Post Office Card vs Travellers Cheques

Mr_Hill10

Quick one for you MSE forum gurus

Every year that I go on holiday I always stick to travellers cheques - more so because I find it easier to budget whislt on holiday.

This year due to the way my wages fell, my next pay arrives into my account the day I fly out to Spain (Salou) 8.30am flight, at airport for around 6.00am. So I decided to be a last minute archie and attempt one of two solutions.

Option 1: Phone in advance to the airport, requesting £1000 worth of travellers cheques and I will pick them up and pay for them in the airport before departing on my flight. (should that go tits up I would end up using my bank card and probably be charged quite sorely for it whilst away)

Option 2: Get a post office travellers card (Preload £50 to purchase) and load my cash onto the card before leaving the house in the morning. The benefits include being able to recieve account balance by text.

I have never used the travellers card before, always felt it was easier to have the money in hand. I dont even know if its any good either

The rates I am getting for both are the same - awful, the rates at the minute for £1 to 1 euro are pathetic!

Whats your thoughts?

dzug1

If you are only getting 1 euro for £1 then you are being done and it will be cheaper to use your bank card while you are overseas - indeed that's likely anyway given poor airport rates if you don't prepay, which you can't.

I wouldn't count on either plan working.

What bank are you with?

Mr_Hill10

I have checked exchange rates via a number of avenues, most are the same £1 to 1.11 euro. Same for Po and The Change Group (Belfast Airport)

Currently with Halifax, if I recall correctly I was charged around £3.50 per cash withdrawel whislt away in previous years. Charges using the card ranged from around £1.50.

Now if I had time I would have opened a nationwide account like my dads and had free cash withdrawel and charges :-\

antenna

Travellers cheques are a bit sixties like luncheon vouchers,they cost more to buy and you lose out when you spend.........only for the terminaly cash frightened.

headpin

antenna wrote: »

Travellers cheques are a bit sixties like luncheon vouchers,they cost more to buy and you lose out when you spend.........only for the terminaly cash frightened.

Rubbish, over the past 18 years I have never received an inferior exchange rate for TC's compared to currency when buying or spending. Not sure where you wer buying them if that's your experience? However, my experience is almost exclusively in the US and Canada where you can still use TC's like cash $ for $ for purchases and you do not need to exchange for currency beforehand.

Anyhow, you will probably have seen reported this week that in Europe it is now very difficult to find somewhere that will change TC's. So, I would look at a pre-pay card for European travel.

antenna

It's not the exchange rate you get on travellers cheques,this is artificialy higher to seem better value,but they cost to buy and cost to spend,although most people dont realise this.

headpin

antenna wrote: »

It's not the exchange rate you get on travellers cheques,this is artificialy higher to seem better value,but they cost to buy and cost to spend,although most people dont realise this.

I've never paid to "buy" them and always received the same exchange rate as FX currency. Also when I have spent them, admittedly always in the US and Canada they are accepted the same as if paying with cash. There has never been a charge for using them they are accepted on a $ for $ basis and any change is given in cash.

Like most matters I think you have to be very careful when generalising. Therefore the situation may be differnt outside the US and Canada. And I refer to my earlier comment about the difficulty of using them in Europe now.

So I would say TC still good value for North America with the added security of replacemnt if lost at no added cost but probably past their sell by date elsewhere.

Mr_Hill10

Just a quick note to "End" this post - whilst on holiday I just took my bank card with me and made three withdrawels costing £1.50 each. This worked out ok for me, now that i am home, and found that the UK was offering £1 - 1.03 euro, whilst abroad I was getting £1 to 1.12 euro.

Thanks for the feedback guys