Travel Money Card for Aus, HK and Singapore

djd4n

Hi,

I will be visiting Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore in just over 2 weeks.

I already have an old Nationwide Credit card which I believe is 1% exchange rate loading. I also have a Nationwide Debit card. I'm with them because of when it offered 0% on both cards.

I can use the credit card, but I'd also like to have a debit card so I can get hold of cash in Aus, HK and Singapore from cash points. Is a Travelex pre-paid card the way to go?

TakeThis

Metro Bank

djd4n

Thanks, I had seen that one. I'm 40 miles out of London and believe you have to apply in branch. The cost of getting there and opening an account might wipe out any benefits on rates. I can get a Travelex with out leaving my house. Do you have to have the Metro current account as your main one?

TakeThis

djd4n wrote: »

Thanks, I had seen that one. I'm 40 miles out of London and believe you have to apply in branch. The cost of getting there and opening an account might wipe out any benefits on rates. I can get a Travelex with out leaving my house. Do you have to have the Metro current account as your main one?

No you don't.

If you want a prepaid card:

Travelex Cash Passport Globe ordered via TopCashBack or Quidco (if you have an existing Quidco account).

Cashback website > Travelex > Globe card.

Do not load the Prepaid card with any of these bank cards: Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Natwest, Santander or RBS. Co-op may charge too, but may refund if pressed(Simply because there is nothing in their T&Cs about this charge).

Otherwise Halifax Clarity or Santander Zero and cover the withdrawals as soon as possible. Don't wait for the bill.

djd4n

I'd settled on getting a Travelex Cash Passport Globe Card.....

Unfortunately I can't buy one! I've tried several times to buy one, with two different debit cards and it's not been able to process it. (Failed their internal security checks apparently)

Bank says I'm good for the money, but Travelex can't tell me why and offered pick up at the airport instead. I'd obviously like to have the card in hand before going...really don't want to have to queue up at the airport or have any hassle there with my debit cards on the day.

djd4n

OK, so returned from holiday and used a Cash Passport Card in Australian Dollars.

All worked great. However I'd offer some advice to only use the card to withdraw cash and not to use it to purchase things (get a good Credit Card for this), i.e use as a direct replacement of Travellers Cheques. The reason being that you get charged to withdraw any remaining balance after the holiday.

So if you had $200 dollars and withdrew in $20 multiples then you can empty the account at a cash point for free before you come home. However if you use it in a shop to buy some things, you may not be left with a round amount you can withdraw from a cash point. You will then be charged to get the remaining money out. Travelex says £6 through card services on their website.

TakeThis

djd4n wrote: »

OK, so returned from holiday and used a Cash Passport Card in Australian Dollars.

All worked great. However I'd offer some advice to only use the card to withdraw cash and not to use it to purchase things (get a good Credit Card for this), i.e use as a direct replacement of Travellers Cheques. The reason being that you get charged to withdraw any remaining balance after the holiday.

So if you had $200 dollars and withdrew in $20 multiples then you can empty the account at a cash point for free before you come home. However if you use it in a shop to buy some things, you may not be left with a round amount you can withdraw from a cash point. You will then be charged to get the remaining money out. Travelex says £6 through card services on their website.

Any reason why you ignored the advice and went for a card in AU$?

By ignoring the advice, you lost out on around £22.50 on a £1000 spend, plus you could have avoided the £6 charge by withdrawing spare cash from an ATM here and spending any odd amount, here in the UK. A cost of up to £1.98 in total.

djd4n

I don't see how I lost out on £22.50 for a £1000 spend?

Travelex refused to post me a Cash Passport Globe card (still not sure why) but gave me the option of picking it up at the airport, a hassle I didn't want.

So I got a $AU Cash Passport from Sainsbury's while shopping there, a Mastercard one.

Used the card for cash point and paid for a few things in shops too.
I emptied the account before I left Aus, you can split payment between card and cash at Woolworths supermarket. So I did that on a shop there.

For buying a few other things used my Nationwide CC, which charges 1%..... so where's the £22.50?

dzug1

djd4n wrote: »

I don't see how I lost out on £22.50 for a £1000 spend?

Travelex refused to post me a Cash Passport Globe card (still not sure why) but gave me the option of picking it up at the airport, a hassle I didn't want.

So I got a $AU Cash Passport from Sainsbury's while shopping there, a Mastercard one.

Used the card for cash point and paid for a few things in shops too.
I emptied the account before I left Aus, you can split payment between card and cash at Woolworths supermarket. So I did that on a shop there.

For buying a few other things used my Nationwide CC, which charges 1%..... so where's the £22.50?

The extra cost is the difference in the exchange rate between the $AU card (it will have been a poor rate) and the Travelex global one (which will have been a good rate)

TakeThis

djd4n wrote: »

I don't see how I lost out on £22.50 for a £1000 spend?

Travelex refused to post me a Cash Passport Globe card (still not sure why) but gave me the option of picking it up at the airport, a hassle I didn't want.

So I got a $AU Cash Passport from Sainsbury's while shopping there, a Mastercard one.

Used the card for cash point and paid for a few things in shops too.
I emptied the account before I left Aus, you can split payment between card and cash at Woolworths supermarket. So I did that on a shop there.

For buying a few other things used my Nationwide CC, which charges 1%..... so where's the £22.50?

It's not a hassle. In fact it's a convenient way of obtaining the card, as you don't have to worry about when it will turn up in the post.
As aforementioned, the £22.50 is the difference between £1000 spent on the Globe card and the £1000 spent on the AU$ card.
Of course if you put only £500 on then the loss would be £11.25 or thereabouts.

djd4n

dzug1 wrote: »

The extra cost is the difference in the exchange rate between the $AU card (it will have been a poor rate) and the Travelex global one (which will have been a good rate)

Is the good rate not negated slightly by the fact the Travelex Cash Passport Globe costs £14.90 per £1000, i.e. charges 1.49% per transaction?