Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

SallySunshine

I used to use Nationwide debit card to withdraw euros abroad, now of course they charge.
I have read an earlier post where someone was charged over £6 to withdraw 300e.

As we normally will withdraw 2 x 300 whilst we are away, i think that is rather steep. We usually go away 3-4 times per year and usuallly to Europe.
The other way I am thinking is to load up a new FairFX euro card, I already have their Anywhere card for booking flights.

Their rates seem quite good and charges are 1.5e for withdrawal.

Or am I better off loading up their Anywhere card in £s and using that at £1 withdrawal fee, I can't remember their exchange rate.

Of course the other way is to just buy Euros before we go away, but the last transaction ended in tears:(

ManAtHome

I use the Halifax Clarity and a Caxton Euro card as a 'just in case' (withdrawing most/all the balance towards the end of the hols).

Rate difference between Caxton and FairFX seems to have narrowed quite a bit over the last year - eg today is Caxton 1.18, FairFX 1.1825. Caxton doesn't charge for ATM withdrawals so looks a better bet to me (minimum load is 150 euros, so YMMV as they say).

SallySunshine

Thanks for the reply ManAtHome,
never really thought to look at Caxton, however no doubt they will be adding some 'new terms' soon:(

I also have to keep up with the terms for these prepaid cards, ie, FairFX cards are for 36months then you have to pay for a new card, not checked Caxton yet.

I do keep an eye on a Spanish forum where there are usually up to date report on rates using Nationwide, but of course that all depends on the rate that day.

ferf1223

dand2202 wrote: »

Hi

Hoping someone can help me as I am a little confused! I am going to America later in the year but need to pay for some things in dollars before I get there (over the internet). I was wondering if there is a prepaid credit card that I can use that will not have this loading fee. I've read the cheap travel money section and it seem thats I am going to get charged a loading fee because this is not the local currency.

Any help much appreicated.

The pre-paid dollar cards (FairFX, Caxton), etc...or standard credit cards with good terms like the Post Office and Clarity...We use our PO card for making reservations, etc. through US sites.

Alizarin

Please can someone knowledgeable help me - does anyone have any idea what would work out cheapest to use in Australia - FairFx or Caxton? From what I can see on each site, FairFx charges a 1.5% fee on ATMs and transactions, whereas Caxton doesn't charge a fee - is this correct? I understand the exchange rate is better with FairFx but would Caxton work out better overall? I will be loading whichever card I choose with £500 if this helps.

Nessie23

SCowley88 wrote: »

Just realised that Clarity is a mastercard as well. Don't seem to be any Visa cards which offer cheap spending abroad. The Travelex prepaid is now also a mastercard so can't get that. Anyone got any suggestions.
@Countrygoose think I'm going to spend mainly on the debit as I feel safer spending money and worrying about paying the credit card off in time. Plus I got offered the Clarity at 17.9% so it's going to cost me more than it could. Still worth it I think just 1.4% rather than 1%, beats the cards from hell anyway.

Hi the new N&P (Norwich & Peterbourgh BS) account offers you free cash withdrawal through their VISA debit card http://www.nandp.co.uk/current-account/ .

You could consider this account as you backup card. Please remember you "must either pay in £500 a month or make five transactions a month" to avoid their monthly fee, as per MSE's article http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2011/01/norwich--peterborough-launches-cheapest-holiday-debit-card


Nessie

SCowley88

Brilliant! If I use that as my main card won't have any problem meeting the 'five transactions a month' clause then shunt Metro and Clarity in to backup. Thanks.

Nessie23

SCowley88 wrote: »

Brilliant! If I use that as my main card won't have any problem meeting the 'five transactions a month' clause then shunt Metro and Clarity in to backup. Thanks.

Remember N&P have two types of accounts:

a) Gold Classic (requires minimum funding of £500 per month)
b) Gold Light (requires at least five transactions per month)

I am not too sure if card transactions would count as part of these 5 transactions (you would have to check with N&P, I cannot find the exact info. on their website).
If in doubt, it might be worth setting up a few automated standing orders (moving money in and out of the account) to make sure you always meet their 'five transactions per month' requirement.

tomdavison

SallySunshine wrote: »

I used to use Nationwide debit card to withdraw euros abroad, now of course they charge.
I have read an earlier post where someone was charged over £6 to withdraw 300e.

As we normally will withdraw 2 x 300 whilst we are away, i think that is rather steep. We usually go away 3-4 times per year and usuallly to Europe.
The other way I am thinking is to load up a new FairFX euro card, I already have their Anywhere card for booking flights.

Their rates seem quite good and charges are 1.5e for withdrawal.

Or am I better off loading up their Anywhere card in £s and using that at £1 withdrawal fee, I can't remember their exchange rate.

Of course the other way is to just buy Euros before we go away, but the last transaction ended in tears:(

I had the same situation with my Nationwide Debit card. Then I thought that I had the solution. The Halifax card makes no charges for ATM withdrawals abroad, and no foreign currency charges, but you do pay interest from the day of withdrawal until it is paid off. So I got one with the intention of pre-loading it with sterling, and then using it only to withdraw cash. That way, I would never be in debit, so would never pay interest. Unfortunately, Halifax had thought of that, and the small print says that they will return any overpayment, effectively closing the loophole. Instead, since I have internet banking, I used the card at an ATM, and then went online to my bank to do an electronic transfer of the sterling equivalent into the Halifax account The payment took 4 days to go through, and as a result, my first withdrawal of 250 euros cost me 23p in interest charges. I made a couple of other withdrawals later, again paying immediately online, but they don't appear on my current statement. I'll post when I get the final charges. I'm not sure what effect purchases would have on this tactic, so I have only used the Halifax card as a cash-card, and made all purchases on my Post Office credit card, which also attracts no charges.

king_rat

i am off to oz next month feb and was reading the paper that said that the aussie dollar is in free fall.i need to change my pound sterling up to aus dollars and after reading this in the paper thought right i better do it now incase it gets worse. i checked the exchange rate and it was 1.53 to the pound so i mentioned it to my mate who also is going over there and he sais well if it is free fall we are best off waiting till it goes lower. surely if it goes lower we wont get so many dollars to the pound and will be worse off.he argued the case and said no we are best off waiting cause if the aus dollar is in free fall we would be best to wait.
am i missing some thing here or is he right in what he is saying. i cant get my head round it cause surely ide be better off getting it now rather than wait for the free fall.
cheers