Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

stewart99

Going to Canada in September getting various advice on how to withdraw the spending money we will need .I am not a very experienced traveller furthest I have been before is Spain so this is a new experience in more ways than one. Some say decide how much you need and buy it all in the uk and take it with you going for 19 days so say 100 dollers a day rounded up to 2000 I would not have thought it was a good idea to have that all that cash {even between 2 of us} with us
Others say half in currency and rest in Travellers Cheques as this method as been tried and tested and used for years, some say take sterling and exchange it in Canada same problem as having 2000 $ on us
But not many are saying the prepaid cards which seem to be the current vogue
Just wondered what people with more experience than me would do and thank you in advance for your advice

DonSwan

I'm in Seattle just now, using my Nationwide Visa Debit card to withdraw cash. It only costs 1% from Nationwide BUT all the bank ATMs want to load an extra $3 PER TRANSACTION on top of that. Not too bad a percentage spread over, say, $300 or $500 at a time, but who wants to risk walking around with that much money in their wallet? I'd rather just draw out $50 or $100 as I need it.

I read in a travel guide that some Credit Unions don't charge, so I went on the web and looked up all the Credit Unions within a mile of my hotel in the suburbs - three in number. Two of them wanted the same usurous $3, but I've just visited the third - Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union - and they didn't charge me a cent.

I don't know what the situation is in other areas of the US, but from my experience it's worth searching out the Credit Unions to see if you can find one that doesn't charge.

nwrmartin

I have just been accepted for the Halifax Clarity - a great deal, and great even for withdrawing cash abroad, save the fact I will pay 12.9% interest from the moment of withdrawal. Whilst this won't necessarily amount to very much, I was wondering whether I could avoid it in the following way:

Instead of buying X amount of cash at the bureau-de-change here in the UK, why not pay X onto the credit card before I go. That way, when I withdraw money as I need it on holiday, up to the value of X, I won't be charged any interest as I will be in credit.

I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work. Am I missing something?

dzug1

A.Jones wrote: »

Does anyone know whether Halifax charge commission if I pre-book travel money at Travelex with my visa debit card? The Martin Lewis article says no, but I phoned Halifax today and they say they will charge 2.75% if I use the card to pay for Euros, even if billed in GBP in the UK.

Has anyone used travelex in the very recent past and do they know the answer?

I'm pretty sure Halifax misunderstood your question and fed you duff gen. Or you got a thicko advisor who didn't understand the system

dzug1

nwrmartin wrote: »

I have just been accepted for the Halifax Clarity - a great deal, and great even for withdrawing cash abroad, save the fact I will pay 12.9% interest from the moment of withdrawal. Whilst this won't necessarily amount to very much, I was wondering whether I could avoid it in the following way:

Instead of buying X amount of cash at the bureau-de-change here in the UK, why not pay X onto the credit card before I go. That way, when I withdraw money as I need it on holiday, up to the value of X, I won't be charged any interest as I will be in credit.

I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work. Am I missing something?

Most credit cards don't like you 'front loading' - it's often against the T&C.

What happens if you do it is another matter - you may well get away with it, or they may at some stage return the payment, or they may just write to you asking you not to do it again.

That's general advice - how it applies in this particular case I've no idea.

dzug1

snownrock wrote: »

Hi all,

While the guide is excellent i'm still a little bemused after reading through a few times and wondered if anyone could offer some advice on our travel finance options.

Myself are my fiance are going to be spending 9 weeks in South Africa starting mid august (her 6 weeks then together for an additional 3 weeks). After reading the guide it is clear that using our Natwest Debit and Virgin Credit card is a big no no, which we had assumed anyway.

We were planning to get a Travelex pre paid card to use for pretty much everything as they are available in Rand so we could load it before her trip then i could add additional funds before i fly out to meet her. The exchange rate is poor (about 4% less than the best cash rates) but this would avoid having to carry large amounts of cash around or the hassle of travellers cheques.

I have seen the FairFX and CantonFX card but these are only available in dollars or euros, i imagine i would be hit if using these in SA for another conversion, would these still be better value than the Travelex card, i notice no fee for re-loading. Or would you just recommend cash over the above options?

We were also going to get a new credit card along the lines of the PO or Clarity card to have in case of an emergency, but im worried these will only give me low credit limits due to their other bonuses and the fact we are still young. Would i be better getting a 'normal' credit card that would likely give me a bigger limit if i was only planning to use it in emergencies (flights home, medical treatment etc) Obvioussly having the travel friendly card would be a bonus as we could use it if needed without fears of big fees.

What would be your suggestions to the above options?

Using your Virgin CC (for purchases, NOT cash) is not a bad option. It charges 2.99% (only slightly above the normal 2.75%) which is a whole lot better than your travelex rate. And better than most sources of cash/TCs.

The Caxton/Fair Fx cards are probably better still - which depends on your frequency and value of withdrawals. They don't have large loadings/fees.

For any new cards you'd better get a move on - don't leave it until the last minute and risk it not arriving in time.

phnee

We are thinking of going travelling in a couple of months so found the comparison of the cards for using abroad very helpful. However I was wondering why exchange rates aren't mentioned because surely if they don't charge you a fee but always give you a rubbish exchange rate then it isn't such a good deal?

dzug1

phnee wrote: »

We are thinking of going travelling in a couple of months so found the comparison of the cards for using abroad very helpful. However I was wondering why exchange rates aren't mentioned because surely if they don't charge you a fee but always give you a rubbish exchange rate then it isn't such a good deal?

Correct.

Fees have to be mentioned by law in any overall summary of a product. Exchange rates don't - you'll find the more reluctant they are to disclose the actual markup, the more likely it is to be high.

Merrion_Square

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

There is a new peer to peer currency exchange service.
The objective is to cut the bank out of the system by matching deals between real people.
There is no need for a middle man to act a the bookie.
The company running the computer system supposedly has the full backing of the Irish authorities - so the deal should bed as safe as using the Post Office.

As the banking system takes several days to transfer the money, it is not suitable for the last minute holiday maker.

Here is the web site, plus those running similar "peer to peer" services in other markets.

http://www.currencyfair.com/our-story.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zopa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay
http://www.betfair.com/

So...has anyone tried CurrencyFair yet?

I need to transfer £10,000 to a euro account in Ireland, and I was shocked that my bank expected me to pay around £450 for this (that's the fees plus the exchange rate spread). I can understand that the bank has to make a profit, but that much money for a few minutes' work for someone in a call centre sounds extreme.

On the other hand, I don't want to risk all the money to CurrencyFair, a company I only heard of recently (via this Guardian article). Are they safe? Is there any other alternative?

astronaut

Thanks for a very useful guide

In the end I went for the Travelex card - from Tescos

There is no charge for loading the card at Tescos so I got the same amount of € per £ in cash and on the card
[Drew cash from the bank and walked it over to Tescos]