The Cheapest Way to Spend Overseas Discussion Area

Kernow_Kid

Firstly, Many Thanks to Pin for all your help so far, its helped me a lot.:T

I'm off to Memphis USA in the summer, and will have around £2000+ to spend. I'm going with my girlfriend and another couple, who are taking a similar amount.
We're all happy setting up a N/W account, but need to clarify a few things.

1. What is the exchange rate for N/W? I've looked online, and the only answer I can get is for their travellers cheques delivered at 1£/$1.896.
This is nowhere as good as the current rate which last night hit a record £1/$1.99.:eek:
Over £2000, the difference between the two rates is around £95. I don't want to go there and lose money for the sake of convenience.

2. Is there any real benefit to having a credit card? I shouldn't be making any large purchases, all our flights and accomodation are already paid for, and we're not looking to bring any large/expensive items home with us (unless the GF finds a life size Elvis Doll:D ).

3. How quick are they at replacing the cards if we lose them? I've looked at the card protection scheme, a bargin at £12 I think. But I can't seem to see a time scale anywhere - maybe its just me:p

Heres hoping:cool:

Kernow_Kid

A couple more things the GF has asked me to ask you wise people:

4. Do we have to pay any more taxes now that the've implemented a Fuel Tax? We've already paid for our flights, so do we have to pay any more?

5. Do we have to get a visa? We've got passports with lots of numbers and letters across the bottom below our pictures, but do we need new ones (mine doesn't expire till 2013), or do we have to apply for visas and retinal scans????

Please help me as I'm not very well travellled and know nothing.:p

pin

Kernow_Kid wrote:

Firstly, Many Thanks to Pin for all your help so far, its helped me a lot.:T

I'm off to Memphis USA in the summer, and will have around £2000+ to spend. I'm going with my girlfriend and another couple, who are taking a similar amount.
We're all happy setting up a N/W account, but need to clarify a few things.

1. What is the exchange rate for N/W? I've looked online, and the only answer I can get is for their travellers cheques delivered at 1£/$1.896.
This is nowhere as good as the current rate which last night hit a record £1/$1.99.:eek:
Over £2000, the difference between the two rates is around £95. I don't want to go there and lose money for the sake of convenience.

2. Is there any real benefit to having a credit card? I shouldn't be making any large purchases, all our flights and accomodation are already paid for, and we're not looking to bring any large/expensive items home with us (unless the GF finds a life size Elvis Doll:D ).

3. How quick are they at replacing the cards if we lose them? I've looked at the card protection scheme, a bargin at £12 I think. But I can't seem to see a time scale anywhere - maybe its just me:p

Heres hoping:cool:

1. The NW rate is set by Visa on the day its posted with NW and isn't anything to do with the rate they use fot T/Cs. The Visa rate is normally very close to the market rate (i.e. the rate you see on xe.com).

2. Paying by CC means you have section 75 cca like protection if anything goes wrong. Also means you can control you money and not have to buy too many US$.

3. If you get a Gold card, apparantly if your card is stolen abroad, they will arrange for a new card to be courired out to you.

pin

Kernow_Kid wrote:

Firstly, Many Thanks to Pin for all your help so far, its helped me a lot.:T

I'm off to Memphis USA in the summer, and will have around £2000+ to spend. I'm going with my girlfriend and another couple, who are taking a similar amount.
We're all happy setting up a N/W account, but need to clarify a few things.

1. What is the exchange rate for N/W? I've looked online, and the only answer I can get is for their travellers cheques delivered at 1£/$1.896.
This is nowhere as good as the current rate which last night hit a record £1/$1.99.:eek:
Over £2000, the difference between the two rates is around £95. I don't want to go there and lose money for the sake of convenience.

2. Is there any real benefit to having a credit card? I shouldn't be making any large purchases, all our flights and accomodation are already paid for, and we're not looking to bring any large/expensive items home with us (unless the GF finds a life size Elvis Doll:D ).

3. How quick are they at replacing the cards if we lose them? I've looked at the card protection scheme, a bargin at £12 I think. But I can't seem to see a time scale anywhere - maybe its just me:p

Heres hoping:cool:

1. The NW rate is set by Visa on the day its posted with NW and isn't anything to do with the rate they use fot T/Cs. The Visa rate is normally very close to the market rate (i.e. the rate you see on xe.com).

2. Paying by CC means you have section 75 cca like protection if anything goes wrong. Also means you can control you money and not have to buy too many US$.

3. If you get a Gold card, apparantly if your card is stolen abroad, they will arrange for a new card to be courired out to you.

Kernow_Kid

ernie-money wrote:

Has anyone ever tried this, or able to confirm that it actually works?
Thanks

One of my work mates has called his cc company - Capital One - and asked them if he could use his card abroad. They said Yes.
They then called him back later to offer him 2 to 1 on his exchange rate.
Every £ is worth $2. This is fixed until he goes in September, and if the rate drops they will honour it, whereas if it rises, they will give him a better deal.
He does have to pay interest on it when he returns, and a fee of £1.60 per transaction, but he took it and he now has a credit of $4000 on his card for free.
Obviously its not real money yet, as he can't use it till he goes, and doesn't pay for it till gets back, but this is not too bad and shows that they are offering deals to loyal customers (he has a good credit rating and a limit of £10,000).
Hope this helps.

Kernow_Kid

Thanks for such a quick response Pin, Thats just what I needed!:T
:beer:

Kernow_Kid

Thanks for the quick reply Pin.

Kernow_Kid

Thanks for the quick reply Pin.

gettingwise

dont quite understand regarding best place to buy dollars
todays rate at Thomas exchange is
Dollars - USA 2.00803 1.95000

but a quick walk here in paddington of the 5 places I walked past neally all had a rate of 1.95 (one had 1.965)
would it not be better to buy from them ?

pin

Kernow_Kid wrote:

A couple more things the GF has asked me to ask you wise people:

4. Do we have to pay any more taxes now that the've implemented a Fuel Tax? We've already paid for our flights, so do we have to pay any more?

5. Do we have to get a visa? We've got passports with lots of numbers and letters across the bottom below our pictures, but do we need new ones (mine doesn't expire till 2013), or do we have to apply for visas and retinal scans????

Please help me as I'm not very well travellled and know nothing.:p

4. Depends on the airline. Some (like BA) are absorbing the cost, others haven't decided, others are charging but don't know how. Basically go to the airline and see what they say.

5. I think your passports are machine readable, so you should be fine to go under the visa waiver programme.