Cash in Switzerland

chattychappy

Dephead2004 wrote: »

Thanks that's great advice from caz2003uk and bigadaj. caz2003uk wins so far with my 2500CHF challenge as the PO card weighs in at 5 transactions at 2.50CHF each= 12.50CHF = 8.33GBP cf Clarity card 1% for 2500CHF = 25CHF = 16.66GBP. But that means 5 trips to the Bank. Thanks guys

That assumes you get charged 1% by Clarity. Interest is calculated daily. If you pay back within a week or so, you'll pay less. Could be as little pence if you pay off the balance within days.

Dephead2004 wrote: »

Is the Mastercard rate of exchange better or equal to the VISA rate?

Both about the same in my experience.

Dephead2004

Thanks chattychappy. Mr rate is 12.9%pa and I could manage a transfer the same or next day. How does that work then?

dzug1

caz2003uk wrote: »

The post office as far as I am aware are the only pre loaded currency travel card that allows Swiss francs!

It doesn't cost to load it, it costs 2.50 CHF per cash withdrawal at a limit if 500CHF a day!

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/travel-money-card

It DOES cost to load it - in the form of the PO's mediocre exchange rate

Isn't the Nationwide Debit card still free in Europe? I'm pretty sure mine is.

agrinnall

dzug1 wrote: »

Isn't the Nationwide Debit card still free in Europe? I'm pretty sure mine is.

Well if it is you'll need to tell us how you managed it, because as the OP says, everyone else had it stopped and replaced by free travel insurance. It is still one of the better cards to use because charges are lower than many other mainstream card issuers, but it's not free any more.

OP, why don't you just follow the advice in the MSE Travel Money guide? [Although for some reason it no longer mentions the Metro Bank debit card, which has no charges for foreign withdrawals]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money#howgood

rougebanks11

You can not withdraw GBP from an ATM. you should have translated that into CHF and then withdraw.

Thanks

chattychappy

Dephead2004 wrote: »

Thanks chattychappy. Mr rate is 12.9%pa and I could manage a transfer the same or next day. How does that work then?

Interest is calculated daily. So let's say you withdrew £300 and paid it back the next day. You'd pay one day's interest, which is about 10p.

The visa/mastercard rates are close to interbank - so you are really doing very well this way. There is one "fly in the ointment". CCs usually apply payments received to statemented transactions in preference to transactions yet to appear. So if using Clarity for purchases at the same time, then it is probably safest to pay off the entire balance (including recent purchases) along with the cash withdrawal.

Bear in mind that all cards (even pre-paid) can get blocked, even if you let them know before you travel.

I don't have Clarity, but I do have Santander Zero which works the same way. I've happily pulled out 1000 euros over 3 days in Germany.

dzug1 wrote: »

Isn't the Nationwide Debit card still free in Europe? I'm pretty sure mine is.

Not any more, I think you'll find. It used to be free worldwide, then for a while it was free in Europe only. Now £1 + 2% for non-sterling.

zagfles

caz2003uk wrote: »

The post office as far as I am aware are the only pre loaded currency travel card that allows Swiss francs!

It doesn't cost to load it, it costs 2.50 CHF per cash withdrawal at a limit if 500CHF a day!

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/travel-money-card

So what rate do you get when loading it? I can guarantee it won't be as good as the VISA/MasterCard rate.

ETA: To answer my own question, current rate is 1.4384 for the PO card. The current MasterCard rate is 1.4945. That's a 3.75% charge hidden in the rate. It's a rip-off.

zagfles

Dephead2004 wrote: »

Is the Mastercard rate of exchange better or equal to the VISA rate?

Mastercard is better in general. They calculate them at different times so VISA may be better on some dates depending on exchange rate movements, but the MasterCard has a lower spread so are likely to be better.

Voyager2002

dzug1 wrote: »

It DOES cost to load it - in the form of the PO's mediocre exchange rate

Isn't the Nationwide Debit card still free in Europe? I'm pretty sure mine is.

Nationwide do offer fee-free cash withdrawals, but only for people who make special arrangements with them.

Voyager2002

The Clarity comes so close to being free that I would not worry about the tiny amount of interest. (If you have on-line banking with your usual current account, just transfer a sum of money roughly equivalent to the amount of each withdrawal from your bank account to Clarity on the same day that you take the money out: that way you will only owe the money and pay interest for a day, if that.)

Remember that larger expenses (hotels, train tickets) can be processed as credit card transactions and so can be fee-free.