Spending Overseas: The cheapest way to pay Article Discussion Area

wlcnetwork

The fairFx [prepaid] card is totally hassle free, managed entirely online and certainly the safest and most secure way of ensuring your nearest and dearest don't get into trouble in Continental Europe. From time of crediting the card online to money being available is minutes rather than hours. This applies to using the card for cash withdrawals or purchases.
Regards
Bill

kaydee wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of these prepay travel cash cards?
The one mentioned in the post above fairfx.com looks very interesting, and there is a similar product from ICE. These both look good compared to the offerings from traditional banking institutions!
I know that Nationwide are best for debit and credit abroad - and I have those myself!
I am looking for a way of making sure my 15 year old has access to money on a 2 week school trip abroad without the risk of carrying all his cash around all the time.
Any other alternatives gratefully received!

Born2Save_3

* Open another flex account, in your name, for your child - with no overdraft facilities
* Add your child to your existing account, so making it a joint account.

Nationwide typically let you have up to 3 flex accounts without asking too many questions - but it is always best to have a reason in advance why you want another - something like to help you manage your budgets or something like that may well be acceptable, but don't say so I can give my child a card to use abroad...

I have in excess of three accounts and it is hard for me to get more now. But it is not stopping me from trying...

These prepaid credit cards are not that good - even when they quote advantages of being able to change your money to Euros or Dollars at a specific time. If this is so significant then get a Euro or Dollar account with Nationwide International. BACS transfers between Nationwide (UK - onshore) and Nationwide International and vice versa can be done free of charge.

HTH

kaydee wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience of these prepay travel cash cards?
The one mentioned in the post above fairfx.com looks very interesting, and there is a similar product from ICE. These both look good compared to the offerings from traditional banking institutions!
I know that Nationwide are best for debit and credit abroad - and I have those myself!
I am looking for a way of making sure my 15 year old has access to money on a 2 week school trip abroad without the risk of carrying all his cash around all the time.
Any other alternatives gratefully received!

Born2Save_3

I've been to quite a few remote places in Thailand and you will find ATM's pretty much most towns, and these will take a Nationwide card (the blue Visa debit card is better, if you can get that one). But if you are concerned, you could take out however much cash you need over several days. Also you may consider opening a local bank account then use your Nationwide Visa debit card to do a transfer to your Thai bank account. This needs to be done in the bank. Basically you say you want to do a transfer from your Visa card to you Thai bank account. The bank staff swipe your card and the money goes into your Thai account straight away and at the Visa exchange rate, which is very close to the interbank rate. Doing a transfer this way you can do largish amounts. I have heard of people doing nearly 1Mio Baht (£16,000 approx) this way.

If you do do this, please post back here on your experience and details of what you did.

Be aware that if you use ATM's in convenience stores (7/11, Family Mart, or elsewhere) they may be a surcharge for using them. Best to take your cash from ATMs at established banks. I have not had any problems using Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank, Siam Commercial Bank ATMs. You will find these pretty much most places in Thailand.

If you go to Laos, Cambodia or Burma, then the situation is different and harder.

HTH

The_Wall wrote: »

Hi I'm going to Dubai and Thailand for 3 weeks and have around £2000 saved up for the trip. Am I best getting a Nationwide account then and using that card for withdrawals and purchases or getting the Nationwide and the Abbey card and use the abbey card for purchases? As I'm going to be in Thailand for the majority and never been before I presume I will need to take cash out to cover me when I'm in the remote areas? Any advice would be much appreciated

Born2Save_3

Thanks for the reply

My experience has been that the exchange is done when Visa/MasterCard want to do it - and this may be between 0 - 3 days after the actual withdrawal. This is why when you check your Nationwide account online as soon as the withdrawal registers, that the amount withdrawn will be provisional. Typically it is a bit more than the actual amount, but I guess that Nationwide are just covering themselves.

Sadly, I haven't recorded enough information for me to draw any conclusions about when the exchanges are typically done by Visa/Mastercard.

I was aware of a guy that was doing various tests with Nationwide cards in Thailand, but before he could provide further results, he was banned from the forum...

Fair point on smaller transactions. I agree that to get a better picture we need to compare withdrawls of the same amount on the red and blue card. If people could do that here, with the time, date and country of the withdrawals it would be very useful to see which card is best to use in specific countries.

The Blue Visa debit card is better for exchange information as the rate and date of exchange is quoted on line. Whereas with the Red Maestro (Mastercard) it is necessary to calculate the exchange rate, given that you know how much local currency was withdrawn.

Cheers

dzug1 wrote: »

Some fairly random thoughts:

I think the exchange is done live when you hit the confirm button. ICBW though. It is dynamic throughout the day, so on a bad day your experience would not be unusual.

I've also noticed that smaller transactions sometimes attract a slightly worse exchange rate than larger ones on the same day - same card. Maybe there's an element of fixed fee in Visa/Mastercard's cut. So for a proper comparison take the same amount from the two cards as close in time as possible.

Agree it's not worth asking Nationwide - they don't have easy access to this information - they don't do the transaction themselves, just take the V/MC results.

kaydee

Born2Save wrote: »

* Open another flex account, in your name, for your child - with no overdraft facilities
* Add your child to your existing account, so making it a joint account.

Nationwide typically let you have up to 3 flex accounts without asking too many questions - but it is always best to have a reason in advance why you want another - something like to help you manage your budgets or something like that may well be acceptable, but don't say so I can give my child a card to use abroad...

I have in excess of three accounts and it is hard for me to get more now. But it is not stopping me from trying...


HTH

They told me that a joint account holder would have to be over 16 - and they would ask for name and date of birth!!
Did you find a way around that?

Born2Save_3

Open another account in your name and give your child the card for that. If it is just for ATM usage then there will be no problems. If you want the ability for your child to use a card for customer present purchases then it becomes more complex. Anyway for small transactions, just withdraw the money from the ATM.

If larger amounts of money are involved, see if your child can get a local bank account, then you could wire the money directly to that account.

If you want to go the joint account route, if there is another adult member in your household you trust, just use their name. The joint status, could be only for as long as you need it. Plus you would need to be able to receive any communication sent from Nationwide to the second person, to be on the safe side. Personally, I'd go for a separate account, with no overdraft

So quite a few options - depends on what your comfortable with ?

kaydee wrote: »

They told me that a joint account holder would have to be over 16 - and they would ask for name and date of birth!!
Did you find a way around that?

kaydee

That is probably the best route, thanks!
I must get going with Nationwide!

top.position

NoDebtForMe wrote: »

Question for all you knowledgable ones. I have applied and been accepted for a Nationwide Debit card. I go to USA at end August. I will have all my spends in the next 3 weeks or so saved up. With the exchange rate as it is now (obviously going in the wrong direction) would I be better to get my money exchanged through the best people over here in 3 weeks time or leave it in a savings account and then use the debit card for atm transactions when I get there at end August ? Wouldnt the daily rate by end Aug be worse than it is in 3 weeks (obviously no one can answer that precisely) with it's forecast showing as a decline ?
Any ideas of the best thing to do ? I will be taking £2500 to 3.
Thanks
Sarah

Wouldn't it be nice to know what the exchange rate will be at the end of August? Merchant bankers get bonuses of HUGE amounts for guessing right.

I'm just an amateur and all my info comes from listening to the business news on the Today programme and watching what's happening in the markets day to day.

I am usually as surprised as the next person when something changes (like the price of oil or the exchange rate) because it seems to go on heading in the 'wrong direction' for ages even when I think a change is coming. I could see 5 years ago that house prices were going to fall and yet they carried on rising for more than 4 years.

My guess would be that US interest rates will fall again and that European ones won't. If I'm right and UK rates don't change the dollar will weaken and your money will do better in sterling. If UK rates fall your money would be better in Euros. Sadly, I don't have a Euro account or I'd have been putting money into Euros for about the last three years.

oxymore

Can someone just clarify to me with the Abbey Zero Card and the Nationwide Flexi debit card.

1. When I make a purchase at a shop, will I be charged interest on my Abbey credit card statement even if I pay it in full within 56 days?

2. And will I be charged interest on cash withdrawals even if I pay my bill off within 56 days?

3. Can I only use the Nationwide debit card for cash withdrawals or can I use it for purchases too? Are there any charges involved with purchases?

Thank you

dzug1

oxymore wrote: »

Can someone just clarify to me with the Abbey Zero Card and the Nationwide Flexi debit card.

1. When I make a purchase at a shop, will I be charged interest on my Abbey credit card statement even if I pay it in full within 56 days?

2. And will I be charged interest on cash withdrawals even if I pay my bill off within 56 days?

3. Can I only use the Nationwide debit card for cash withdrawals or can I use it for purchases too? Are there any charges involved with purchases?

Thank you

1 No (assuming it's a standard credit card - I haven't checked)

2 Yes

3. You can use it for purchases as well. No fees