Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

bylromarha

Finally got my abbey zero through

Credit limit a measley £500, going abroad on Wednesday, application to increase limit takes 7 - 10 working days...am looking forward to finding out if it's been accepted or not.

Frustrating thing is that we have a mortgage and both our business accounts with Abbey-and we had a letter inviting us to get a zero card with a £2k limit. Grrrr.

TrishaM

Hi I am off to the USA for the month of July and I was wondering would it be better to take sterling cash and have it exchanged into dollars when I get there?(as I checked the Bank of America and the exchange rate seems to be 1.73 to the £) Or As I have a nationwide Flexaccount and C/C should I just put the sterling into the Flexaccount and withdraw cash from that.
As I am having a blonde moment, could someone confirm that if I go to an atm with my flex account debit card I will not be charged cash withdrawal fees, only the exchange rate loading of 1%? and it is better to use the C/C for purchases not withdrawing cash?
Sorry for the questions but I have read this forum till I am blue in the face and just want to get it right.
Many thanks TrishaM

barnishroader

Hi, travelling to Rhodes in October and was considering the NW debit card.
Do i have to sign up for the current account and then the e-savings account to get the free european spending?
I take it NW is the best option?
I currently have an A&L current account.

whatusername

TrishaM wrote: »

Hi I am off to the USA for the month of July and I was wondering would it be better to take sterling cash and have it exchanged into dollars when I get there?(as I checked the Bank of America and the exchange rate seems to be 1.73 to the £) Or As I have a nationwide Flexaccount and C/C should I just put the sterling into the Flexaccount and withdraw cash from that.
As I am having a blonde moment, could someone confirm that if I go to an atm with my flex account debit card I will not be charged cash withdrawal fees, only the exchange rate loading of 1%? and it is better to use the C/C for purchases not withdrawing cash?
Sorry for the questions but I have read this forum till I am blue in the face and just want to get it right.
Many thanks TrishaM

Replied to this elsewhere, BOA is in the 1.50's don't take Sterling.

Baldur

barryheffron wrote: »

Do i have to sign up for the current account and then the e-savings account to get the free european spending?
I take it NW is the best option?

The application page HERE will walk you through the process - just select "I do not plan to use this account as my main account", then "I am opening an e-Savings, e-Savings Plus or e-Bond" and carry on from there.

Tomsoo

Prepaid cards seem a good idea, but are your funds safe if the company running the card goes bust? The Caxton card is run by the Newcastle Building Society, which seems to have some financial problems at the moment, and the FairFX card is run by a company called FairFX plc, which gets a lousy credit rating in the credit check program I use at work. You may lose cash or get it stolen, but potentially you could lose money you have put on the card as well, unless there's an FSA scheme covering it - does anybody know? Or would travel insurance cover any losses?

hollytorious

Hello all!
I have read through 15 pages of postings and can't find an answer to my main question!
Can I preload a Santander Zero card?

Like another poster, I just rang Santander now (15/06/09) and the guy spoke to his manager who said that if the card was preloaded, you would not be charged the 27.9% cash advance fee.

However, another poster said that he was told that you can't do this - they can cancel your card according to their T&Cs.

I can't find their T&Cs on their website - only a synopsis which doesn't cover the issue of pre-loading. (Sorry - just found out I can't post links because I'm a newbie :rolleyes:)

So does anyone have experience of pre-loading?

Basically, I'm going to Hong Kong in September 09 for 5 months to live off my savings. Rough figures for you - I reckon I'll spend about £4k on my c/c and will need to withdraw £6k in cash. I already have the money in a savings account, so paying off bills is not a problem, I just want to avoid fees where I can.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice on this.

confuseddotdotdotcom

my daughter is going to America for four months and is trying to find out the best way to control her money while she is there. She has asked her bank, Nationwide, if she should (or could) open a bank account in America when she gets there, or if they have some partner organisation she should open an account with, or if she should just take a Credit or Debit card with her, but all they told her was that they did not know. Can anybody out there help us, she is going to be working while she is there, so would preferably like to have some sort of account to pay her wages into. Neither of us are very knowledgeable on this subject, but so many of you others on this forum seem to be exceedingly well informed, so I do hope that somebody out there will be able to help us.

Many thanks

dadoallen

We run a charity for Nepali children and have been using Nationwide to pay donations into the account in the UK and an ATM in Kathamndu to withdraw. This incurred no bank charges.
As Nationwide are about to impose charges what now be recommended?
Thanks

HoraceEntaal

Alternatively, get one of these. You can get them loaded in pounds, dollars or euros (smallish charge). Then you could also benefit from not getting charged by Ryanair for using your normal debit/credit card when bookning your flight.
Going to get mine later today, unfortunately too late to use for the flight as I've already paid. Will be interesting to see how many places accept it when I get to S. France - will keep forum posted.