Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

red_bandora

For some time, I have been following the advice that foreign currency is best bought in the UK using the best rate from TravelMoneyMax, rather than using a debit card in an ATM abroad. However, my experience on a recent holiday in Croatia has been different. According to TravelMoneyMax, the best rate for 1000 kuna would be from Travelex and cost £124.80 (a rate of 801.30 kuna/£). I withdrew 1000 kuna in Croatia using a Nationwide Visa debit card and the cost at the Visa wholesale exchange rate of 8.547 kuna/£ was £117; then taking into account Nationwide's 2% non-EU commission and £1 cash withdrawal charge it was still cheaper to use the debit card abroad.
Is it the general case that the Visa wholesale rate will be so much better than the best available UK exchange rate as to make it cheaper to withdraw from an ATM abroad using a debit card (even taking into account charges such as Nationwide's)? The MoneySavingExpert advice seems to be different.

Baldur

red_bandora wrote: »

Is it the general case that the Visa wholesale rate will be so much better than the best available UK exchange rate as to make it cheaper to withdraw from an ATM abroad using a debit card (even taking into account charges such as Nationwide's)?

Nationwide's fees/charges are *relatively* low compared with some issuers' debit cards - see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges#debit

You can see the VISA & Mastercard rates on their respective websites and make your own comparisons:

VISA

Mastercard

Personally, I would never buy currency in the UK - always using one of my fee-free debit cards for ATM withdrawals abroad.

Toe-Jam

DawnCBUk wrote: »

I also have about $3k of debt that I want to pay off over there at the same time. It's on my US credit card. Can I use the clairty card to pay for it or would it be better just to get the $3k in cash?

Cheers

Dawn

I dont think you can use a credit card to pay a credit card, it has to be a debit card.

turk3y

is that not called a balance transfer?

in which case the Clarity card would give £60 cash back to transfer the $3k dept to it. This would clear the US card but you still have to pay it off, perhaps its worth the £60 but I would say just make sure its paid asap as MS'ers don't like interest payments

John_Pierpoint

guiriman wrote: »

Took my Halifax Clarity Card with me to Canada last year and had a nightmare trying to find an ATM that accepted Mastercard. Heading off to Latin America this summer so looking for a Visa alternative (not willing to switch the current account back to Santander to get the Zero card given their shocking customer service). Took a look at prepaid card but they don't seem great if you're not looking for Euros or dollars.

Any suggestions?

Just back from two "Andean" South American countries - whole trip financed by a "Metro" debit card and a "Halifax Clarity" credit card.

No real problems using either out there (The odd ATM refused the "Metro" - so I then just tried it in a different bank's ATM - I had a VISA just in case but never used it).

I will check tomorrow to see if everything has arrived correctly this end.

Nonshy

I'm going to Vegas... looking to spend about £1500

Mixture of cash and card transactions.

Halifax Clarity card sounds good but I don't understand: "interest charged even if paid in full"

Can I not say spend £1500 on the card, including cash withdrawals and pay it off as soon as i come back?

The interest will surely be minimal?

Nonshy

Halifax rejected me - think it may be because have two other CCs open even though nothing on them!

Might just take cash and Travellers cheques!

dzug1

Nonshy wrote: »

The interest will surely be minimal?

Precisely - but there will be some on the cash elements

Baldur

Nonshy wrote: »

Halifax rejected me - think it may be because have two other CCs open even though nothing on them!

Unlikely, I have three active Credit Cards plus the Clarity card.

PixelPound

dzug1 wrote: »

Precisely - but there will be some on the cash elements

I wonder how it would go if you preloaded it? Would there be no interest, just fees?
For instance my existing Zero says the highest interest accruing elements are paid off first, so if you paid £200 before you went and spent say £150 on cash and £400 on card purchases then there should be no interest from the cash and so long as you paid in full as normal, no interest??
(edit) found this was discussed on P64