My Travel Cash Card

benjus

AmitSharma wrote: »

I think you miss the point - it's not just caxton, Kalixa, travelex, fairfx, etc etc - all MasterCard, VISA cards can be used anywhere where MC and VISA are accepted worldwide - so by your definition, all GBP cards are designed for use everywhere and they are all global

The point is that if you buy a USD card, then use it in (for example) Argentina to spend in Pesos, you are paying twice for currency conversion - once for GBP to USD, then again for USD to ARS. It's better to take a card denominated in GBP so that you only pay once for currency conversion.

AmitSharma wrote: »

I guess the question I would ask is if you were travelling to the US - which currency card would you use - The ABC global card in GBP or the USD card from ABC? The answer should be the USD card.

Same way - if you were travelling to France, - which currency card would you use - The ABC global card in GBP or the EURO card from ABC? The answer should be the EURO card.

Wrong - cards live TravelEx Globe/Kalixa tend to be cheaper, even when there is no second currency conversion involved. The TravelEx Globe card charges a flat rate of 1.49% with wholesale exchange rates, while the markup on the wholesale exchange rate when purchasing/topping up the USD card is roughly 3%. So the Globe card is cheaper even when used in the USD/EUR card's native currency.

AmitSharma wrote: »

All I am saying is I would prefer to carry one travel card in my pocket as oppossed to say 3-4 if I had the choice but most importantly, that would be dependant on the costs of doing so being comparable but that is just my opinion and I currently use Caxton with a great deal of satisfaction.

ciao

With a card like the TravelEx Globe, you get the best of both worlds - better rates and only one currency conversion regardless of where you use it. Even if your multi-currency card does include GBP as one of its currencies, it's unlikely that the rates are as good as the cards we are talking about. A markup of 2.5 - 3% on the wholesale exchange rate is more common.

Ian_C

Never mind the exchange rates - will My Travel Cash card work when you want it to? I tried to pay a hotel bill with my card and, although there were sufficient funds on the card, it was refused. Twice. O.K. I just reverted to my credit card but what I hadn't bargained for was that those 2 attempts at paying the bill had put a charge on the card, even though the payment had been refused. My Travel Cash customer services have adviced me that it will take 15 days for the charges to clear back onto the card so, in the mean time, those funds are inaccessible to me. I don't want to put more money onto the account because then I'll have more than I need and to get the balance back, I have to pay a redemption fee. This was my first time using a pre-pay travel card having being persuaded by my daughter that it was worthwhile. Once bitten twice shy. I'll just stick to my usual credit/debit cards in future and just ignore the charges. At least I know where I am with them.