Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

chaddy2

If you have a current account with the santander group of banks ( abbey alliance & leicester bradford & bingley ) and you pay in a minimum of £1000 per month you can make withdraw'als from any santander branch in spain or the canaries and you will receive the bank rate with no charges at all.

Bazzzzer

Hi All

Any advice gratefully received on best Cards to use when withdrawing cash and spending with cards in Australia.
I Have a Nationwide current account and Debit Card and Tesco Visa Credit Card. Checked out the MSE guide and looks like using a Tesco Card is a no no. Have a Santander Credit card but not the Zero one listed. Many Thanks in Advance

murphymum

Hi, there is loads to read about on this forum, so if you trawl through it you'll find what info you're looking for.

However, personally, I spent 3 weeks in Oz in October last year, I took the FairFX card, and a Halifax Clarity card. Had no trouble with either.
Have a great trip.

thrifty30

Hi
I travel both to Europe and worldwide every 2 months or so. Previously I used a Nationwide flex debit card to withdraw cash abroad and then a Nationwide credit card for spending in Europe and a Post office credit card for spending worldwide.
The Nationwide debit card is now imposing a 2% load and £1 withdrawal fee for cash.
I have tried doing my sums to see what is my best option for cash withdrawal now and it seems the best option is still to use the Nationwide debit card (despite the charge) followed by the Post Office credit card.
Do people agree with this or can they suggest a better option? As I travel so much, constantly having to order and pick up at currency exchange places doesnt work for me.
Thanks!;)

Nessie23

thrifty30 wrote: »

Hi
I travel both to Europe and worldwide every 2 months or so. Previously I used a Nationwide flex debit card to withdraw cash abroad and then a Nationwide credit card for spending in Europe and a Post office credit card for spending worldwide.
The Nationwide debit card is now imposing a 2% load and £1 withdrawal fee for cash.
I have tried doing my sums to see what is my best option for cash withdrawal now and it seems the best option is still to use the Nationwide debit card (despite the charge) followed by the Post Office credit card.
Do people agree with this or can they suggest a better option? As I travel so much, constantly having to order and pick up at currency exchange places doesnt work for me.
Thanks!;)

Keep your post office card for spending and get either a metro bank or norwich and peterbrough bs account for fee free withdrawals abroad.

Nessie

alexei2k

Beware Post office credit card services:
They lost my Driving Licence photocard that I sent with my application for a credit card and did not even notice that, asking me for the 1st form of identification again. They did however receive the rest of the application pack including my 2nd ID doc. I conclude the Licence was lost in their offices. How about that for ID fraud prevention and ID theft? It's a financial organization, for someone's sake!

bingobangobongo

Can I ask a question about withdrawing money abroad and booking hotels.

Nationwide charged me 2% for booking a hotel on priceline for NYC. I will be booking for hotels in the USA and I will therefore be charged a similar fee. Also will be charged if I withdraw money from a bank machine or make a purchase.

Now - I saw the santander zero account, but I do not qualify for this as I am not an exisiting customer. BUT if I switch my current account to santander, I can then apply for a zero CREDIT card (not debit). This credit card gives you 6 months purchases at 0%. So I could book my hotels on priceline with out a charge.

I won't be able to get a zero debit card unless I transfer savings to them for 3 months.

I would also get £100 for transferring my current acc and direct debits.

What do you think of this? Has anyone done it or used santander credit card. Will there really be no charges?

Thanks a lot

KTF

Yes the Santander Zero Credit card has no loading for purchases. I have used mine several times and the rate has been pretty much identical to the inter bank rate. If you are planning to use it to withdraw cash then the Halifax Clarity Card is better assuming you get lower exchange rate.

To qualify for the Zero current account you must have had 10k of savings (or mortgage or investment product) with them for a min of 3 months and maintain that 10k balance for the life of the account.

bingobangobongo

Thanks.

I'm going to:
- swap my current account to santander (will get £100 for doing so)
- apply for zero credit card. Book hotels using that.
- put 10k into savings, wait 3 months. Apply for zero account so I can use debit card on travels.

The things we do to save a few £!

KTF

Just check that the savings rates they offer make it worth moving over the 10k and leaving it there rather than getting something like a Halifax Clarity card and using that to spend and take money out overseas instead.