Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

NiftyDigits

shar46y wrote: »

I'm going to Malaysia in April and between OH and I, we have a selection of Cards From Hell (Natwest and Lloyds). Anyway, I would prefer to take a pre-paid card with me. From reading this thread and the guides, I gather that Travelex Cash Passport Globe or Kalixa are the best?

I'd appreciate if anyone has experience of how widely either of these is accepted in Malaysia. It's such a hassle (and embarrassing) when the plastic won't work

Kalixa purchased via Quidco or TopCashBack and loaded via Bank Transfer is the best value(especially for larger cash withdrawals and any purchases).

Cash Passport Globe is no longer represents the best value.

Personally, I would take the Halifax Clarity or the Metro Bank Debit and Credit cards and have the Prepaid card as a back up.
Prepaid cards are not to be used for Hotel guarantees and the like. Otherwise they can block your balances and render the card useless for your trip.

bunty109

Could anyone advise on what to do with regards to travel to Kenya? We're off on safari and then go the coast. Lots of meals etc included. What currency would be bet for tips and souvenirs? Kenyan shillings or US dollars?

shar46y

Prepaid cards are not to be used for Hotel guarantees and the like. Otherwise they can block your balances and render the card useless for your trip.

Thanks! We'll get a Kalixa card. If we use one of our "regular" credit cards for hotel guarantees, do we get charged or do you still suggest we get one of the other cards?

drenner

what is everyones opinion on the virgin travel prepay card?

It looks great to me! and after 12 months you have the option of cancelling and they will wire you the money back

zagfles

drenner wrote: »

what is everyones opinion on the virgin travel prepay card?

It looks great to me! and after 12 months you have the option of cancelling and they will wire you the money back

The rates are rubbish!

EUR/Euro 1.1159 1 GBP
USD/US Dollar 1.4926 1 GBP

Mastercard rates are:
EUR Euro 1.202549
USD United States dollar 1.603600

So a 7% charge hidden in the rate!

NiftyDigits

shar46y wrote: »

Prepaid cards are not to be used for Hotel guarantees and the like. Otherwise they can block your balances and render the card useless for your trip.

Thanks! We'll get a Kalixa card. If we use one of our "regular" credit cards for hotel guarantees, do we get charged or do you still suggest we get one of the other cards?

Yes, you can use your normal CC for guarantees and the like, but pay the actual bill with the Kalixa card.

No time to obtain a Metro bank card or similar?

Moneysaver12345_2

What is totally missing is the hidden charge by the network. I have a 0% charge card from Mastercard, and a 0% charge card from VISA.

Just looking at USD to EUR, if I go to mastercard and check their rates, the EURUSD rate is the exact inverse of the USDEUR rate. Going to VISA and doing the same, the rates are about 100 bps apart.

So basically, even a 0% VISA card still charges 0.5% on currency conversion, albeit hidden in the official visa exchange rate.

That makes Mastercard cards clearly superior.

zagfles

Moneysaver12345 wrote: »

What is totally missing is the hidden charge by the network. I have a 0% charge card from Mastercard, and a 0% charge card from VISA.

Just looking at USD to EUR, if I go to mastercard and check their rates, the EURUSD rate is the exact inverse of the USDEUR rate. Going to VISA and doing the same, the rates are about 100 bps apart.

So basically, even a 0% VISA card still charges 0.5% on currency conversion, albeit hidden in the official visa exchange rate.

That makes Mastercard cards clearly superior.

Yes, though when I checked the difference wasn't as big, VISA charge was nowhere near 0.5%, about half of that, and Mastercard did charge but it was very small. See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4189433

KTF

If you have the Clarity card then just get out what you need when you need it from an ATM

Ophiothrix

Hi all,

We travelled to Argentina about two months ago and sorted ourselves a Metro card in the hope of free withdrawals. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out. There are two major ATM operators in Argentina, Banelco and Link (the former is by far prevalent and I can't remember seeing any others). When withdrawing money from Banelco, the machines insisted on charging us a fee of about 20 peso. With the single withdrawal limit of 1000 peso it translated into 2% charge. While still better than most other cards it wasn't particularly free. We failed to withdraw any money from Link machines. Despite numerous options for different card types, none of them seemed to work with Metro card. Our travelling companions had a different card (I can't remember the issuing organisation, but it was a Visa card) and they weren't subject to such charges.

My question is, has anybody experienced similar problems with Metro card in other countries? Particularly in Australia, where we'll be moving in less than a week. Many thanks!