Travel money cards

lennit

Not sure how these work, even tho Martin champions them? I understand no commission payable but how do you know what exchange rate will be used when making purchases abroad?

Kite2010

I use a Post Office Card, the exchange rate used is the mastercard exchange rate at the time of purchase.

Which IIRC is pretty close to the actual exchange rate (ie. currently 1 GBP = 1.64513 USD)

lennit

Thanks. So it's pot luck that the exchange rate is good on the day?

dzug1

If you buy one denominated in foreign currency the exchange rate is determined when you buy it and reload it.


If you buy a sterling one then how the exchange rate is determined will be buried in the T&C - so not exactly 'pot luck'. You just choose one with the lowest combination of fees/exchange rate loading.

inmypocketnottheirs

For out of pocket incidental expenses my employer gives me a Caxtonfx card for each currency, £,$ and €. It's within my remit to draw say 500 of any currency and use for out of pocket stuff. I don't see why this wouldn't be a solution for you too. You load the cards at the currency rate on the day, so you travel knowing exactly what you have to spend.

Be careful though using for hotels or car hire as most operators will take an authorisation in excess of the required amount to cover any charges (hotel) or fines/damage (hire car).

HTH

grumbler

lennit wrote: »

...how do you know what exchange rate will be used when making purchases abroad?

You might not know it at the time of the purchase, but you can make a very educated guess:

http://www.visaeurope.com/en/cardholders/exchange_rates.aspx
https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/

Compare to the interbank rate: http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/

That said, "no commission payable" applies only to very few cards. For the majority it's ~3% and can be found in the Summary Box or Fees&Charges.

zagfles

All pre-paid cards will have additional charges over the VISA/Mastercard rate. The only zero fee cards are credit/debit cards, and an increasingly small number of them. See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

Though note that Metrobank are going to start charging