Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

starson79

I used this while abroad in America. Application took longer than expected due to specific ID required to send/fax to them. For some reason I had to telephone them and remind them of my application before they posted the new card to me. This was a couple of days before my holiday! Glad I received it in time!
Abroad - no problems with card. Able to withdraw cash and use the card to pay in almost all stores (apart from the ones that only accepted cash!). No fees for using the card abroad - but the ATMs in New York charge a fee for cash withdrawal anyway! So it charged me approx $1.85 per $120 I withdrew (the limit of cash withdrawal per transaction at the ATM).
Still thought this ok - although little disappointed to find out I couldn't avoid fees completely!
Don't know if I'm correct - but when checking my online account throughout the trip I found the transaaction history to be approx two days out-of-date. So I'm still not sure how much money I still have left on the card. I spent the last day hoping I had enough to last me my final shopping trip - which I did (gladly).
Tried to check my account today - now that I'm back home. Unsuccessfully entered my password 3 times and now locked out of my account. Had to email Caxton to help. Awaiting reply. Nuisance.
All in all - ok. But relying on up-to-date balance and a better logging in procedure should be expected?

Oh - and loading cash from my bank account on to the account was instant - no problems with that. Very good.

Granada210

ezglide1450 wrote: »

For those of us with alliance & Leicester or Santander current accounts with a visa debit card you can withdraw cash (euros) from thier ATM's in Spain/Spanish Islands for free ! I am off to the Canary Islands end of the month and clarified that this is true with customer services who also helpfully made a note of my trip so my card wouldnt be blocked whilst away for suspicious activity

This is interesting because this is what I had been led to believe and have been telling people but I was told by one of Santander's telephone operators the other day that it only applies if you actually have a Santander account, my A & L account is only "serviced" by them so does not count! This is despite all my paperwork, branch, statements, etc having the name Santander now. I have written to them as I want to have something in writing before I start using the ATM in Spain thinking I am getting it free!

Has anyone used an A & L card (or Abbey) used their debit card for free in Santander ATMs in Spain?

Toe-Jam

If you still have the Blue A&L card and not the red santander card then you will be charged for using Santander machines in Spain;

veggie4life

Hi, this summer i'm going to be travelling around the EU for around a month this summer. During this time I'll be withdrawing almost a grand in total!

I was just wondering, with such a large sum of money, would the halifax card with which I have to pay interest at the end of the month despite paying it off in full, still be the cheapest option? Or do the best bets change when such large sums of money are involved?

Baldur

veggie4life wrote: »

Hi, this summer i'm going to be travelling around the EU for around a month this summer. During this time I'll be withdrawing almost a grand in total!

I was just wondering, with such a large sum of money, would the halifax card with which I have to pay interest at the end of the month despite paying it off in full, still be the cheapest option? Or do the best bets change when such large sums of money are involved?

As you are in the London area, the Metro Bank Mastercard Debit Card would be your cheapest option, which permits you to withdraw the local currency equivalent of up to £300 per day from ATMs.

I have used mine in Dubai & Bulgaria in the past two months and received excellent rates in both countries.

I only used my Halifax Clarity card for purchases.

veggie4life

Baldur wrote: »

As you are in the London area, the Metro Bank Mastercard Debit Card would be your cheapest option, which permits you to withdraw the local currency equivalent of up to £300 per day from ATMs.

I have used mine in Dubai & Bulgaria in the past two months and received excellent rates in both countries.

I only used my Halifax Clarity card for purchases.

Thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately I've now moved to Nottingham Do you reckon I should go for the Halifax card?

Baldur

veggie4life wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately I've now moved to Nottingham Do you reckon I should go for the Halifax card?

Your choice - you'd receive the same Mastercard exchange rate as the Metro Bank card but ATM withdrawals would attract immediate interest until cleared in full.

You could minimise the interest, if you had access to online banking, by paying off the amount withdrawn via the Clarity card ASAP straight after the transaction.

For example, if I withdrew 400 Bulgarian Leva today at the Mastercard rate of 2.205581, I would log on to my Halifax account and set up a payment to take place as soon as possible to pay off the resulting £181.34 debit to my Clarity card account.

malc_b

Paying off the Clarity as you go along does work, sort of. I did this while in the USA recently. I'd withdraw $100 and when it showed up on the statement I'd pay it off (in round number, so £62 or £63). The payment rules say that any payments go first to cash withdrawals so although I'd made many other purchases the cash withdrawals got first bite.

I say sort of since I reckon they can't do maths - I'm waiting for a detailed breakdown of how they came up with 93p interest. By my reckoning, using my statement dates, I had a £62 cash advance for a total of 16 days which works out at 35p. Even £62 for a full month is only 60p so where does 93p come from? OK it's not a large amount but I still want to know just in case I have to run up larger interest another time. 3x more than expected is a big difference even if it is only 60p on this bill.

Thailand

Hi, I'm looking for some advice if poss.

I have read lots of this thread in different parts, and by searching for 'Thailand' but I'm still lost.

From what I can gather, using ATM's in Thailand is an expensive affair. I've not read good things about TC's either!

I have 2 debit cards (Barclays debit & Halifax easycash) and a handful of prepaids of which the FX card is not one of them. I have mytravelmoney, Bread and Tuxedo (The Sun).

I'm away for 3 weeks in total. After day 6 I leave Thailand for Malaysia so can take out money there if it is considered cheaper!

I also need to make quite a large purchase for a skydive (need my head testing [Thailand]) and wondered if any of the above methods may also be cheaper than others.

I will of course research my prepaids against debits, but wondered if anyone might say anything to narrow it down!! Grateful for any links or advice. Thanks.

John_Pierpoint

malc_b wrote: »

Paying off the Clarity as you go along does work, sort of. I did this while in the USA recently. I'd withdraw $100 and when it showed up on the statement I'd pay it off (in round number, so £62 or £63). The payment rules say that any payments go first to cash withdrawals so although I'd made many other purchases the cash withdrawals got first bite.

I say sort of since I reckon they can't do maths - I'm waiting for a detailed breakdown of how they came up with 93p interest. By my reckoning, using my statement dates, I had a £62 cash advance for a total of 16 days which works out at 35p. Even £62 for a full month is only 60p so where does 93p come from? OK it's not a large amount but I still want to know just in case I have to run up larger interest another time. 3x more than expected is a big difference even if it is only 60p on this bill.

Have you checked the rate of interest Halifax is charging on the card, not all Clarity cards are the same:mad: