Missing Foreign Currency, Holiday tomorrow. What do I do?

Xen6

I ordered £750 worth of Croatian Kuna from FairFx on Monday. They say that they deliver by 1pm the next working day, so since it was a Bank Holiday I expected the cash to arrive on Wednesday.
I was really hoping it would arrive today (Saturday), but it is still not here and our flight is tomorrow morning.

What should I do? It is now 3 days late and they won't answer their phones!

benjus

Have you tried emailing them?

Have they taken the payment from your card? Did you get any kind of tracking information for the cash delivery?

If they failed to provide the service they promised and do not respond to enquiries, you can ask the issuer of the card you paid with to perform a chargeback to recover the money. If you subsequently receive the Kuna I would simply send it back to them with a letter to say that since they did not deliver within the promised timescale you no longer want the Kuna.

As for holiday money, what credit/debit cards do you have? Can you afford to cover the £750 until you get back and can sort everything out?

zagfles

Have they charged you? If so do you have any other money to use? Do you have any credit cards with decent limits? What credit/debit cards have you got?

Xen6

The money has come out of my account.

I'm a student, so I only have a £500 limit on the Halifax x card. But I was already planning to use this to supplement the cash.

Debit card is Santander student account. I imagine pretty bad exchange rates and charges for spending abroad?

I could borrow some money from my parents, but at short notice the exchange rates are going to be worse, and the whole point of getting the cash from them was to get the best rates.

I have sent an email. No response as of yet

zagfles

What Halifax credit card? They all seem to have an X on them! http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/?WT.seg_3=Common/promotion/credit_cards/hlinke/credit0-crdtcard-lnke-crdtcard00

If it's the Clarity, then use that and get it topped up while abroad (eg get your parents to do it, send them a text after a cash withdrawal or a few spends) making sure it doesn't go into credit or exceed £500 in debit.

The Santander account looks like it charges 2.75% exchange rate markup plus a cash/purchase fee see http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/123-student-current-account

which is a bit of a rip-off but probably no more so than changing cash (usually a 5% exchange rate markup hidden in the rate).

If you're in London Metrobank would be a possibility though doubt they're open Saturday afternoons, worth checking? They can apparently issue debit cards on the spot.

Otherwise may be best to take GBP and change there. Generally get better rates abroad, but I've got no specific info about Croatia.

Xen6

Yes it's the clarity. That's a great idea, thanks

I've just popped to the nearest exchange so I have £100 worth in cash to get us from the airport to where we're staying and then I'll do most of the spending on the Halifax Clarity Card.

NiftyDigits

zagfles wrote: »

What Halifax credit card? They all seem to have an X on them! http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/?WT.seg_3=Common/promotion/credit_cards/hlinke/credit0-crdtcard-lnke-crdtcard00

If it's the Clarity, then use that and get it topped up while abroad (eg get your parents to do it, send them a text after a cash withdrawal or a few spends) making sure it doesn't go into credit or exceed £500 in debit.

The Santander account looks like it charges 2.75% exchange rate markup plus a cash/purchase fee see http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/123-student-current-account

which is a bit of a rip-off but probably no more so than changing cash (usually a 5% exchange rate markup hidden in the rate).

If you're in London Metrobank would be a possibility though doubt they're open Saturday afternoons, worth checking? They can apparently issue debit cards on the spot.

Otherwise may be best to take GBP and change there. Generally get better rates abroad, but I've got no specific info about Croatia.

Monday - Friday:
8am - 8pm
Saturday:
8am - 6pm
Sunday:
11am - 5pm
Bank holiday:
11am - 5pm

PeacefulWaters

Ring Halifax and ask for a chargeback.

That should get the money back in your account fairly soon and might help you get through your holiday.

Note that a a Halifax debit card is an expensive one to use overseas.