Which card to use aborad????

barnishroader

benjus wrote: »

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Assuming the Egg card only makes the 2.65% charge and no other charges, €1000 withdrawn on the Egg card would cost about £820.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

yeah the card only charges 2.65%, no other charges as long as you dont go into debit.
i have money in a halifax account that i was going to use until i saw the dangers of using halifax so wasnt sure whether to transfer the money into my egg money account to put it in credit or just to change the money with travelex.

i assume an egg money mastercard would be accepted at atm machines etc in amsterdam?

benjus

barryheffron wrote: »

yeah the card only charges 2.65%, no other charges as long as you dont go into debit.
i have money in a halifax account that i was going to use until i saw the dangers of using halifax so wasnt sure whether to transfer the money into my egg money account to put it in credit or just to change the money with travelex.

i assume an egg money mastercard would be accepted at atm machines etc in amsterdam?

I guess Martin is bashing Halifax because they charge for purchases as well as cash withdrawals. It's not entirely fair because the Halifax card is actually one of the better cards for cash withdrawals (assuming that the data in this page: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges is correct). Obviously none of them come close to the Nationwide card...

Anyway, the Egg card is a better bet than Halifax, which is what matters to you.

I can't comment from experience about using an Egg mastercard in Amsterdam, but I've successfully used my Visa and Mastercard/Maestro credit and debit cards in many different countries with no problems, so I can't imagine there being any issues.

Ronboy_2

I used a Saga Platinum Card in Malta last week and they gave an exchange rate of 1.26 on purchases without any further charges. The best rates in the U.K. were 1.23 and in Malta 1.22. Maybe its worth looking at.

barnishroader

Ronboy wrote: »

I used a Saga Platinum Card in Malta last week and they gave an exchange rate of 1.26 on purchases without any further charges. The best rates in the U.K. were 1.23 and in Malta 1.22. Maybe its worth looking at.

Sorry but do you not have to be >50 to get a Saga card??
Maybe i'm wrong.
I'm 28 so it would be ruled out if it is.

col553

What is the best way to use the post office card abroad.

dzug1

Which post office card do you mean?

The credit card? As a credit card. Don't get cash with it. You'll pay interest.

The prepaid Travelmoney card? The charges for cash are more than for spending, but no more than most cards and less than some. So spend where you can and get cash for the rest of the time

The post office card account card? - you can't use it abroad.