Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

PeacefulWaters

smudger1998 wrote: »

I have just come back from a month away in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. I took Martin's advice and used my Halifax Clarity MasterCard. Unfortunately most retailers charged between 2% and 5% and the ATMs in Bangkok all charged around 180B (£3.60) to make the withdrawal.


I'm sorry Martin and those at MSE but I could not seem let down by this advice every time they mentioned the charge.


Has anyone else had this experience, or is it only me? Can someone from MSE get back to me on this or at least put a warning on the webpages so others do not fall into this trap?

The charges you mention aren't specific to Clarity.

How much would it have cost you to use, say, a Barclaycard for the same transactions? My guess is Clarity has still saved you money over alternative options.

Bank counters in Thailand don't charge the ATM fee.

thesmithsuk

Hi,

I hope someone can help advise.
My husband is in Hong Kong on a short business trip and, to his surprise, he just got paid in cash (HKD).
Would it be better for him to exchange it over there or wait till he's back in the UK?

zagfles

smudger1998 wrote: »

I have just come back from a month away in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. I took Martin's advice and used my Halifax Clarity MasterCard. Unfortunately most retailers charged between 2% and 5% and the ATMs in Bangkok all charged around 180B (£3.60) to make the withdrawal.


I'm sorry Martin and those at MSE but I could not seem let down by this advice every time they mentioned the charge.


Has anyone else had this experience, or is it only me? Can someone from MSE get back to me on this or at least put a warning on the webpages so others do not fall into this trap?

When I was in NZ I used my Clarity everywhere, hotels, motels, hostels, restaurants, activities, attractions etc and only one placed charged any CC fee and that was only 1.5%.

What retailers were charging you 2-5%?

We stayed at a hostel in Singapore on the way back which had a 4% CC charge, but I avoided that by getting cash out and paying cash.

NiftyDigits

Paxton wrote: »

Can any one tell me if there is a Travel card for 16 and 17 year olds. My daughter and friends are going on holiday and don't want they to carry cash is there a card they can use. Know most you have to be 18?

Caxton cards allow you to have a secondary cardholder of that age.

Pete

I see they charge to close the card and MSE advice is to not bother as they don't charge a fee to keep card. However if I come home with money left on the card what's the best way to get it off the card. I presume just accept the UK ATM charge of €1.50/$2 and withdraw all that's left in one go. Is there a limit to amount that can be taken of ATM here and abroad?
Another problem, MSE say 'Travel money prepaid card' is the card with less fees so make sure you get this one and not the 'prepaid Mastercard' however there is no 'Travel money prepaid card' both options are a Mastercard?

Last question, do you just use these cards like a normal debit card in all shops that take a bank card and will I get a pin etc.

Kernow666

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Caxton cards allow you to have a secondary cardholder of that age.

the travelex card does as well primary needs to be 18+ but secondary can be 16+

jds1

To keep it short my Travelex Cash Passport wouldn't work in any ATM in Brussels so I had to use my own bank card incurring costs. I had loaded the Cash Passport with 500 euros which I had no access to. When I returned to England I asked if they could refund the money into my bank account at the same rate I purchased it for. They refused and offered to buy it back for around £300 which was almost £100 less than what I had bought it for just a few days earlier! After much haggling the best they could offer me was £370, still leaving me £30 out of pocket.
I have since cut up my card and now use Ukash, much better.
I will never use Travelex again.

Snapelover

Going to Zakynthos on 10th May, long time since we were abroad. What is the best way to take holiday money? Cash or card?

fultond

I have a Spanish mortgage so use Moneycorp to transfer regular payments to my Sabadell Spanish mortgage account. Rate is OK, but for holiday money I now use a card I recently found called WeSwap.

There are different options for doing swaps, but their simple currency exchange charge is 1.5% below mid-rates. This is their worst case rate. I have only done 2 money exchanges to date to test it, but I have been able to get free withdrawals in the UK and Spain from € ATMs that are linked to Mastercard. It loads the currency at the agreed rate onto the card for you to withdraw whenever.

It looks to be a Scandinavian company looking at the currencies the card supports, but it supports USD, GBP and EUR, so works for me.

Cheapest rates I've had since Citibank changed their UK Euro account rates last year.

If you know anybody who wants to exchange currencies in the opposite direction they offer a "free" friends service, where it exchanges at mid rates with no charges at all. Unfortunately no use to me at the moment.

Certainly worth googling as it has worked well for me.

Dave

slorimer

Hi all I just opened an M&S current account, and the fine print says that there are no fees at all for withdrawing non-sterling cash from a cashpoint, no direct debits needed, no regular funding needed, no monthly fee :T

Not so good for purchases or withdrawing cash from a money-changer - 2.75% fee, no minimum fee though.

This should be on the travel money list - easier to manage than N&P which has a £500/month funding requirement.

Opening is a bit of a faff and takes about three weeks from online application to debit card in your hand. There is no automatic email saying that your application was received, I had to call to ask what the delay was 2 days later - they lost my income details somehow which stopped processing, then an email came a week after with approval, then a week after that two papers forms came in the post to sign, and then a week after that a debit card and internet banking details arrive in the post.