Prepaid travel cards

Ridgway

Hello,

I am going travelling to 10 different countries and after much research decided to take the majority of my funds using one of these cards.

I have narrowed it down to one of two, either the Escape GBP card, which doesnt charge to withdraw at an ATM, purchase or to exchange money, or the Travelex Globe card, which I load with GBP and charges 1.49% ATM withdrawal.

Travelex advertise the Globe card as a good idea to backpackers that go to diffferent countries.

I am confused as I would say that the Escape card would be best hence the no fees, however cant find out how the Globe card is how they flexible.

I suppose my question would be is the travelex globe card the same in principal as the escape sterling card.

And which one would be best.

Although I have l looked into these two I am open to suggestion and would welcome any new ideas.

Basically I was the easiest, cheapest way to change GBP to 10 different currencies while aborad without alot of hassle.

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, im new, I bet you get that alot lol!

Many thanks,

Adam

NiftyDigits

Ridgway wrote: »

Hello,

I am going travelling to 10 different countries and after much research decided to take the majority of my funds using one of these cards.

I have narrowed it down to one of two, either the Escape GBP card, which doesnt charge to withdraw at an ATM, purchase or to exchange money, or the Travelex Globe card, which I load with GBP and charges 1.49% ATM withdrawal.

Travelex advertise the Globe card as a good idea to backpackers that go to diffferent countries.

I am confused as I would say that the Escape card would be best hence the no fees, however cant find out how the Globe card is how they flexible.

I suppose my question would be is the travelex globe card the same in principal as the escape sterling card.

And which one would be best.

Although I have l looked into these two I am open to suggestion and would welcome any new ideas.

Basically I was the easiest, cheapest way to change GBP to 10 different currencies while aborad without alot of hassle.

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, im new, I bet you get that alot lol!

Many thanks,

Adam

You need to learn to read, it does nothing of the sort.


The Globe card is altogether better value. (Escape takes it's higher fees from the exchange rate and you have to pay for the card)

Globe card also takes it's fee from the exchange rate, but tells you what the fee is. The Escape card doesn't tell you the fee, just the exchange rate. But their fee is considerably higher.

The only caveat with the Globe card, is that topping up by debit card is more difficult, after your initial loading, as you have to call. So it's better to top up by Bank Transfer.

Ridgway

i can read thankyou.

the escape card has better exchange and no fees the globe card has fees and worse exchange rates. go figure!

NiftyDigits

Ridgway wrote: »

i can read thankyou.

the escape card has better exchange and no fees the globe card has fees and worse exchange rates. go figure!

You clearly can't read then. Don't embarrass yourself by arguing. Read first, discuss later.

Of course you can just get the Escape card if you are so sure. It's not my money, so no reason for me to care.

I would just urge others to ignore your hasty post....and that's me being nice.

Ridgway

i didnt mean to come across that way i cannot see how the globe card is better, and ive compared the 2 cards websites. i may just get both, a back up is always good and see which one works out best. can you provide details of how they differ and how it work as i cant see, maybe its just me being thick!

dzug1

Ridgway wrote: »

i didnt mean to come across that way i cannot see how the globe card is better, and ive compared the 2 cards websites. i may just get both, a back up is always good and see which one works out best. can you provide details of how they differ and how it work as i cant see, maybe its just me being thick!

The Globe card says it charges 1.49% on the exchange rate

The Escape card charges about 3% on the exchange rate - calculated from today's rates. It doesn't tell you that, but that's what I make it.

ICBW of course

NiftyDigits

Ridgway wrote: »

i didnt mean to come across that way i cannot see how the globe card is better, and ive compared the 2 cards websites. i may just get both, a back up is always good and see which one works out best. can you provide details of how they differ and how it work as i cant see, maybe its just me being thick!

Not a problem. The Cash Passport Globe, unlike the other Cash Passport cards, uses the Mastercard wholesale exchange rate shown here and subtracts 1.49% from it as it's only fee. There are no other charges, ATM or otherwise.
Multiply the exchange rate found in my link above by 0.9851 to get the exchange rate of the Globe card for that day and then compare it to the one offered by the Escape card.
Purchase the Globe card via a CashBack website to get 0.5% of your initial load back. TopCashBack > Travelex > Globe Card.
Forget about the Escape card. Think about the Kalixa card as a backup instead.
Actually, I would purchase the Kalixa card via TopCashBack and top it up via Bank Transfer to avoid fees. I would use that for purchases and larger cash withdrawals( equivalent of £150 and over). In these cases, it is even better than the Globe card.
Use the Globe card for smaller cash withdrawals and a backup.

Ridgway

thats great. i didnt know that it used the mastercard exchange rates, their website shows travelex rates thst i was comparing it to and these are lower than the mastercard website.