Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

stilltheone

park_gate wrote: »

I have an old Nationwide gold card and the previous post looks about right to me; although after nearly switching to Nationwide I've now gone back to Santander due to Nationwide's changes to their foreign currency. So I don't use my Nationwide card much now.

Pre-paid are OK if you can't get credit but you take a hit on the exchange rate and the charges are higher. Don't take my word for it but checkout MSE:

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

I would suggest trying to switch your main bank account to Santander or Halifax then apply for their credit cards. Talk to them before to see what you need to do to be successful.

I was rejected by Halifax but accepted by Santander so I would recommend start with Santander. They had problems with their computer systems after the take over but I would say their customer service is not too bad now.

Also it looks to me like employees of the pre-paid cards are trying to talk them up so be wary of some of the posts here.

Terry

Another smartypants is born..... and his name is Terry.

The Nationwide Gold CC has the SAME T&Cs as before. There is no 'commission free' allowance to build up.
This only applies to the NEW Nationwide CC. OK?

If you don't know of what you write, perhaps you should not write at all. It's only tells us something about you. That you don't understand the subject.

Follow the links recommended and read for yourself instead of mimicking a sheep.

stilltheone

Nosmo_King wrote: »

Going to Spain in a week or so, I have got a Clarity card but ideally would prefer to also have an alternative too (eggs in one basket and all that)
(Although we will have our Nationwide Flex A/C cards, they are intended for emergency use only these days) Will probably opt for the Fairfx card as it's exchange rates are around 1% higher than Caxton or Travelex but only if withdrawals are of approx 200eur, much less then the atm charge would cancel out the better exchange rate. At the end of the day if your holiday spend is going to be around £1500/£2000 I don't think there would be much to choose between these prepaid cards and a Clarity card (I suspect you would be looking at pence rather than any massive saving)

Bad choice. Take the Travelex Cash Passport Globe as a backup.
Don't be like some others who don't bother to read the T&Cs for themselves before spouting off.

Sadly, it's people like Meher who confuse the people who don't know better, by posting misinformation.

Nosmo_King_2

stilltheone wrote: »

Bad choice. Take the Travelex Cash Passport Globe as a backup.
Don't be like some others who don't bother to read the T&Cs for themselves before spouting off./QUOTE]

Yes, you are right, based on the current rates it works out better than the other prepaid cards , although this would be affected if the exchange rates went down (but there again, they could go up!) so this looks to be the best bet for an alternative card, just a bit put off by the dormancy fee.
cheers!

stilltheone

Nosmo_King wrote: »

stilltheone wrote: »

Bad choice. Take the Travelex Cash Passport Globe as a backup.
Don't be like some others who don't bother to read the T&Cs for themselves before spouting off./QUOTE]

Yes, you are right, based on the current rates it works out better than the other prepaid cards , although this would be affected if the exchange rates went down (but there again, they could go up!) so this looks to be the best bet for an alternative card, just a bit put off by the dormancy fee.
cheers!

What dormancy fee??

Nosmo_King_2

stilltheone wrote: »

Nosmo_King wrote: »

What dormancy fee??

Sorry, Because the Travelex Euro Cash Passport had a dormancy fee, I assumed the Globe would also, have checked and it doesn't seem to.
cheers (again)

stilltheone

Nosmo_King wrote: »

stilltheone wrote: »

Sorry, Because the Travelex Euro Cash Passport had a dormancy fee, I assumed the Globe would also, have checked and it doesn't seem to.
cheers (again)

Not a problem.

robhardwick

mytravelcash is a very good prepaid mastercard,

Offers 1% cashback on point-of-sale purchases and free cash withdrawals. May not have the best exchange rate but good card all round. Also quidco offer £7.50 on ordering one : )

Rob

antsea

Hey there. Wondered if you can check something out for me. I have at least a week and a half before I go to Korea. I want to get a prepaid card for a couple of reasons and load £600.

From what I can gather the fairfx anywhere card wil be best, but people have been recommending the travelex one. Just checking if there's something I've missed.

1) Will this be the best rate? 2) Is there a big possibility it won't arrive in time? 3) I have a niggling doubt about the company going bust as I can't really afford to replace it. It seems unlikely, but would travelex say be safer?

Thanks for your help.

richcow

Hi,

According to MSE the Halifax Clarity credit card appears to be the cheapest way to spend money abroad at the moment given its lack of fees etc.

Halifax will have a currency exchange rate, which I assume changes on a daily basis (correct me if I'm wrong). Is that rate likely to be better or worse than the best currency exchange providers in the UK?

For example, if I buy something for x amount of euros when I am abroad, is it not likely that the currency exchange rate applied by Halifax at that point will be worse than if I had exchanged GBP into euros cash before I travelled and then used that cash to purchase the item? And hence, using the credit card would be more expensive that using euros cash?

(Assuming I had got the cheapest foreign cash from MSE's TravelMoneyMax.com, and not taking into consideration the risks of carrying large sums of cash around.)

Furthermore, I won't know Halifax's currency exchange rate at the time I'm making a purchase, but I will know the rate I got when I purchased the euros cash.

Many thanks
Rich

stilltheone

antsea wrote: »

Hey there. Wondered if you can check something out for me. I have at least a week and a half before I go to Korea. I want to get a prepaid card for a couple of reasons and load £600.

From what I can gather the fairfx anywhere card wil be best, but people have been recommending the travelex one. Just checking if there's something I've missed.

1) Will this be the best rate? 2) Is there a big possibility it won't arrive in time? 3) I have a niggling doubt about the company going bust as I can't really afford to replace it. It seems unlikely, but would travelex say be safer?

Thanks for your help.

Travelex Cash Passport Globe is better value.
Don't give yourself a headache. Pick it up at the airport if you have a concern over delivery times.

Ordering the card via Top CashBack will get you £3 back. Overall cost then will be a mere 0.99% per transaction.