Caton FX Global Card vs. FairFX Card

thmb2000

Donnie wrote: »

They? You are confused.. That conversion is carried out by Mastercard.
The Euro/Dollar card rates are set by FairFX.

Yep sorry my mistake. So setting rates to one side. Based on transaction charges, the fairfx does seem the most competitive at the moment.

I presume the Mastercard conversion rate is decent bearing in mind the volume of currency they must transact and their currency buying power?

Donnie

thmb2000 wrote: »

Yep sorry my mistake. So setting rates to one side. Based on transaction charges, the fairfx does seem the most competitive at the moment.

I presume the Mastercard conversion rate is decent bearing in mind the volume of currency they must transact and their currency buying power?

http://www.freedom-card.co.uk/currency-converter.aspx

Donnie

elise6 wrote: »

forgive my naivety
i am looking into both these cards, as im heading to Thailand.

now on the Caxton site it states that in Thailand every ATM will charge me £3.


so in this case i'll be charged 2.5% plus £3.

can any one tell me what the case would be with FairFX as I have struggled to find any info regarding fee's on their website.

thanks E.

http://www.fairfx.com/whatitcosts
http://www.fairfx.com/cardselection#anywherecard

The £3(150 baht) charge from Thai cash machines is levied by the Thai banks and is wholly independent of both Caxton & FairFX or any other UK card for that matter. The only way that it can be avoided is by tracking down an AEON ATM. The other possiblity would have been Bank of Ayudhya, but they apply DCC to Mastercard transactions. It may be optional, but I've never tried withdrawals with a Mastercard.

Donnie

elise6 wrote: »

hey Donnie

how is it possible that the FairFX card ATM fee is £1.50 for both £50 and £100 withdrawals.
how can this 1.5% rate cost more than a 2.5% Caxton rate?
this does not make any sense to me.

please explain

is this 1.5% rate charged on top of their 1.5% exchange rate charge, and if this is the case this would mean a 3% charge on all ATM withdrawals from the anywhere card.

Oops! My mistake. I forgot that it was 1.5% and not £1.50. I'll amend it.
They don't have an 1.5% exchange rate charge. There is no exchange rate charge, it's a blanket 1.5% charge on all transactions.

bigturnip

Travelex's new Cash Passport Globe is 1.49% and no fees for ATM withdrawals or purchases, which seems better than both the Caxton FX and FairFX cards. I'm still trying to find the catch, if anybody can find one let me know, I'm just very wary of a good value Travelex product, because I've never seen one before.

ferf1223

silkcutblue wrote: »

It's also nice that the link to the fairfx card knocks off the £9.95 initial card fee.

There is no fee if you load £500 or more...and you can get £7.50 quidco going that way...at least for the USD and EUR pre-paid cards.

Donnie

ferf1223 wrote: »

There is no fee if you load £500 or more...and you can get £7.50 quidco going that way...at least for the USD and EUR pre-paid cards.

No, there is no fee, regardless of the load amount.

Donnie

bigturnip wrote: »

Travelex's new Cash Passport Globe is 1.49% and no fees for ATM withdrawals or purchases, which seems better than both the Caxton FX and FairFX cards. I'm still trying to find the catch, if anybody can find one let me know, I'm just very wary of a good value Travelex product, because I've never seen one before.

special introductory price of £14.99 (usual purchase price £29.99).... unless you top up by £1000 or more.

FairFX Anywhere Card costs nothing.

ferf1223

Donnie wrote: »

No, there is no fee, regardless of the load amount.

hmm...well, going through the Quidco link to FairFX, the FairFX website says:

Free card (normally £9.95) subject to minimum initial load of £500

Though going further I see that they don't seem to charge the £9.95 for loads of less than £500.

Donnie

Concerning the Cash Passport...Even at the £14.99 special introductory price, that's £1000 worth of cash withdrawals via the FairFX card. Don't be taken in by headline figures.
How much you would need to spend on the Cash Passport for it to be better value than the FairFX Anywhere card?

If the Cash Passport card were free, you would save 1p in every £100 spent compared to the Anywhere card. So in order to recoup the cost of the card compared to the Anywhere card you would have to spend 1499 x £100. Yes, that's £149,900 :rotfl:

Once the special introductory price is over, that will rise to £299,900.

Only then will you be able to save that 1p in every £100.