Travelex Pre-paid card.... anygood??

sheilanbracken

We are about to travel to America at the end of the month for a short break and we are considering using the Travelex Prepaid card instead of cash.

Some on-line reviews have been less than favorable and I'd like to be sure. At this stage we are only going to load around £500 on to the card with the option of adding funds if we need to. We don't plan on leaving any unspent funds on the card after the trip.

Has anyone had any experience of this card and can if so can give us some advice on whether this is a suitable option.

Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Sheila

reclusive46

They tend to work well but bear in mind that you may well be better off using a credit or debit card (As long as it doesn't charge £1.25 per transaction, the percentage fees are ok) you already have even with a fee as the exchange rate is often a lot better.

cautiousjon

I went to Washington D.C. two weeks ago with work and one of my colleagues used one. He said it was accepted everywhere and was pretty good, although we both agreed that my Halifax Clarity Mastercard was better (better currency conversion rate and much bigger spending limit). He only got it because his Clarity card didn't arrive in time.

In short, I'd try and get a Clarity card and failing that, get one of these. He could top it up online while he was over there, which was super convenient.

pleasedelete

We use a pst office one and get them for our teenagers as well. The only minor issue is that if you refund something it takes several weeks to come back by which time you are home.

NiftyDigits

sheilanbracken wrote: »

We are about to travel to America at the end of the month for a short break and we are considering using the Travelex Prepaid card instead of cash.

Some on-line reviews have been less than favorable and I'd like to be sure. At this stage we are only going to load around £500 on to the card with the option of adding funds if we need to. We don't plan on leaving any unspent funds on the card after the trip.

Has anyone had any experience of this card and can if so can give us some advice on whether this is a suitable option.

Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Sheila

The only one that I would use is the Cash Passport Globe

Purchasing via TopCashBack or Quidco should get you £2.50 back from your initial £500 load.
TopCashBack > Travelex > Globe Card.

Otherwise consider a 'proper' debit card in the form of Metro Bank's debit card or N&P's Gold account debit card.

NiftyDigits

pleasedelete wrote: »

We use a pst office one and get them for our teenagers as well. The only minor issue is that if you refund something it takes several weeks to come back by which time you are home.

Throw it away and get a decent card.

wolfwanderer

Whatever you do, don't go near Fairfx!
Non existent customer service that leaves people floundering in some awful situations - just Google for examples of how the lack of a customer service line can cause dramatic problems.
Indeed it cost us our holiday.
Don't go anywhere near.

premiere100

We have used this card. If it's a Visa branded one you I guess you should be ok but if Mastercard, then believe it or not, not everywhere in the US accepts it. We had persistant problems and we found the customer service when calling from abroad to be beyond abysmal.

Last time we went on holiday recently, we opened a the Norwich and Peterborough current account (Gold) soley because it gives you a debit card that gives great rates and has no exchange fees at all for using abroad. This is all we use the account for. I think they do a Gold Light account with the same debit card. Customer service is flawless, card is Visa branded and works perfectly.

bylromarha

premiere100 wrote: »

Last time we went on holiday recently, we opened a the Norwich and Peterborough current account (Gold) soley because it gives you a debit card that gives great rates and has no exchange fees at all for using abroad. This is all we use the account for. I think they do a Gold Light account with the same debit card. Customer service is flawless, card is Visa branded and works perfectly.

Rubbish - customer service from N and P is pap. Try losing your card abroad and see how long it takes them to resolve transferring your holiday money into your back up account.

Just finished my complaint letter and account will be closed after all DDs has transferred to new account.

No "best buy for abroad" account is worth 3 days of stress when on holiday.

Avoid N & P like the plague.

reclusive46

I don't buy the MasterCard and Visa thing in the USA as they all share the same aquirers, so its literally impossible to only accept Visa and MasterCard. I can see you maybe having trouble in places like New York, where sometimes restaurants only take Amex.