Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

lee_the_flee

Good point Luci... I only know that Santander Zero has no loading fee nor commission fee on international card transactions, but I have no idea about the actual exchange rate in the currency converstion they use against Nationwide. Let me see if I can find some information on this online.

andyk123_2

Hi looking for advice i am travelling to Australia in December for 5 weeks and am not looking at taking cash with me, the options i have are travellers cheques which will give me some security or debit cards/credit cards.I currently have a natwest switch card which i believe is a no no or a visa credit card,i have applied for a Santander credit card but have been declined,could anyone advise me on a decent card to take that will give me good exchange rate without costing me money.

dzug1

andyk123 wrote: »

Hi looking for advice i am travelling to Australia in December for 5 weeks and am not looking at taking cash with me, the options i have are travellers cheques which will give me some security or debit cards/credit cards.I currently have a natwest switch card which i believe is a no no or a visa credit card,i have applied for a Santander credit card but have been declined,could anyone advise me on a decent card to take that will give me good exchange rate without costing me money.

They ALL cost you money, except the ones you can't get. It's a question of how much.

Look at the Fairfx prepaid card, with the caxton fx not far behind it.

You've got your credit card, and your natwest card which isn't as bad as you think it is. I'd say that if you walked into the Post Office here and bought £100 in travellers cheques with cash, and took £100 equivalent from an ATM in Oz your Natwest card has a chance of coming out on top - certainly very similar.

bowner

Argg! I'm trying to apply for an e-saver account to get a Flexaccount but I fill in all the details and it only offers me a basic cashcard account without the Visa Debit card. What am I doing wrong?! Can I even apply online? Do I need to go into branch and fill in the forms?

Also, I'm pushed for time now. I leave in a month. Will they set it up in time...if at all?

For info...I'm off to India and Nepal for 5 months. I've applied online for a Santander Zero card but I want to have the Nationwide account too.

Edit: Ok, well I've gone ahead and applied for the version of the account they offered me and I'm hoping someone will tell me I'll be able to upgrade it or something!? On the website it says I won't be able to apply for a debit card if the account hasn't been open for more than 6 months so I think my chances are slim and I'll be back within 6 months. Doesn't seem as straight forward as the article made it out to be...

ChileanRed

Hi - I'm in the same boat and would appreciate some advice?
Am off to Australia in a few weeks and want to take about £4,000 GBP - I was going to take £1000 in cash as Aus Dollars and the other £3000 as travellers cheques. Would this be the best thing to do??
It's what I have done in the past, but a few years ago - but all this talk of 'travel cards' has me somewhat confused!!!
I do have Halifax debit and credit cards - although I very rarely use the credit card as I hate being in debt to anyone!
Any SIMPLE help / advice / guidance you could give would be appreciated!!
Thanks!!

Baldur

bowner wrote: »

Argg! I'm trying to apply for an e-saver account to get a Flexaccount but I fill in all the details and it only offers me a basic cashcard account without the Visa Debit card. What am I doing wrong?! Can I even apply online? Do I need to go into branch and fill in the forms?

Also, I'm pushed for time now. I leave in a month. Will they set it up in time...if at all?

For info...I'm off to India and Nepal for 5 months. I've applied online for a Santander Zero card but I want to have the Nationwide account too.

Edit: Ok, well I've gone ahead and applied for the version of the account they offered me and I'm hoping someone will tell me I'll be able to upgrade it or something!? On the website it says I won't be able to apply for a debit card if the account hasn't been open for more than 6 months so I think my chances are slim and I'll be back within 6 months. Doesn't seem as straight forward as the article made it out to be...

The Cash Card doesn't currently charge for ATM cash withdrawals, whereas the Debit Card will charge you the Visa fee of 1% for withdrawals outside the Visa Europe sphere of operations.

I found the opposite to you. Having recently applied for the Cash Card account as a backup for my existing Flex a/c Debit Card (plus the additional benefit of no ATM fee outside Europe), Nationwide in their wisdom decided that I didn't really want what I applied for and sent me another full blown Flex account & Visa Debit Card!

bowner

Baldur wrote: »

The Cash Card doesn't currently charge for ATM cash withdrawals, whereas the Debit Card will charge you the Visa fee of 1% for withdrawals outside the Visa Europe sphere of operations.

I found the opposite to you. Having recently applied for the Cash Card account as a backup for my existing Flex a/c Debit Card (plus the additional benefit of no ATM fee outside Europe), Nationwide in their wisdom decided that I didn't really want what I applied for and sent me another full blown Flex account & Visa Debit Card!

Will I be able to use the cashcard out in India and Nepal?

If so, that and a Santander Zero and a backup of my current HSBC Visa Debit card wouldn't be too bad as a overseas wallet would it?

andyk123_2

Hi thanks looking at the cards would it be cheaper to use natwest debit or barclays visa looking to spend about 600 GBP any advice would be appreciated
on cheapest way

Baldur

andyk123 wrote: »

looking at the cards would it be cheaper to use natwest debit or barclays visa looking to spend about 600 GBP any advice would be appreciated on cheapest way

They look about as bad as each other - see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges

You'd be better off opening a Nationwide Flex account, loading it before you go and using the Debit Card - minimal fee of 1% in Oz.

Baldur

bowner wrote: »

Will I be able to use the cashcard out in India and Nepal?

No idea, as I don't have a Cash Card, despite my best efforts....

Suggest that you check with Nationwide - see HERE for their information page on foreign transactions.