Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

pcyuljr

It must have been the curry giving me that feeling. E-mail reply

Thank you for your email.

If you wish to withdraw your money, we generally recommend that you do
so via any ATM that accepts MasterCard®. This is often the cheapest way
to withdraw your money as long as the amount isn’t too high, as you only
pay either EUR €1.50 or USD $2.00 plus the 1.4% out of currency fee or a
£1.50 FLAT FEE if you are using the Sterling card. The rate is exchanged
at the MasterCard wholesale rate. If you have a large amount of funds
left on your card it may work out cheaper to refund it through FairFX.

You can also spend the remaining money back here in the UK over the
counter to use up the funds left on the card. You will be charged 1.4%
on all point of sale transactions; this is the same for all retail
FairFX cards.


Thanks given as per the deal.

I ordered travel cash through ICE this afternoon, only to now be told my order is suspended as they are awaiting payment. Despite me making bank to bank transfer with both participating in the Faster payment scheme. Life's hard,

TakeThis

Aaaahhh...it feels good. :beer:

You really should get yourself one of the better accounts, such as Metro Bank, N&P or perhaps the Halifax Clarity CC.

wonko

Hey all, Travelex rate against the Euro yesterday was 1.50
This morning, pre-sale, it moved to 1.55
During the 'sale' it moved to 1.60 rank level with Sainsbury’s - it is now some 30 mins or so past the 1 Hour sale close time and the rate remains the same.
Guess it is down to convenience for collection really.

TakeThis

wonko wrote: »

Hey all, Travelex rate against the Euro yesterday was 1.50
This morning, pre-sale, it moved to 1.55
During the 'sale' it moved to 1.60 rank level with Sainsbury’s - it is now some 30 mins or so past the 1 Hour sale close time and the rate remains the same.
Guess it is down to convenience for collection really.

What are you talking....? Looks as if you left out a '1' in all of your figures...

lostgirlontour

lostgirlontour wrote: »

In the good old days I used my Nationwide debit card to get cash from Credit Union ATMs in the US without being charged any fees by Nationwide or the credit unions. I have now got the Halifax Clarity card (based on advice from this site) and was thinking I could use that to get cash from Credit Union ATMs without being charged a fee by them (and hopefully pay off quick enough to avoid much interest). Now starting to wonder if the Credit Unions charge a fee for cash advances on credit cards and it is only debit cards that are fee free. Wondered if anyone had recent experience of doing this?? Please.

I am now in a position to answer my own question. Thought I would in case it helps anyone else.
I took my Halifax Clarity card to Hawaii. I knew I would need to draw about a fair bit of cash so I set up 3 payments from my current account to the card spread over the 3 weeks I was away. Payments are applied to the cash advance first. I researched the locations of Credit Union ATMs because I knew even if they charged it would not be exhorbitant. They all did charge; between $2 and $3 irrespective of the amount I got out. There seemed to be a maximum limit of $300 per withdrawal which always came in used $20s. Drew out more than I intended (or needed) so hadn't made the payments quite big enough. Got charged £1.19 in interest on the cash advances and got good exchange rates. Pretty pleased with that.
Might have to go again.

skituscanycom

I was persuaded to get an Escape pre-paid Mastercard when I upgraded my mobile 'phone at Phones 4 U a while back. I loaded £20 onto the card and thought that it would be a good source of "emergency cash". For normal pre-pay I use Caxton FX as their rates are good (sometimes even better than Fair FX, but you have to keep an eye out for this) and, of course, they have the great benefit of no ATM fees outside the UK.

Anyway, back to the ESCAPE card.

I went to use it and it said I had no money.

When I got back to the UK I called them and they said that they had closed my account due to inactivity.

I said what about my money?

They said, there's no money because after 90 days we deduct £1 per month "dormancy fee" if you don't use or load your card.

YES! You too could have all your funds stripped!!

They said that the booklet that came with the card says this, but I can find NOTHING that says this. Only on the web-site.

So - DON'T get duped into having this CRAP card when there are really good ones like Caxton FX around.

Hope this helps someone else.

beriberi

I booked a great rate from Travelex to pick up foreign cash at the airport. Paid over internet by my Lloyds debit card (only card I have). Then got stung by lloyds for charges, thereby negating the great rate. If you see a great rate, how do you pay by cash so missing the card charges?

alan_p_brown

Had the same problem with Barclays; Travelex are great, but Barclays debit card surcharges for foreign cash unless you get it from them!
I think that this is something that the proposed changes to credit & debit card charges will probably address when it comes in.
In the mean time, I am using Halifax Clarity. Foreign purchases AND foreign ATM withdrawls at the standard Mastercard rate with no surcharges for either. ATM cash does attract interest from the day of withdrawal, but that doesn't amount to much, especially as I always clear the outstanding balance as soon as I get back in the country (I have never had these adding up to more than 20p). So Clarity looks good; especially if you can get on their lower rates of about 12%. Look back in the thread and you will see discussions about pre-loading the account with credit; the account rules do not allow it, but people get away with it anyway (I have never bothered).

RS62

iereboy wrote: »

Post office credit card is free to use abroad. No charges!

Yes but be careful how you top the card up, like one of the earlier posts I used the Lloyds debit card to originally load the card before I left the UK, this is classed as a foreign transaction. What annoyed me was that my bank was next door to the post office, I used the card thinking it would be classed as a normal debit. Should have simply withdrawn the cash and walked into the post office with it. Also got hit with £4.50 every time I topped up the card while away.

Won't be using it in this way again and will look for something else next time that I can add to either by phone or online when we go on holiday again. In fact the original Nationwide card I read still has this feature, I thought they dropped it but apparently the older cards can still be used to charge against cash in your account while away which is perfect. Wil look into that when I'm planning to be away again.

As mentioned these charges are being looked at (about time) until then vote with your feet and avoid companies who make the charges...;)

KTF

I think you are getting confused. Pre-loading i.e. making a payment to a credit card is not a foreign transaction.

Buying currency using a debit card may incur a charge.