Travel money abroad - what is best bet?

stevej1899

Hi, I am going to be travelling for about a year and wondered what is the cheapest way to withdraw cash/ make purchases abroad.

I will be visiting Asia, Australia, South America and so far have been unable to find a debit card with no fee for these regions.

Is Nationwide Flex the best bet at 1% charge?
Are there any pre pay cards (like the Post office one) with no fees for these areas?

Any advice would help, thanks
stevej1899

dzug1

stevej1899 wrote: »

Hi, I am going to be travelling for about a year and wondered what is the cheapest way to withdraw cash/ make purchases abroad.

I will be visiting Asia, Australia, South America and so far have been unable to find a debit card with no fee for these regions.

Is Nationwide Flex the best bet at 1% charge?
Are there any pre pay cards (like the Post office one) with no fees for these areas?

Any advice would help, thanks
stevej1899

There is no fee free debit card - with one exception, being the Cumberland Building Society. You have to live in their branch area to get one though.

Nationwide is the next best.

All the prepaid cards involve fees of some sort - whether overt ones or hidden in the exchange rate or both. Not always large fees but they are there.


For purchases (but not ATM use) the Post Office Mastercard and Santander Zero card are fee free.

I should warn that not all these cards are easy to get - you could have to make do with what you have already.

chattychappy

See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2178549 and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2281087

CLAPTON

you need at least two debit cards and two credit cards
in case
-one doesn't work
-you lose one
-the provider just outs a hold on your a/c for no particular reason
etc etc

if fact think 3 each

vineetbhasin

visit: compareprepaid.co.uk

vineetbhasin

A Travel Money MasterCard card works in a similar way to a Pay As You Go mobile top up card. If you transfer £100 to the card from your prepaid card account, you can only spend £100. The advantage is that this card comes with all the convenience of a debit card. You can spend within your means and you cannot go accidently overdrawn. Plus using a Travel card could help you save money when using your card abroad and offers better currency exchange rates than when buying travel money.
visit: comparemoneytransfer.co.uk

nzseries1

Or, if you prefer to stay on one of Martin Lewis' websites (which I would recommend!), see here:

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com