Best Pre pay card for Salou, Costa Dorado

interstellaflyer

Just booked a holiday to Salou, would like to know what the best pre pay cardwould be, usually we take travelers cheques but I've heard that pre pay cards are better, we're not going 'til September but would like to start topping us ASAP so we have a decent amount of spending money.

korky69

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Just booked a holiday to Salou, would like to know what the best pre pay cardwould be, usually we take travelers cheques but I've heard that pre pay cards are better, we're not going 'til September but would like to start topping us ASAP so we have a decent amount of spending money.

not sure if its the best option, but o2 do a free one if you're a customer, 2.75% charge when using abroad though.
personally i prefer cash and a safe.

interstellaflyer

Yeah cheers, not with O2 so that wouldn't be any use, I seem to remember w while back people were recomending using a certain pre pay card over cash or travelers cheques, just can't remember what card and I can't find any of the threads relating to the subject.

dzug1

FairFx and Caxton Fx are the ones normally regarded as best.

bevvy

I've also been looking into these and found these 2 the best deal
Fairfx eurocard - €1.50 atm fee and no transaction fee if in euros
Caxonfx eurocard - no atm fee or transaction fee again if in euros but slightly worse exchange rate.
I went for the fairfx, as you can also get a friends and family card for £6, which I will load with a small amount and keep in the safe and if anything were to happen to my original card then you can just transfer the balance from this card onto the extra/friends and family card.
The min deposit on fairfx is €20, where caxonfx min is £100.
There is a link on this website to get the fairfx card free as it should be £9.95

mew

if you are using any kind of credit/debit/prepaid card in Salou, Make sure you have your passport with you as the majority of shops/restaurants etc won't take cards without seeing your passport as well. Last year we got fed up of this, so just withdrew the cash from the card and used that.

interstellaflyer

mew wrote: »

if you are using any kind of credit/debit/prepaid card in Salou, Make sure you have your passport with you as the majority of shops/restaurants etc won't take cards without seeing your passport as well. Last year we got fed up of this, so just withdrew the cash from the card and used that.

That's worrying, my other half only has a Nationwide Cash Card plus and she gets paid while we are there, this will be a real faff, even more so if we get a pre pay as well, the reason for getting the pre pay was so we could load it as and when to build up some spending money, but I don't like the idae of carrying passports everywhere.

ironed_out

Yes, I agree with mew. We also had the same problem last year using a Thomas cook prepaid card, and we also just withdrew the cash from a cashpoint machine in the end. They were trying to say it was a credit card, and in one place I was refused, as the 'name' on the pre paid card says something like A Traveller and obviously this didn't match up with my surname! Portaventura theme park seemed to be up with the times and accepted it no problems though.