Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

John_Pierpoint

"Dynamic currency conversion" is what it is called in the jargon, I first came across it half a dozen years ago in a French supermarket - so now I take great delight in getting cash out of an ATM first, and then holding up the queue as I inspect every note and coin in the two way transaction.

Nationwide (used to?) issue a credit sized piece of card with instructions in multiple languages not to impose this scam. Unfortunately it is the manager not the poor sap on the till that makes the decision.

NicNak247

Hi

Apologies if this has been covered already.

I'm going to Australia for a year to work but taking a few weeks to tour around Australia before starting work.

I have already opened up a bank account out there and I was wondering the best method to take money with me;

A: Transfer £ into my Australian bank account before I go to use until I find work or;
B: Take out a sterling currency card and load as required (I dont want to transfer more £ than I need to my australian bank account as I want to keep some in my uk account)

If I go with the sterling card can anyone recommend a good one. I've been searching the internet but so many sites give conflicting info.

thanks

Nic

CarolynCh

CarolynCh wrote: »

Just a quick warning - be very careful when using a debit/credit card abroad that you keep hold of the terminal until the transaction has finished even if the member of staff tries to get it from you (they do seem to get angry if you keep hold of the terminal so you need to be assertive - unfortunately I have not been assertive enough). It is becoming much more widespread for the card merchant to offer to do the conversion into sterling and (from my experience) the staff are being told to encourage you to do this (or to do it for you without you knowing). The rate they use is lousy and is often much worse than you would get cash for. A recent experience for me was pressing "no" when asked if I wanted to convert and then the member of staff snatching back the terminal, going back one screen and changing my instruction. A quick calculation shows that I paid nearly 4% extra.

I think we need a Martin Lewis campaign to stop this happening at all - anyone know how to go about it?

Thanks zagfles and murphydavid I will try that. Yes, it was after I had entered the PIN. It wasn't a huge amount in this instance but this has happened more than once - the amount of profit that the merchant services people must be making from this is huge. There is also a problem when the shop assistant does not know English and assumes that the dialogue means that the transaction has failed, presses cancel and asks you to pay in cash!

John_Pierpoint

NicNak247 wrote: »

Hi

Apologies if this has been covered already.

I'm going to Australia for a year to work but taking a few weeks to tour around Australia before starting work.

I have already opened up a bank account out there and I was wondering the best method to take money with me;

A: Transfer £ into my Australian bank account before I go to use until I find work or;
B: Take out a sterling currency card and load as required (I dont want to transfer more £ than I need to my australian bank account as I want to keep some in my uk account)

If I go with the sterling card can anyone recommend a good one. I've been searching the internet but so many sites give conflicting info.

thanks

Nic

Nic is there some problem with your credit rating that prevents you from opening a Metro bank account, complete with debit card, and getting a Halifax "Clarity" credit card, here before you go?

The only other issue you have is the future value of the Ausssie Dollar - it is currently "over valued" because of the huge Chinese demand for its raw materials. Will it fall now that China is growing at "only" 7% .
(cf UK).

What is your objective in working in Aus ? So you understand the dual taxation implications? My guess is that this is a "gap year" for you and the objective is not to come back with a wad of money?

NicNak247

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Nic is there some problem with your credit rating that prevents you from opening a Metro bank account, complete with debit card, and getting a Halifax "Clarity" credit card, here before you go?

The only other issue you have is the future value of the Ausssie Dollar - it is currently "over valued" because of the huge Chinese demand for its raw materials. Will it fall now that China is growing at "only" 7% .
(cf UK).

What is your objective in working in Aus ? So you understand the dual taxation implications? My guess is that this is a "gap year" for you and the objective is not to come back with a wad of money?

Thanks for the reply

I live in Northern Ireland so there are no Metro branches there so I'm not sure if I can open an account with them.

I have 4 credit cards already and I am not good with credit so I was trying to avoid getting another one.

I hope to find work in Oz and possibly stay there if I can get sponsored. If not, I would like to save enough money in Oz to head to another country to work as i've got the travelling bug.

NiftyDigits

NicNak247 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply

I live in Northern Ireland so there are no Metro branches there so I'm not sure if I can open an account with them.

I have 4 credit cards already and I am not good with credit so I was trying to avoid getting another one.

I hope to find work in Oz and possibly stay there if I can get sponsored. If not, I would like to save enough money in Oz to head to another country to work as i've got the travelling bug.

Cash Passport Globe. You can pick it up four hours after ordering. But only good for you if you are close enough to Belfast City Airport.

Will1

First time blogger...

Fair FX card looked a good description for someone like me travelling Europe for a few months just wanting a decent, non-charging card to get my euro's.

Perhaps me being a bit dim but just a warning that the £10 bonus offer when topping your Fair FX card is for the initial top up ONLY. The description made me think it was each time I topped up which is why I chose it. Think I'll stick with the Auqa card, don't need the credit but no fee on purchases and feel a little 'ripped off' with the Martin Lewis description of Fair FX. Then again, I am from Yorkshire!

NiftyDigits

Will1 wrote: »

First time blogger...

Fair FX card looked a good description for someone like me travelling Europe for a few months just wanting a decent, non-charging card to get my euro's.

Perhaps me being a bit dim but just a warning that the £10 bonus offer when topping your Fair FX card is for the initial top up ONLY. The description made me think it was each time I topped up which is why I chose it. Think I'll stick with the Auqa card, don't need the credit but no fee on purchases and feel a little 'ripped off' with the Martin Lewis description of Fair FX. Then again, I am from Yorkshire!

Yes, it's you being a bit dim and perhaps a little bit greedy.

Though the Prepaid 'Spending Overseas' section is seriously lacking.

A better option altogether is the Cash Passport Globe. No ATM withdrawal fee abroad(unlike the FairFx currency cards). Just a blanket 1.49% off the Mastercard 'wholesale' exchange rate on transactions.
Purchase via a Cashback website to get 0.5% of your initial topup back. i.e TopCashBack > Travelex > Globe card

If you intend to withdraw relatively large amounts(equivalent of £150 and over) whilst overseas, the Kalixa card via TopCashBack can be the best value of all.

Ophiothrix

Hi all,

My wife and I are travelling to Argentina in a few weeks. Following advice on MSE we have applied for the current account with Metro Bank on our visit to London (extremely nice and helpful staff!). We were also planning to apply for the post office credit card. But seeing that the Metro card can be used for both withdrawals and payments and doesn't charge any fees I wonder if a credit card would be redundant. Or is there still some benefit in using a credit card, for instance better exchange rates (both Metro debit card and post office credit card are by MasterCard).

There's also some kind of foreign currency crisis in Argentina as the central bank is trying to keep artificially high exchange rate of Peso to US Dollar (in contrast to lower "real" rate). I wonder therefore, what rate we're likely to be charged, when withdrawing Pesos in a bank or at an ATM (the account is in pounds), i.e. the official "MasterCard" rate or the rate established by Argentinial government. In view of this, would it make sense for us to buy some extra US dollars in UK as then we could have an option of exchanging them at a better "unofficial" rate.

Any insight and advice are much appreciated!

NiftyDigits

Ophiothrix wrote: »

Hi all,

My wife and I are travelling to Argentina in a few weeks. Following advice on MSE we have applied for the current account with Metro Bank on our visit to London (extremely nice and helpful staff!). We were also planning to apply for the post office credit card. But seeing that the Metro card can be used for both withdrawals and payments and doesn't charge any fees I wonder if a credit card would be redundant. Or is there still some benefit in using a credit card, for instance better exchange rates (both Metro debit card and post office credit card are by MasterCard).

There's also some kind of foreign currency crisis in Argentina as the central bank is trying to keep artificially high exchange rate of Peso to US Dollar (in contrast to lower "real" rate). I wonder therefore, what rate we're likely to be charged, when withdrawing Pesos in a bank or at an ATM (the account is in pounds), i.e. the official "MasterCard" rate or the rate established by Argentinial government. In view of this, would it make sense for us to buy some extra US dollars in UK as then we could have an option of exchanging them at a better "unofficial" rate.

Any insight and advice are much appreciated!

You will get the official Mastercard rate from the ATM.
For some things, such a Car Hire, you will need a CC. So yes, you should have one at hand.
Metro Bank's CC is even better than the Post Office card, as it is also handy for cash withdrawals too.