Escape Prepaid Mastercard

verntern

I've been using this card (issued by phones4U and the Newcastle Building Soc) to send money to my girlfriend in Brazil. Seems to work fine. No charge to add money to the card if you use BACS or pay in at a phones4U shop. Money transfers to the second card holder are instantaneous. A flat fee of £2 for a non-UK ATM withdrawal. Seems to be no additional charge for using an HSBC ATM in Brazil. The only thing I don't know is if the conversion rates are competitive with this Escape card. When I visit Brazil next year I think I will use this preloaded card to make cash withdrawals and use the Saga credit card for hotel bills, restaurants etc. Any observations appreciated. Thanks.

StuieUK34

got one myself, seems to do as it says it does, cant fault it... guess u get charged atm fee's anywhere as it says so in the rules on mine...

benjus

There's an exchange rate calculator on their site: http://www.escape-prepaid-card.com/save-money-on-exchange-rates.html

Judging by those rates, there's roughly a 3% exchange rate loading compared to the spot exchange rate. This is not particularly cheap compared with other options, and is actually more expensive than many normal UK debit cards.

As you can see here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money it's possible to get a debit or credit card that will give you the spot exchange rate with no charges or loading, and a couple of prepaid cards with more competitive rates than the Escape card.

Is your Saga card one that give free use worldwide? If so, you'll be fine using it for paying hotel bills etc. For cash withdrawals I would ideally get a Metro Bank card (if you can get to central London easily) or failing that a Halifax Clarity credit card, or a FairFX/CaxtonFX prepaid card. If that seems like too much hassle, your normal debit card will probably be cheaper than the Escape card.

Dibblersan_3

Escape do a Euro Card and yes I take on board the problem of effectively a 3% charge but when compared to the ATM charges made by other cards does this not negate the 3%.

My daughter has swanned off to Spain so she is using her NatWest Debit card who charge 2% with a minimum of £2 plus there appeared to be an additonal charge described as an ERTF. Not wanting to carry to much cash about with her, her withdrawals are anywhere between €60 and €100 at a time. This makes the 3% loading cheap by comparison.

So should I get an Escape Card or one of the other Top up cards? Help please!

stilltheone

Dibblersan wrote: »

Escape do a Euro Card and yes I take on board the problem of effectively a 3% charge but when compared to the ATM charges made by other cards does this not negate the 3%.

My daughter has swanned off to Spain so she is using her NatWest Debit card who charge 2% with a minimum of £2 plus there appeared to be an additonal charge described as an ERTF. Not wanting to carry to much cash about with her, her withdrawals are anywhere between €60 and €100 at a time. This makes the 3% loading cheap by comparison.

So should I get an Escape Card or one of the other Top up cards? Help please!

This thread is seven months old.

Anyway, the best now is the Travelex Cash Passport Globe

Dibblersan_3

Oh dear, deary - so the thread was seven months old - it covered the area that concerned me - so live with it!

Just looked at the wonderful Travelex - so what benefits are there in this card - the 1.49% charge per transaction - the fact you don't know what exchange rate is going to be applied when you get Euros, Dollars or Yen out of an ATM?

Nothing there sells this product to me, rather it tells me not to get that product.

benjus

Dibblersan wrote: »

Oh dear, deary - so the thread was seven months old - it covered the area that concerned me - so live with it!

Just looked at the wonderful Travelex - so what benefits are there in this card - the 1.49% charge per transaction - the fact you don't know what exchange rate is going to be applied when you get Euros, Dollars or Yen out of an ATM?

Nothing there sells this product to me, rather it tells me not to get that product.

You get the Mastercard wholesale rate, effectively the same as the spot exchange rate you see on the business news.

The wholesale rate with a 1.49% fee is better than no fee but a 3% load on the exchange rate.

tressi

I had a look at the effective exchange rate you get and actually differences are so small that can be wiped out with withdrawal charges, like 1.5 euros per withdrawal
the today rates were
mastercard 1.111994
Escape travel 1.079 no withdrwal charges cash rechargeble
Fairfx 1.085 1.5 euros for one withdrawal no cash topup allowed that I can see, for some debit cards calculate another 1.5% expense on top up
Caxton 1.078 no withdrawal charges no cash topup allowed that I can see
If I had to change £500 with Escape I'd have 539.50 euros no further charges; with Fairfx 542.50 and suppose 10 withdrawals 527.50 take off another 4.50 spent to recharge with a debit card if it's your case too, 523 euros available. With Caxton 539 and again 4.50 spent to recharge ending up with 534.50

stilltheone

Dibblersan wrote: »

Oh dear, deary - so the thread was seven months old - it covered the area that concerned me - so live with it!

Just looked at the wonderful Travelex - so what benefits are there in this card - the 1.49% charge per transaction - the fact you don't know what exchange rate is going to be applied when you get Euros, Dollars or Yen out of an ATM?

Nothing there sells this product to me, rather it tells me not to get that product.

Another not so intelligent post from a long time lurker.

stilltheone

tressi wrote: »

I had a look at the effective exchange rate you get and actually differences are so small that can be wiped out with withdrawal charges, like 1.5 euros per withdrawal
the today rates were
mastercard 1.111994
Escape travel 1.079 no withdrwal charges cash rechargeble
Fairfx 1.085 1.5 euros for one withdrawal no cash topup allowed that I can see, for some debit cards calculate another 1.5% expense on top up
Caxton 1.078 no withdrawal charges no cash topup allowed that I can see
If I had to change £500 with Escape I'd have 539.50 euros no further charges; with Fairfx 542.50 and suppose 10 withdrawals 527.50 take off another 4.50 spent to recharge with a debit card if it's your case too, 523 euros available. With Caxton 539 and again 4.50 spent to recharge ending up with 534.50

Even if you choose to ignore the Sterling cards, which for one reason or another you have...why have you chosen to ignore the option of bank account payments?

How would be able to make a cash payment to your Escape currency card whilst abroad??

Why not mention the £9.99 fee for the Escape card? It's 99p for topping up via Debit card(plus any bank charges)? It's 4% charge via credit card?

You've also posted the incorrect rate for Caxton Euro, it's 1.08.

tressi

stilltheone wrote: »

Even if you choose to ignore the Sterling cards, which for one reason or another you have...why have you chosen to ignore the option of bank account payments?

How would be able to make a cash payment to your Escape currency card whilst abroad??

Why not mention the £9.99 fee for the Escape card? It's 99p for topping up via Debit card(plus any bank charges)? It's 4% charge via credit card?

You've also posted the incorrect rate for Caxton Euro, it's 1.08.

yes, I was pointing out that differences are so small that can be wiped out with withdrawal charges. Unless you change a big lump of money and cash it in a go and go around with cash into pocket, if you can do that...tell me what ATM you go The initial cost of the card can be wiped out with special offers like for Fairfx. The top ups are same for all cards there's always a free option that suits you, I like cash and bacs but that takes 4 days you know, debit card is tricky cos depends on your bank so you need to check I have a surcharge so I am not going anywhere near byeeeeeeee