Cheap cash abroad with Santander Zero?

TakeThis

kaloss wrote: »

Hello,
I am Italian and a will soon start a PhD in UK. I will receive a monthly scholarship that a will deposit on a British bank account.

I think I will need often to withdraw euros from ATM in Italy and to pay using the British debit/credit card in Italy.

What is the cheapest way to do that?

I read about Santander Zero Credit Card. With that I should not have any currency exchange fee, neither cash withdraw fee.

My idea is to open a Santander student account and request the Zero Credit Card. In this way I should be able to use the debit card to make purchases and withdraw cash in UK and the Zero Credit Card while I am not in UK.

Would I need to pay interests on the purchases/withdraws with the Zero Credit card or it is free if I paid off the balance at the end of the month? (in Italy all the credit cards are interest free if the balance is paid off at the end of the month).

Thank you for any answer!

But with Italian CCs you still get hit with the cash withdrawal fee plus they take a commission from the exchange rate. So 'interest free' is meaningless. Plus there is probably an annual fee for the card.

kaloss

TakeThis wrote: »

But with Italian CCs you still get hit with the cash withdrawal fee plus they take a commission from the exchange rate. So 'interest free' is meaningless. Plus there is probably an annual fee for the card.

...and you also pay monthly fees for the current account (there are some "free" current account for under 26), plus some fixed taxes on the account (about 5€ every 2 months). Then you pay ATM withdraws outside of your bank (there is no such a thing like LINK, outside of your bank's ATMs you have to pay about 2€ each withdraw) :beer:

I wasn't of course trying to say that in Italy the situation is better

TakeThis

kaloss wrote: »

...and you also pay monthly fees for the current account (there are some "free" current account for under 26), plus some fixed taxes on the account (about 5€ every 2 months). Then you pay ATM withdraws outside of your bank (there is no such a thing like LINK, outside of your bank's ATMs you have to pay about 2€ each withdraw) :beer:

I wasn't of course trying to say that in Italy the situation is better

That's horrible. I'll live in the UK and just visit Italy for holidays.

chattychappy

kaloss wrote: »

I wasn't of course trying to say that in Italy the situation is better

Had a nice pizza in Italy once!

Roger1

TakeThis wrote: »

You get the full Mastercard rate, but they take a 1.49% fee. There are no additional fees including ATM fees.

Huh? Hang on. That means you pay 1.49% on everything! The Travelex Cash Passport Globe is not a good buy in my opinion, though to each his own.

Another MSE poster put me on to the Kalixa card https://www.kalixa.com, which is well worth a look.

As always, check MSE's very own guide at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

Toe-Jam

Have a look at caxton fx fastpay, its not the prepaid card its a transfer from your uk bank account to a bank account in italy. The rates are not interbank rates but they are still very good. And it is cheaper than those prepaid cards factoring in atm withdrawal fees.

http://www.caxtonfx.com/online_payment/fastpaydemo.asp

zagfles

Roger1 wrote: »

Huh? Hang on. That means you pay 1.49% on everything! The Travelex Cash Passport Globe is not a good buy in my opinion, though to each his own.

Another MSE poster put me on to the Kalixa card www.kalixa.com, which is well worth a look.

As always, check MSE's very own guide at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

The Kalixa card looks very good for a pre-paid card - it seems to use the unadulterated MasterCard rates with no markup, and no fee for purchases, and a £2.25 fee for ATM withdrawals. Which would seem to make it better value than the Travelex Cash Passport Globe if you make withdrawals of at least £150.

Though it's not as good as a fee free credit card like the Clarity, or MetroBank debit card etc.