Which card to use aborad????

barnishroader

Hi,

I am travelling to Europe in 3 weeks and want to know the best way to maximise my cash.
I have the following cards:
A&L debit
A&L credit
Halifax debit
Barclaycard credit
Egg Money
First Trust bank debit

I noticed on the MSE tool that Halifax is a non starter but wondered would i be better putting my Egg Money account into credit and using it, using the credit cards or just using my A&L account.

Or just changing all my money to euros/travelex passport before leaving.

Froggitt

None of them.

For cards, use Nationwide or Post Office. For cash, get Travelex to pricematch TEG or CCE, whichever has best rates on the day.

Mix of cash and NW/PO cards is fine.

whu

for credit cards you could look at Abbey Zero - no fees for purchases(which are usually 2-3%) but if you take money out on it you will pay interest straightaway on it

dzug1

OP wants to know which of the cards he already has to use, not what is absolute best

The answer can be found under the Transport/Travel tab at the top of the page.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/cheaper-spending-overseas if navigationally challenged

barnishroader

Yeah, as i am going in 3 weeks i want to know which of mine is best, rather than having to apply for either nationwide or post office cards.
I have already went through the cheap travel money link and saw all of this information but as my specific possibilities are not there i hoped to get advice on these.

leedspete_2

who are cce and teg plz for the non thinking people

PBA

I'm thinking probably the Egg Money, as the cashback will partly offset the overseas use fee. However you'll need to do a bit of a trawl through each one's T&Cs to be sure.

Just because you're off in 3 weeks doesn't mean you don't have time to get a new card though. If you apply for Abbey Zero today in a branch, and it gets accepted immediately, you'll have the card in a week.

barnishroader

TBH i dont want anymore cards right now as i will need to tart from my barclaycard account in a few months and want to get a new card with a good BT rate then, rather than 1 now and another one then.

Thats why i hoped to use something i already have.
If none of them are good options then i will probably just change all of my money before i go.

barnishroader

just found out that the egg money card charges 2.65% commission on transactions.
can anyone advise me on how that would be compared to changing my money with travelex before i go?

barnishroader

bump!!!!!!

benjus

At the current mid-market exchange rate €1000 = £799.

Assuming the Egg card only makes the 2.65% charge and no other charges, €1000 withdrawn on the Egg card would cost about £820.

From TravelEx it would cost £823. The cheapest rate listed on the Travel Money Maximiser is Thomas Exchange Global at £813 (collection from central London). Some people have reported better rates using cashback services or getting other providers to beat Thomas Exchange Global's quote, but I don't know the details.

So the Egg card appears to be cheaper than most Bureaux de Change but not all. Unless you need to withdraw a lot of money I would just stick to the card for convenience.