Travelex Globe Card

budgetflyer

phildo wrote: »

3. The T&C's on the travelex site say that maestro and mastercard debit is free but visa debit is charged a cash advance fee. - May not be right but I take it at face value ?

Nope. Travelex charge 2% for loading the Euro + Dollar cards via debit card.

The Globe, which is a GB£ card is completely FEE FREE to load via debit card and cash is available in 5 minutes.

If you order your card via quidco you get 0.5% CASHBACK. So if you load up to its initial max of £750 (per 24hrs) then your effective rate for withdrawing this £750 is Mastercard rate minus 0.99%

Why this isnt in the MSE best buy tables is beyond me.

luckwudaveit

budgetflyer wrote: »

If you order your card via quidco you get 0.5% CASHBACK.

Dam, wish I'd known this beforehand. I looked on Quidco, but as it was for currency and not specifically a pre-paid card, I didn't think it applied.:(

phildo_2

luckwudaveit wrote: »

I applied for and loaded a Travelex Globe card last week and received it this week. I put £300.00 on it from a Visa debit card and there were no cash advance charges, as per my previous discussion with my bank. However, there was a £1.50 delivery charge for the card as I didn't have enough funds available to avoid this charge.

OK. Thats useful to know - no cash advance fee, although I didn't factor it into my comparison anyway.
I guess it boils down to how much you spend overseas and how often you go. If you're spending a lot and going often then i see the benefits of TCPG but for most holiday makers I'd still say fairfx as a decent choice. 0.7% of say £1,000 is £7. You'd have to be pretty good at mental arithmetic (or lucky) to leave less than that on the TCPG doing it the way suggested by stilltheone with rough forex rates and a margin of error!

phildo_2

budgetflyer wrote: »

If you order your card via quidco you get 0.5% CASHBACK. So if you load up to its initial max of £750 (per 24hrs) then your effective rate for withdrawing this £750 is Mastercard rate minus 0.99%

again.. thanks, I didn't know that.

luckwudaveit

phildo wrote: »

You'd have to be pretty good at mental arithmetic (or lucky) to leave less than that on the TCPG doing it the way suggested by stilltheone with rough forex rates and a margin of error!

I agree. I would rather set off for my jollies knowing I had, say, 500 euros on the card and I could withdraw at 100 euros a time, knowing where I was. Having said that, this card does seem to be the best deal for me and whatever is left on the card can just stay there until my next trip. I guess that's what they want everyone to do.

stilltheone

phildo wrote: »

Calm down! Which part of my post is nonsense?

1. It is a messier system to load £ and spend in € or $ than to load in the currency you are going to spend. It leaves small balances - FACT
2. The fairfx rates are usually 1.7% off the mastercard rate. The TCPG charges 1.49% a difference of 0.2% on card purchases. For ATM use the fee works out at 0.5% (€1.50/€300) so 0.7% premium over the TCPG - this only a tiny bit better - MY OPINION
3. The T&C's on the travelex site say that maestro and mastercard debit is free but visa debit is charged a cash advance fee. - May not be right but I take it at face value ?

Anyway - I didn't even say fairfx was better, just that I prefer it and accept that the costs are a tiny bit higher than TCPG but there are some benefits to having a € balance... how is that nonsense ??

I only posted as you asked why some people prefer to know what's on the card in €'s to the cent. I answered. I am prepared to pay a slight (very slight) premium to know that the card will be empty after my holiday.

Sorry, but this post is even more inaccurate than the last.

It is just tiresome having to correct these misleading posts. I could be helping people that actually need it, rather than correcting this nonsense.

Point 2: Current Mastercard Rate: 1.14 FairFx Euro rate: 1.1175

That is a difference of 2%.

All things being equal that makes the TCPG 0.51% better than the FairFx Euro for purchases.
When it comes to ATM withdrawals; with the FairFx Euro you have paid 2% for the currency plus another 1.50 euro per withdrawal.
So you are down 0.50% and 1.50 euro for each any every ATM withdrawal and 0.51% for every purchase.

Point 3: What you are writing has nothing to do with the Travelex Cash Passport Globe. There are no ATM withdrawal nor loading fees. You are clearly a bit confused.

Point 1. You have to be brain dead or at least a little dim to make this an issue.
First of all, even if you have anything left on the card, you can use it in the UK without penalty. You can buy your daily newspaper etc....
You can regard this as free cash.

Let us use your example; If I topped up exactly the same in pounds as you do, I would simply have more money to spend than you did.

If you wanted to withdraw exactly 500 euros, you could...and it would still cost you less than the Euro card.

Let us imagine that you could withdraw 500 euros all in one go. (This scenario benefits you as each withdrawal costs you another 1.50 euro)

That will cost you 448.77. If you had to make two withdrawals to get the 500 euros, it would cost you 450.11.

With the TCPG, the 500 euro withdrawal would cost you £445.20 regardless of the amount of withdrawals you make.
Of course it would be sensible to top up a little more in case of currency fluctuation. But it is clearly better value and more versatile.

You don't need to be good at mental arithmetic, you just need to have an idea of what you are doing.

You seem a bit confused to me.

If you are no good with figures and you need 500 euros in spending money, topup the same amount as you would with one of the currency cards, say the FairFx. That way you will certainly have at least 500 euros. If there is a few pounds left on the card afterwards, I'm sure you find a way to use it. It is certainly not an issue, as you have money over and above what you would have obtained anyway.

Multiply the Mastercard rate by .9851 to get the TCPG rate.

stilltheone

budgetflyer wrote: »

Nope. Travelex charge 2% for loading the Euro + Dollar cards via debit card.

The Globe, which is a GB£ card is completely FEE FREE to load via debit card and cash is available in 5 minutes.

If you order your card via quidco you get 0.5% CASHBACK. So if you load up to its initial max of £750 (per 24hrs) then your effective rate for withdrawing this £750 is Mastercard rate minus 0.99%

Why this isnt in the MSE best buy tables is beyond me.

Nice one. But I don't know about the £750 maximum. Is that a mistake?

stilltheone

luckwudaveit wrote: »

I agree. I would rather set off for my jollies knowing I had, say, 500 euros on the card and I could withdraw at 100 euros a time, knowing where I was. Having said that, this card does seem to be the best deal for me and whatever is left on the card can just stay there until my next trip. I guess that's what they want everyone to do.

Drawing out 100 euros at a time would cost you an extra 7.50 euros over five withdrawals. That is over and above the loss on the exchange rate.
Don't be taken in by phildo's fairly poor argument.

If you want to be sure of having 500 euros, use the same exchange rate as the FairFx euro to buy 500 euros.

Phildo would have to buy 507.50 euros at the Fairfx Euro rate to cover five withdrawals of 100 euros.

You'll pay for only 500 euros( if using the same rate) and still likely have money left over.

luckwudaveit wrote: »

Dam, wish I'd known this beforehand. I looked on Quidco, but as it was for currency and not specifically a pre-paid card, I didn't think it applied.:(

I didn't think of it either, You can blame me.

Interested in hearing the benefits of having the credit in Euros from phildo.

Personally it just seems that he/she hasn't really thought it through.

With their method, there is no flexibility. He has to withdraw a fixed amount of times and certainly not make any purchases. Otherwise.....he might have an amount left over. :eek: :rotfl:

With the TCPG you have freedom in the way that you spend. It all costs exactly the same. Much easier to budget your spending that way.

phildo_2

stilltheone wrote: »

Sorry, but this post is even more inaccurate than the last. - It is just tiresome having to correct these misleading posts. I could be helping people that actually need it, rather than correcting this nonsense.

I don't need correcting - I'm only telling you why I (AS IN ME) choose a fairfx card..... I completely accept the TCPG is better if the rate is all that matters but some people prefer to budget in foreign currency when on holiday.

Point 2: Current Mastercard Rate: 1.14 FairFx Euro rate: 1.1175
That is a difference of 2%.

WRONG - fairfx rate at the moment is quoted low on the front screen as they are running a promo - if you buy >£200 worth you get the higher rate which was the 1.12 I used last night. I have monitored fairfx v mastercard rate before it's usually 1.6-1.7% off the MC rate - You are quick enough to pull me up for facts so please check your own.

Point 3: What you are writing has nothing to do with the Travelex Cash Passport Globe. There are no ATM withdrawal nor loading fees. You are clearly a bit confused.

No loading fees from TCPG but I was told that Natwest class it as a cash advance and will charge a fee using their VISA debit card to purchase currency/cash. - If I am wrong on this then I apologise.

Point 1. You have to be brain dead or at least a little dim to make this an issue.
First of all, even if you have anything left on the card, you can use it in the UK without penalty. You can buy your daily newspaper etc....
You can regard this as free cash.

Don't get personal, I am far from brain dead and certainly not dim. You have clearly not read my post - I've not disputed that the remaining cash could be spent or held over for a future trip. All I said was that I was prepared to pay a slight premium for the CONVENIENCE of knowing what my balance is in € so that I can use the card simply for my holidays to withdraw cash in chunks and end with a zero balance. That is my choice.

Let us use your example; If I topped up exactly the same in pounds as you do, I would simply have more money to spend than you did.

Agreed, but only a couple of quid more and I'm happy to lose that in order to know how much spending money I have in € for my trip rather than having to worry about conversions and fluctuating rates.[/quote]

You don't need to be good at mental arithmetic, you just need to have an idea of what you are doing.
You seem a bit confused to me.

I am fine with mental arithmetic, I know exactly what I'm doing and I am not confused whatsoever. You seem to be so arrogant and narrow minded that you cannot appreciate that someone is willing to sacrifice a few pounds in terms of rate in order to have a product that they find easier to use on holiday. (approx £7 cost per €1k). The £7 is the premium i pay to KNOW how many Euros I have to spend. I choose to do this. It is not dim. Would you say that someone who fixes their mortgage is dim? Similar principle here, I pay a premium for the certainty of knowing my rate up front. With TCPG the rate fluctuates, it could work out better for me or it could be worse, that's called risk, a risk that I am willing to pay a premium to avoid.

Let me clarify my position once and for all:
If you want the best rate possible at the time of each transaction and don't mind exchange rate fluctuations and having small balances left on your card when you return home then I think the Travelex Cash Passport Globe is great!!
If you want a very good rate and want to fix your rate before you go so that you load the card in € or $ then Fairfx is great!!

phildo_2

stilltheone wrote: »

Drawing out 100 euros at a time would cost you an extra 7.50 euros over five withdrawals. That is over and above the loss on the exchange rate.
Don't be taken in by phildo's fairly poor argument.

If you want to be sure of having 500 euros, use the same exchange rate as the FairFx euro to buy 500 euros.

Phildo would have to buy 507.50 euros at the Fairfx Euro rate to cover five withdrawals of 100 euros.

Completely agree, don't withdraw cash in small amounts.I only load multiples of €301.50 for Greece/Cyprus as the ATM limits are €300. This minimises the fee to 0.5% (€1.50/€300)