Cheapest way to spend abroad

c-m

Is anyone able to help with my spending abroad calculations.

Trying to work this out. Which is cheaper for a £500 spend via the following. 2xEuro ATM, and about 2xchip and pin payments.
(€33 each)

I will be staying one night in Switzerland, but for simplicity lets stick to Euros

Fair FX - Exchange rate worse than visa wholesale
Euros: 556.05
Cost (€): 4.50

Travelex Passport Globe - No idea of exhange rate and 1.49% on everything

Cost (€): 8.46


Do these use the the visa wholesale rate or the banks' rate?

Barclays (cash account)
Euros: 560.67
Cost

Barclays (business account)
Euros: 560.67
Cost

Co-op (Cash minder account) - 2.75% on all transactions
Euros: 560.67
Cost (€): 25

stilltheone

Come on people. Start reading what is already on the forums instead regurgitating the same questions again and again!

Unless you are going to apply for a new account or credit card, Travelex Cash Passport Globe is your best bet.

benjus

£500 is roughly €567.70 right now. Let's define "cost" as being the difference between this and the amount you actually get.

Are you talking about FairFX Anywhere or the FairFX Euro card?

The FairFX Euro card would give you €556.25 and charge €4.50 for the cash withdrawals, giving an overall cost of €15.95

FairFX Anywhere uses the Mastercard wholesale rate and charges 1.4% + £1 per withdrawal, giving an overall cost of €11.35

TravelEx Passport Globe uses the Mastercard wholesale rate, so the total cost is €8.46

c-m

Thanks. I thought the FX Euro might work out cheaper overall. I am aware that the Travelex chash passport globe has been recommended an aweful lot, but that doesn't always mean it's the cheapest for specific scenarios.

So for the TravelEx Passport Globe i hit buy now. Select Prepaid currency card and load up with GBP or do i have to load up with Euros?

Also is there any catch to getting the duplicate card, which they say is free of charge?

I presume i can top it up as often as i like with no charges whatsoever?

benjus

You load it in GBP - that's the point, it can be used anywhere in the world and the money stays in GBP until you make the transaction. It has no idea that you're going to the Eurozone, you could be going to Outer Mongolia for all it cares.

The fact that you're going to Switzerland as well is another argument for not getting a Euro card as you'd end up paying two sets of currency conversion charges (GBP->EUR and EUR->CHF).

There's no catch to getting the duplicate card.