Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

cupcake4

Well thank you for that nugget of knowledge!

cupcake4

Anyone used Metro Bank Debit Card in Prague - any probs?

molemanfc

My Question

I need to send some funds to family in australia (about £1500 -£2000) am thinking about loading a prepaid travelex global cash card with aus$ and sending it over there rather than using bank transfers would anyone know if this would be better than paying the bank charges every time i want to send funds

hippowarrior

Hi all
I'm travelling to New Zealand in a couple of months with OH, thought I'd sorted currency out, OH is with Barclay's and they have a partnership with Westpac in N.Z, so withdrawal's are free...happy days.
Then I thought about the fact that we'd want to buy some duty free in transit through Dubai, we both only have Visa debit cards, no credit cards for us.
Would a pre-paid card be the one for us? Or does anyone happen to know the likelihood of being able to use our debit cards in Dubai airport?
Thanks guys

Nessie23

hippowarrior wrote: »

Hi all
I'm travelling to New Zealand in a couple of months with OH, thought I'd sorted currency out, OH is with Barclay's and they have a partnership with Westpac in N.Z, so withdrawal's are free...happy days.

Hi I would still check what exchange rate you will get, as you might get no commission but still get a poor rate.

Then I thought about the fact that we'd want to buy some duty free in transit through Dubai, we both only have Visa debit cards, no credit cards for us.
Would a pre-paid card be the one for us? Or does anyone happen to know the likelihood of being able to use our debit cards in Dubai airport?
Thanks guys

You'll be able to use your debit cards however check what commission you will get charged for foreign transactions. Alternatively you can get yourselves a no fee credit or debit card or go for a pre-paid card as you were mentioning.

NiftyDigits

cupcake4 wrote: »

Well thank you for that nugget of knowledge!

The AEON machine advice was specifically for Thailand.
No such problem in Prague.

steltheo

My daughter is going to India for 6 months as part of her university studies. What is the best way to take and access her money while she is there?

NiftyDigits

steltheo wrote: »

My daughter is going to India for 6 months as part of her university studies. What is the best way to take and access her money while she is there?

Same advice as given to everyone else who comes to this thread.

patrick1

I've just come back from several SE Asian countries. Three things in relation to using cards overseas:

1. I took a Metrobank debit card (Mastercard) but found in Cambodia & Myanmar that there are many ATMs that only accept only Visa or Mastercards but not both. In the town of Kampot there was only one working ATM and that was a Visa one. Fortunately I had a visa card with me too but was stung by nasty fees. Does anyone know of a VISA debit card with no overseas charges/loading?

2. It'd be good to compile a list of overseas banks that don't charge for overseas card withdrawals. In Cambodia ANZ charge US$5 for each overseas card withdrawal whereas Canadia doesn't charge anything. I've noticed the same thing when on holiday in Spain - some banks like Santander charge hefty ATM fee and others don't.

3. The other issue I've encountered is airport duty free shops that put through transactions as GBP without offering the choice of the local currency. The staff are trained to quickly hit the button and not offer the customer the choice. This has happened to me in Beijing, Malaysia and Bangkok, despite me stating beforehand that I wanted to pay in local currency. They then pretend to be confused and not understand.

murphydavid

patrick1 wrote: »

The other issue I've encountered is airport duty free shops that put through transactions as GBP without offering the choice of the local currency. The staff are trained to quickly hit the button and not offer the customer the choice. This has happened to me in Beijing, Malaysia and Bangkok, despite me stating beforehand that I wanted to pay in local currency. They then pretend to be confused and not understand.

This is in fact two transactions. Payment for goods and payment for currency conversion. Provided you stated that you did not agree to the currency conversion I'm pretty sure that this is classified as a non authorised transaction (fraud) and if you can be bothered to note the local currency amount you agreed to pay and inform your card company what was agreed to then when you get your bill they will reverse it.
Also if there is paperwork with a UK figure on it cross out the UK amount and put in the local amount as you sign.