The FOREX card is ok to be used for short travels only.
Because, if you face any difficulty then there is no way, you will be HELPED. If you email them, they will respond in 10 days with a CLOSED/RESOLVED status wherein they will ask you the same basic questions even after mentioning the "Interaction IDs", all you do is, keep waiting with your money stuck in the banking system especially due to such tragic times like COVID 19.
Also, the bank EXPECTS you to carry a REPLACEMENT card from day 1 of your travel anticipating that something could go wrong.
-I traveled to the UAE and used the FOREX card, it worked fine
-In a week after that, I traveled to the USA and loaded my card with USD and started using it. I used my card at a couple of places online for shopping as well, a few days in and suddenly my card started getting transactions from various websites that I never heard of, I immediately called the CS for those websites to stop charging my account and return the amounts. Thankfully, they all agreed and returned the money, however, this took a while for various reasons(banking)
-I kept telling them to void the transactions for they still show a Pending status rather than Approved but there was no response at all
-I had transactions worth over$500 and AED 2000(there were no AEDs left) on my card
In the meantime, I called the India Banking number because their INTERNATIONAL NUMBERS DO NOT WORK and I was told that I need to contact the Credit card team first and then the Forex team and then finally the "Branch will call back"(which didn’t happen in over a month). For some odd reason, your BRANCH, form where you get the Forex Card is responsible to help you with any concerns around this with no Branch numbers available on the Kotak website to contact.
Then, I wrote to my Relationship Manager(as stated on the Kotak bank website), and NO RESPONSE.
I wrote to them from the INBOX on the bank’s website, but my interactions with them were getting "closed/resolved" again and again with some stupid question which was answered in the initial email(which had screenshots for my forex card statements, detailed info about the charges and their status). This went on for over a month and I still don’t have the resolution.
Finally, the websites with those charges helped me again. I am still awaiting a response from my Relationship Manager and the bank as to what happened to my money.
I WILL NEVER EVER USE THE FOREX CARD OF A BANK WHO CANNOT HELP ME(if required)
It’s FRUSTRATING, especially when you are traveling. I had to deactivate my card and back to using my debit card with extra charges for foreign use/currency exchange. The purpose of the Forex card only got defied.