Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

Brielle

I’m going travelling from 20 December 2009, for 5- 6 months, outside Europe. And I've been reading the great advice regarding money matters abroad.

I’ve decided to choose the Santander Zero Credit Card. However, forgive my ignorance, but I don’t understand what ‘cash withdrawal interest if repaid fully’ means. It appears to be poor (27.9%), so I’d just like to know what exactly it means before I go into a branch and apply for one. Also, I’ve looked at their ‘Charges’ section and it says there is a dormant fee of £10, will that be waivered if, after my 6 months of travelling, I cancel the card? One more question (sorry, I have zero knowledge of credit cards, as I’ve never had one before), am I able to set up a direct debit style system, where say I spend £1000 in one month, that bill for £1000 will then automatically come out of my current account? Or can you load up a credit card with money before you go travelling, with say £6000, and just use it like a Debit card?

Hope you can help.
Many thanks!

lee_the_flee

Hi everybody,

I've been reading about the different cards on the site, and I'm trying to decide now between Santander Zero Credit Card and the Post Office credit card...

My scenario: in short, travelling to Asia, South America and North America for 9 months. I predict to do most of my transactions by credit card, but in many of these places I will need cash so I will need to withdraw from the ATM in the local currency. I estimate to spend 1,000 pounds a month.

My question: AS i plan to do most of my transactions as purchases, is it better to get the Post Office credit card as they have a lower APR rate by 2%? Or, considering I will be doing some of my transactions as cash withdrawals (which the Post Office credit card whould charge) is enough to warrant getting the Santander Zero credit card, even if they have a higher interest rate? It's hard for me to say right now how much I will withdraw... and how much I will use by plastic... let's say to be safe it's 60% plastic and 40% withdraw.

Hope this makes sense!

thanks!!!

bert

Thanks for the responses. I guess I will have to accept the 1% fee, and use my nationwide cc for purchases and nationwide cash card for cash withdrawels.

malc_b

Brielle wrote: »

I’m going travelling from 20 December 2009, for 5- 6 months, outside Europe. And I've been reading the great advice regarding money matters abroad.

I’ve decided to choose the Santander Zero Credit Card. However, forgive my ignorance, but I don’t understand what ‘cash withdrawal interest if repaid fully’ means. It appears to be poor (27.9%), so I’d just like to know what exactly it means before I go into a branch and apply for one. Also, I’ve looked at their ‘Charges’ section and it says there is a dormant fee of £10, will that be waivered if, after my 6 months of travelling, I cancel the card? One more question (sorry, I have zero knowledge of credit cards, as I’ve never had one before), am I able to set up a direct debit style system, where say I spend £1000 in one month, that bill for £1000 will then automatically come out of my current account? Or can you load up a credit card with money before you go travelling, with say £6000, and just use it like a Debit card?

The dormant fee is just that. If you don't use it (so santander aren't getting any fees from retailers) then they charge you £10. So use it once every 6mths for a uk purchase if you're not travelling.

Yes you can set up a DD to automatically take the full amount (or just the minimum payment) from your current account. All CC have this AFAIK.

If you withdraw cash that earns interest from the day you withdraw it. You could preload the card but I'm not sure if there isn't something against that in the T&Cs. So the cash is earning interest and that only stops if you pay off the credit card in full, that's why the rate quoted is 'cash withdrawal interest if repaid fully'. The interest is worked out daily so the figure is the worst case I'd guess where you withdraw cash on day 1 of the new statement. If you don't pay in full then the interest keeps going on.

A NW cash card and a NW bank account is the other alternative. You can get a NW current account by sayiing you want to take out an e-saver for some savings.

martinhouse

A question regarding us dollars, going to florida 3 weeks, not been before and usually take cash and travellers cheques abroad.
Is it better to take a pre loaded card and dollars or travellers cheques, I have a 0% natwest credit card but think i will be charged too much to use this.
any advise will be appriciated

neilbond007

martinhouse wrote: »

A question regarding us dollars, going to florida 3 weeks, not been before and usually take cash and travellers cheques abroad.
Is it better to take a pre loaded card and dollars or travellers cheques, I have a 0% natwest credit card but think i will be charged too much to use this.
any advise will be appriciated

If you taking cash might be worth getting it tomorrow. Big announcements on Thursday COULD lead to the £ sinking.
See the US currency thread for a bit more detail

lee_the_flee

lee_the_flee wrote: »

My scenario: in short, travelling to Asia, South America and North America for 9 months. I predict to do most of my transactions by credit card, but in many of these places I will need cash so I will need to withdraw from the ATM in the local currency. I estimate to spend 1,000 pounds a month.

My question: AS i plan to do most of my transactions as purchases, is it better to get the Post Office credit card as they have a lower APR rate by 2%? Or, considering I will be doing some of my transactions as cash withdrawals (which the Post Office credit card whould charge) is enough to warrant getting the Santander Zero credit card, even if they have a higher interest rate? It's hard for me to say right now how much I will withdraw... and how much I will use by plastic... let's say to be safe it's 60% plastic and 40% withdraw.

After doing more reading, I think i'm going to go with Nationwide (as I think that offers me the best international deal), opening an e-savings account and then asking for a credit card.

My last question is has anyone else here used this card a lot abroad? I read a post a few pages ago saying about how Nationwide do block the transaction even if you tell them in advance you are going oversees. As I'm vising 10 countries or so in the next 9 months, I don't want to be making international phone calls all the time asking them to unblock me.

luci

I have used the Nationwide FlexAccount and credit cards extensively abroad and only once had a problem when the CC was declined. I called N/W and they said it was a merchant problem and it wasn't blocked. Right enough, I was able to use it elsewhere no problem.

I have never advised them that I am going abroad and it specifically states on their website that you do not need to advise them.

lee_the_flee

Thanks Luci! Okay... I'm going to pop into Nationwide Tomorrow to try to open an e-savings account. I'm thinking of using Nationwide just for international cash withdrawals and Santander Zero for international credit card transactions (as this does not have the 1% load fee that Nationwide does)... Let's see how it goes.

luci

I don't think you can open an e-savings account at the branch as it is an online only account. You need to open a FlexAccount and transfer the money from there to open an e-savings account.

Re the 1% Visa fee passed on by Nationwide, you will need to check what exchange rate you will get with the Santander Zero card to see if it has any loading above the Interbank rate that you would get from Nationwide.