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority's list of Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions www.apra.gov.au
  3. Read the announcement on the www.asx.com.au about Bill Express Ltd, bopo's parent company, appointing administrators.
  4. Contact Cuscal Limited online by typing www.cuscal.com.au into your internet browser or through a search engine such as Google (rather than using the link in this email).
  5. Contact Cuscal Limited by phone after checking the number listed above is Cuscal's head office phone number as listed in the White Pages www.whitepages.com.au