Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

davyb33

Hi, i am going to NYC in 3 weeks with work and wanted to take advantage of the weak dollar ($1.71) as we speak. I wanted to spend about £1000 on my card and maybe lift some cash, $200,while i was there. I have the 6 months interest free offer as i have only just got the card. I plan to pay it off over 4 months. Can anyone tell me if this is a good idea? I keep reading about cash withdrawal interest on the abbey zero but dont understand. Can anyone shed some light?

DavyB

Cloudane

It's one of the best cards you can get for this (second only to Nationwide). The exchange rate is good, and as you no doubt know, no fees. Do phone and tell them you'll be in NYC, and during which dates - it does tell you this in the welcome stuff, but I've heard of people on here failing to see it / think about it and then complaining when it rejects their card due to fraud protection

I had no problems with it, and paid no interest (I paid it off in full before the statement and didn't use it for withdrawals anyway).

Yes, you do still get charged cash withdrawal interest, per day, if you get cash out from an ATM. Even if you pay the whole thing off in full. Do also bear in mind that when you make payments they apply them in their favour, like all credit accounts do - so if you withdraw cash you'll be charged interest on it pretty much until you pay the whole lot off, if I understand correctly.

If you check the article though, Martin has done the calculations and if you pay it off in reasonable time then it's still cheaper than getting stung with all those cash withdrawal fees on all the other cards!

My personal recommendation (not financial advice) would be to use a combination of cheaply exchanged cash to take with you for when you need it - I found the Post Office to be quite good - and do everything else via chip and PIN. This way you won't get charged interest at all. You'll be surprised how little you need cash - I went to Menorca with the card and even there almost everywhere takes cards. I only really used the cash for tips, and the occasional drink. It ought to be the same in the USA, except with even wider card acceptance.

Even better would be a Nationwide account, but it depends if you want to go through all the hassle of opening a current account (as Martin says in his article).

fraxos

cbwalks wrote: »

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.

I would also be interested if someone managed to get a straight answer from Abbey or from personal experience know if this works for their Zero card. If it does then it a no-brainer, if not then the PO card seems to be the best card to go for.

Many thanks in advance

Cloudane

I had a very positive answer from an Abbey customer service rep, who double checked with her manager, that yes you can pre-load the Zero card. And yes, if you do it that way then the interest does not apply, not even on cash withdrawals, as you're simply taking money out of what you've lent them.

I didn't end up doing it that way, but loaded £1 onto the card just to see if that part of it worked (it did).

It's true though that the balance needs to be in credit at all times. The key is to make it so that you're taking money back out of what you have lent to them, and not the other way round.

fraxos

Thank you very much for the prompt answer. That is indeed very helpful. Let's just now hope that Abbey process and send me my card within the next 5 weeks...

happybunny199

I'm going to Spain in two weeks for a holiday, and I came across this thread while searching for the cheapest way to get money abroad. We were just planning to take a few euros change, and just use our debit card at the ATMs. But now I've read up a bit, and we have an IF debit card which it seems is one of the worst to use abroad.

So what's the cheapest way for me to spend while we're out there? Like I say, we've got the IF Visa debit card, Goldfish Mastercard and a GE Capital Bank Mastercard between us. I didn't see any mention of our credit cards in the article (plus I have to admit, all these percentages and loads make my head spin! )

Chuffy2

Hello all! 7 years ago I went travelling for a year and, in advance, I transferred my money into a Nationwide account. I haven't looked back since!

I recently moved to the USA (with stops in India, Thailand, China and Japan on the way) and, again, the Nationwide Visa Debit was my life line.

Because of this I would recommend a Nationwide account to anyone considering spending abroad in the future. Do it now, and then you don't have to worry when the holiday comes around. As well as a good exchange rate / no fees, the Visa debit gives you some comfort that you can get your money quickly, almost anywhere in the world.

However, I also have a dilema. Now that I am working in the USA for the foreseeable, how do I go about getting some Dollars back into my Nationwide account? Does anyone have any thoughts on the best (most financially beneficial) way to get Dollars into Pounds, and on which side of the pond it should be done? Is there saving to be made doing an electronic transfer or should I give some hard $'s to my friends each time they come over to visit and ask them to deposit them into my Nationwide account?

I have thought about selling some dollars to my visitors, but I would like a back up plan in case it turns out I don't have as many friends (visiting) as expected!

Thanks

crockpot

Hi

We are going to Nz in the new year and have been watching the exchange rates, its quite good at the mo and am thinking of sending somw money out to my dad who lives out there. He still has an english bank account, so i can pay tthe money into that and he can withdraw and put in his savinga account. But how can I find out what rate I will get? Do all banks give the same?

I have used www.xe.com am I right in thinking this gives the bank rate?

Thanks

bwiiian

I have just got back from the Philippines and before went I changed money at the post office and got a rate of 75 peso to the pound, so for £132 I got 10 000 peso. However, whilst in the Philipines, I used my HSBC debit card and with drew 10 000 peso from a local bank's ATM machine and when I looked at my statement it had only cost me £123 and that includes the £2.40 withdrawal fee!! I couldn't believe it, thats an extra £9. If only HSBC didn't charge for withdrawing then they would be even better! I am now thinking of opening a Nationwide account as that looks like they dont charge for withdrawals, and if I am right I believe that the exchange rate will be the same as it is Visa who decide on the rates. Therefore I would save £11.40 on the PO for every £130 exchanged. That is quite a substantial amount.

ocker107

Hi
Just got the nationwide card, as recommended, that is free to use abroad.
But does anybody know what exchange rate you get? I ask because I have checked nationwide's foreign exchange rates and the are not very good. Do
you get their rate or the rate from the bank you use? Or a commercial rate, what ever that is??