Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

jupops73

Goodness, have just read the thread and am confused as to what to do.

I am travelling to Spain, therefore need Euros approx £1200 worth. I was going to change cash before I go as this is what I did last year, previous years Traveller Cheques. I had a look on the cash conversion calculator and it says that Thomas Exchange is the best.

Is this what I should do? and how reiliable is it coming through the post????

I do not have Nationwide Bank account as this seems a popular choice!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cloudane

I noticed in town today there's a sign outside the co-operative saying 0% commission, would this be a good deal for grabbing some cash to take over initially (and then spend on Abbey Zero card over there if I ever get the darn thing)?

benjus

Cloudane wrote: »

I noticed in town today there's a sign outside the co-operative saying 0% commission, would this be a good deal for grabbing some cash to take over initially (and then spend on Abbey Zero card over there if I ever get the darn thing)?

The phrase "no commission" is almost completely meaningless. The only thing that matters is how many Euros (or whatever) you get for £500 (or whatever). The exchange rate may be good or it may be lousy. However, it will not be as good as the Abbey Zero card.

If it's just for a small amount of cash to get a taxi from the airport or something, the difference between a good rate and a bad rate will not be much, so it's probably not worth shopping around. If you want to get more money as cash it pays to shop around - check the Travel Money Maximiser on this site. If you are travelling via an airport with a TravelEx branch, bear in mind that apparently you can get TravelEx to price match the best rate from other providers.

Cloudane

Thanks, yeah any cash bought beforehand would likely be just a small amount, basically for getting from the airport, getting settled and then getting to a cash machine.

Just hope this Abbey card arrives, seems it's normal that they're slow. Also read somewhere that you have to tell them before going abroad or they'll decline payments.

Mat_Lock

My on going saga with opening a Basic Cash Card account at Nationwide is still going on... 2 months later and they still haven't got it open. Useless !!!

valan_2

As a result of reading a message from Scarlet Macaw dated 9/7/08. This may help?
If you travel/holiday regularly in Euro countries.
Although initialy opened to enable me to buy a holiday home in Spain, I have found that having a local Spanish bank account (ie. Euros) which provides a cheque book, debit card, internet access etc. has made life a lot easier when it comes to sorting out travel money to any country where the Euro is their main currency. To open the account I did transfer a decent sum which meant I could get the commercial exchange rate for the transfer, but to keep it topped up, whenever I visit my Spanish Bank I take Sterling Traveller cheques and just pay them in over the counter, giving me a very competitive rate. I then draw out my spending money using my Spanish debit card. I keep a small amount of Euros at home for immediate arrival costs. I have also used my Euro cheque book to purchase items in/from France with no trouble. There are local bank charges, ie. being a non resident, debit card, but overall it has taken a lot of hassle out of my hols and its very convenient and I believe the rates always work out competitive.

abbo

Just a thought but...

I see that the Abbey zero card does not charge a fee for withdrawing cash abroad, but charges 25.9% interest. I'm aware that when you receive the bill, you are still charged the interest, even if you pay in full on time.

However, what if you paid the outstanding balance BEFORE receiving the bill. OR even better overpay your credit card BEFORE you go away (leaving a credit balance)

Does anybody know how / if interest is still chargeable in these circumstances (especially if the amount you withdraw is within the amount of credit you have built up in advance)?

Cloudane

The terms and conditions I just signed seem to suggest that interest is charged between when the transaction was made, and when it's paid off in full. In other words, if you paid it off early, I think it'd only be charged for the few days that it was borrowed.

Not 100% certain though, as I don't think the interest itself is added on until the statement, so it depends what they mean by "pay off in full".

Could also do with knowing how long before the agreed Direct Debit date they actually commit to a payment, as one thing I don't want to do is withdraw £500, pay it off in full (£500) and then have them take the direct debit (£510 or whatever), leaving me short.

abbo

As long as you pay the £500 before the statement is issued, the DD will just collect whatever is outstanding.

If the £500 was paid after the statement was issued, but before the DD is taken, that sounds potentially risky. However, you would think the process would be intelligent enough to see what is owing at the point the DD is taken. I know for a fact that this is the case with an Egg credit card, as I have done it.

Alternatively, you could just cancel the DD and pay via a BACS transfer.

wiggy2007

Hi,

I opened up a Flex account with Nationwide at the beginning of June as I was to travel around europe in the 21st of June. I transfered approx £1100 from my Halifax current account into my nationwide via a halifax cheque.

However 1 day before my departure on my holiday, Nationwide had froze my account. The money I had put into the Nationwide account had been taken out my halifax, however I had a zero balance in my Nationwide!! This was an extremeley stressful time and eventually, I was put through to someone from Nationwide who told me my cheque had bounced and my account is being investigated by the fraud team!

So from the start of my holiday I had no money to take away with me, and I spent the first 3 days on holiday trying to sort the situation out. Nationwide eventually accepted fault for the situation and my account was unfrozen with the money became available.

I sent a letter of complaint when I returned, and recently I received a phone call from nationwide apologising for the inconvenience. They are willing to pay back all the charges I incurred on my phone bill, credit card charges etc and they have also said they will give me an additional compensation for my inconvenience.

This is my problem...the manager of Nationwide has asked me what amount of compensation I was thinking?? So I have told them I will contact them back in the next few days.

I am unsure how much to ask for! Has anyone got any advice or even legal advice regarding what amount I should ask for?

Thanks.