Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

dougz_2

Jacquiesce wrote: »

All the percentages and figures been reading around here has got my head pickled !!

I am sure the banks intend that so they can rip us off amongst the confusion of complicated hidden fees.

To answer your query. Although the PO is better than most in that they hint at their actual exchange rate rather than keeping it completely secret, I doubt the PO Travel Card would be cheapest for you. According to their website calculator £1000 would buy you 1096.10 EUR. However their calculator sneakily does not include their hidden extra fee of 1.5% min £3. This becomes obvious if you try using it to convert a few quid. Thus they would obviously start by pocketing an extra £15 for themselves and only convert £985, leaving you with 1079.66 EUR.

Compare that to fairfx, who indicate on their website that they would give you 1115 EUR. A saving of over £30. On top of that their ATM fee is less. That still might not be quite the cheapest but it is very hard to find out who is.

SINBAD_2

If it's possible, ask your parents/guardians to open an account at Nationwide for you, and then put your money in it. That way you can use the card at cash machines, although be careful spending it in places where they will check your name and that on the card eg buying plane tickets.
have a good trip

Hoodwink

Hi,

We've recently bought a holiday home in Cyprus and now wish to furnish it. We have a Cypriot bank account c/w debit card and our dilema is whether we use an Abbey Zero card to buy furniture or transfer money into our Cypriot account using a company like Moneycorp or HiFx and use our debit card to make purchases, transactions using this method are free.

Despite the Abbey card being fee free for overseas transactions I'm having difficulty finding out what the exchange rate is if we use the Abbey card, i.e. how it compares against Moneycorp. We are looking to spend around £3,500 and obviosly I want to get the most from my GBP. Does anyone have any idea's as to which will be the most cost effective method?

chillybean

pennystretcher wrote: »

I use the Nationwide Flex account to withdraw money when I'm abroad. They do not charge a separate withdrawal fee (ATM withdrawals only), so I would recommend that one. I only load up the account before my holiday. I have been very happy with the card and it makes managing my holiday budget much easier.

If you use credit cards abroad, Nationwide credit card doesn't charge extra for the usage abroad.

Check with Nationwide in case they have changed the terms and conditions on these...

I have read an article in the Guardian online saying that Nationwide WILL be charginf a fee for overseas transactions from May 2009 link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/feb/25/nationwide-credit-card-rates

SINGLE

help going to kapparis cyprus in 3 weeks i want 1200 pounds worth of euros there are 4 of us going we want 300 worth each so thought if put money together get better rate and free delivery i have a nationwide debit card what should i do any info would be greatfull as to what we should do cheers

SINGLE

i also have a m&s credit card

Bathfanjim

I'm going to France this Sat 7th March and have an HSBC Visa debit card, plus a HSBC Mastercard credit card. How am I best to take my money abroad? Do I take a fist full of euros from UK and pay cash for everything? Do I draw out a wodge of cash when I'm there an thereby only get charged one fee or what?!!! Help?!!! I'm erring towards the cash thing from the UK...........

iamdprice

Hi,

I read the article and it seemed obvious that the best bet was to get a particular credit card. However I haven't and haven't really got the time to get this sorted (I don't really go away very often).

However looking into it the credit cards didn't seem to be that bad, as despite adding 2/3% they seemed to use wholesale exchange rates that made up for that (as compared with changing for cash).

i.e. the card charged 2.99%, but used an exchange rage of 1.13 Euros/GBP, so even taking off the 2.99 you still ended up with a rate of 1.1 EUR/GBP which was as good as most of the cash exchange companies.

So surely with the extra protection you can get these "cards from hell" are still better than cash? Or am I missing something?

Cheers,

m00head

I have followed the link to the Abbey Zero credit card in the article but it takes me to the 'Abbey Credit Card' page (note the missing 'Zero').

Looking at the summary box for this card shows that they charge "2.95% of the amount of any Transaction in a foreign currency".

Going in via the main www.abbey.com website does not have a link to the Abbey Zero card either.

The only link I can find to the Abbey Zero card on Google is www.abbeycard.com

So, the link in the article either needs updating or someone needs to find out if they have actually withdrawn this card for good.

Former_MSE_Dan

Hi m00head,

Thanks for posting - ive just rung abbey and the zero card was withdrawn at 9am today, just as we were sending out the email!

We're redrafting the article right now

Dan