Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

stilltheone

richcow wrote: »

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

Better. That should answer the rest of your questions.

In fact that Halifax card is not the cheapest option; Metro Bank the cheapest.

But let's not let the truth get in front of a good story.

park_gate

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.

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

Do you work for travelex?
Do we need to start report your posts as Spam?

Terry

park_gate

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)

According to MSE the Top prepaid is FairFX so that looks like a good backup but you will take a hit on the exchange rate with a prepaid card.

You may see other people banging on about rival cards and you have to wonder if they are on commission?

Terry

park_gate

stilltheone wrote: »

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

Are you a troll?

Terry

rachelandgromit

Praise for the N and P debit card. I have had this for about 6 months, pay in £500 per month standing order, and have used this in Kenya, France, Venice and Australia. No charges and the £500 a month doesn't have to remain in the account, so I normally transfer it back again, or just use this account to withdraw cash. Have to say N and P customer service is great, they have always been so helpful. I'd even consider moving from Lloyds to N and P.

thecolonel

Once again you seem to have overlooked one of the best, if not THE best card for spending in US$ or Euros. Citibank offer dollar and euro current accounts with a debit card. The exchange rate is exceptionally good and there are no account fees. In two years I have never paid an ATM fee in the US (even if the ATM told me I was going to be charged). I'm so impressed I've now opened a euro account for an upcoming trip to Spain. The only downsides if you are being picky are that you have left-over money hanging around in the account until your next trip and that the transfer time for funds going from your usual UK current account to the citibank account is three days.

stilltheone

thecolonel wrote: »

Once again you seem to have overlooked one of the best, if not THE best card for spending in US$ or Euros. Citibank offer dollar and euro current accounts with a debit card. The exchange rate is exceptionally good and there are no account fees. In two years I have never paid an ATM fee in the US (even if the ATM told me I was going to be charged). I'm so impressed I've now opened a euro account for an upcoming trip to Spain. The only downsides if you are being picky are that you have left-over money hanging around in the account until your next trip and that the transfer time for funds going from your usual UK current account to the citibank account is three days.

It cannot be the best, as there are charges in the form of a percentage taken from the exchange rate.
So whilst it can certainly compete with the Prepaid cards, it is not in the same league as the accounts that deduct nothing at all.
Certainly worth the consideration for someone considering a Prepaid Mastercard.

durrant23

When you use the tool which tells you the abroad fees for your card, it tells you that's it's 'far cheaper to spend on the card than with withdraw cash'. Why is this so, when my card (Metrobank) has 0% loading fee and no fee for cash withdrawals? Surely €100 spent in a shop will cost me the same in sterling as a €100 cash withdrawal?

I'm asking because I have a year abroad in the Netherlands next year and I know that in some places they don't accept visa or mastercard (they have their own special Dutch style cards), so I was planning on using cash withdrawn with the card.

dzug1

richcow wrote: »

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

The Halifax rate will be better than any UK outlet and a LOT better than most

It is extremely unlikely that the Halifax rate will be worse than the rate in the UK. For it to be so there would have to have been a huge change in rates between the two dates

The third is a valid statement, but you would have to be extremely thick to use it as a decision maker. Is it worth spending money to know the exact rate? For example would you rather spend £55 for certain or know that you were spending a bit less than that but only that is was roughly £50?

stphnstevey

Am I right in thinking that when we are in the USA soon, with the Sainsburys Gold Credit Card (the one you pay £5/month), that if we draw cash out of an ATM, the card company won't charge for cash withdrawals (provided the balance is paid in full each month)?

This seems a much better alternative to changing money in the UK?

Will still take a little changed into cash, just in case