Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

paul7765

:mad: HHEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!

I am off round the world USA-FIJI-NZEALAND-AUSTRALIA-THAILAND-HONG KONG-CHINA @ the end of October. I took Martin's advice and applied for a Nationwide Flex account so I can make ATM withdrawals worldwide for free but THEY HAVE TURNED ME DOWN A DEBIT CARD!!!! I can't quite believe it as I have no bad debts and hadn't even applied for an overdraught.

IS THERE ANY ALTERNATIVES??? The prepaid cards are only $ or € which is no good to me. I have an account with HSBC the 'world bank' which charged me through the roof when I went to Egypt earlier this year! I never had a credit card before so I am going to apply for the ABBEY ZERO credit card but I need a current account that I can just withdraw money out off - I believe credit card withdrawals is a stupid idea.

Ive managed to finish Uni and save loads for this trip and don't want to spend my hard earned money on stupid fees for withdrawing money!

CAN SOMEONE ADVISE ME PLEASE it would be veeeery much appreciated!

Phoebs

Am off to US and Canada four weeks today for 10 days. I only have an Electron card and associated basic bank account.

What is the best way for me to take money for my trip?

I'm trying so hard to understand all that I'm reading, but I'm just getting more confuddled and now I'm getting panic-y cos I don't know what's going on (I like to be in control, and I feel I'm not.. at all)

Thanks

chriseeb

Hi all
I have got a Abbey zero card and it worked a treat. If you can get no cash before hand, spend on the card as much as possible. Get cash from a ATM and on return home pay off all the balance ASAP. I got and exchange rate of 1.25 on the euro and paid less than £1 in interest!! The info on the card does state that you need to contact them before you travel - worth noting. But I have done this for a while after having a nightmare in the USA with cards being questions and having to phone through to UK for approval.

fairfxgoodornot

The FairFX card was recommended as a pre-paid card, however it only gives the exchange rate for euros and dollars, if you want another currency (I want shekels) it says "the exchange rate would be the wholesale MasterCard® market rate".

What is the wholesale Mastercard market rate? is it good? is it better than the worst debit cards mentioned on this site?

wanye

paul7765 wrote: »

:mad: HHEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!

I am off round the world USA-FIJI-NZEALAND-AUSTRALIA-THAILAND-HONG KONG-CHINA @ the end of October. I took Martin's advice and applied for a Nationwide Flex account so I can make ATM withdrawals worldwide for free but THEY HAVE TURNED ME DOWN A DEBIT CARD!!!! I can't quite believe it as I have no bad debts and hadn't even applied for an overdraught.

same happened to me, I opened it for a trip to the states next month, and found out i couldnt even use it to buy online (like even your most basic solo card). when i phoned up about it, they said i needed to go to a branch to discuss it. so i went to a branch (big hassle, as i work weird shifts) and the woman who "helped" me was useless and almost rude!

can this "cash card" be used in US cash machines? the woman couldnt even answer that (does anyone here know?)

Ticko

chriseeb wrote: »

Hi all
I have got a Abbey zero card and it worked a treat. If you can get no cash before hand, spend on the card as much as possible. Get cash from a ATM and on return home pay off all the balance ASAP. I got and exchange rate of 1.25 on the euro and paid less than £1 in interest!! The info on the card does state that you need to contact them before you travel - worth noting. But I have done this for a while after having a nightmare in the USA with cards being questions and having to phone through to UK for approval.

Thanks Chriseeb, will get one if I can- is it a VISA or a MASTERCARD?

I just had 2wks in California and achieved the vast majority of my spending on an A & L visa CC. it is easier to use a UK photocard driving licence rather than passport as ID is usually requested. I used chip and pin for only one purchase!
I guess some greenbacks are always needed but at least with the abbey Zero you can decide cheaply on the fly rather than guessing on a lump sum before you leave!:

blackshore

What about if we flip it.

What's the best way to change Euro into Sterling?

The best rate I have found on the High Street is M&S, would I be better off changing the Euro To Sterling in the countries I visit?, generally the Nederlands.

thanks

Phoebs

Phoebs wrote: »

Am off to US and Canada four weeks today for 10 days. I only have an Electron card and associated basic bank account.

What is the best way for me to take money for my trip?

I'm trying so hard to understand all that I'm reading, but I'm just getting more confuddled and now I'm getting panic-y cos I don't know what's going on (I like to be in control, and I feel I'm not.. at all)

Thanks

Answering my own question here as no-one else has

In the end I applied for a cashplus card - probably not the cheapest, and I know its in sterling not dollars, but it will work for me well once I return too.

Applied for it monday afternoon, it arrived in the post Friday morning... well impressed!

Toreador

Not sure if this has been posted before (can't see it), but Abbey Zero have just introduced a £10 fee if you don't use your card for 6 months! So if like me you've only got it for spending abroad, and you don't have at least one foreign trip every 6 months, then you'll need to use it in between for a (small!) purchase. Or just cancel the card and use a different one...

cbwalks

I rang the PO credit card helpline today and was told that I can avoid paying both the fee and the interest on cash advances:
1. Pay off all the debt on the card up to date.
2. Add enough money to the card to cover any cash advances so it is in credit.
3. Do the cash advance transactions eg Travelex/ATM currency.
The card must be in credit by at least as much as the cash advance. Then there will be no fee or interest charged for the cash advance.
So in theory if the card is cleared and enough money put on the card to cover holiday spending I won't be hit by cash advance fees and interest when I use the card to get currency.
quote]

Pleased to confirm that this DOES WORK with the PO Credit card. I used it from Jan 2008 to July 2008 getting money to my son whilst he was on his gap year in NZ.

The way it works is as follows
The card balance must be in credit by at least the amount of the cash advance everytime a cash advance is taken. That means that you must have enough money on the card to cover the cash advance + all purchases made on the card.
If you do not have enough money to cover the whole of the cash advance you will pay the cash advance fee plus the interest as described on MSE. The interest is charged until the card goes into credit again. We paid the charges when I had not quite got the timing for topping up the balance correct so usually only ended up paying it for a couple of days.

The exchange rate used on this card is not loaded, so worked out to be the best/cheapest method of getting cash in NZ, Fiji & the US. This was far cheaper than my son taking money out money using his Abbey debit card or us sending him money to his NZ bank account.

As my son did not have enough employment history to get a credit card in his own name I added him as a secondary card holder to my PO.

Points to note -

1. You need to tell the PO where the card will be used, they only keep this info for 30 days, so I needed to ring each month to reinform them that my son was in NZ. (useful that he was a secondary holder on my card)
2. The application process is a bit long winded, I could not apply for the secondary card at the same time as applying for the primary card.
3. The wording on the proof of identification has to be very exact, mine was rejected as PO counter staff did not get it right. I ended up taking in the exact wording to make sure it was right.
4. You need to go to a PO that has a sub post master, so don't try the smaller offices.
5. The PO credit card staff are really helpful and do know what they are talking about - such a refreshing change.

Hope this helps.

Don't think this method will work f you have done a balance transfer onto this card, am very inclined to get an Abbey Zero as well then I can keep cash advances on PO and foreign purchases on Abbey.

Would love to know if the Abbey Zero card works in same way. Guess we'll need to wait until someone has tried it out.