Travelling for 6 months, What card do I take?

NiftyDigits

callum9999 wrote: »

And so everyone has to be as fastidious as you or they're some kind of thick air-head? Why not take 3 pre-paid cards? Why not 4? What if a tsunami hits and washes away all their stuff - should they have a suite of virtual cards ready to access online?

Things do indeed go wrong, but each individual has to make up their own mind as to how strongly they want to prepare for it. The odds of both cards not working at the same time, while the third one would, are rather slim. If they end up incurring a few quid in fees on a normal debit card then you'll just have to sit there smug knowing you were right. You can't force people to act the same way you do, and if they choose not to then you can't abuse them until they do!

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Perhaps you haven't noticed that the OP simply has not understood fully at some stages, even after an explanation.
Contrary to your allusion that the OP should make up his own mind....one cannot make a cogent decision without a grasp of the facts.
What he thought when he made his first post has changed since he began this thread and will continue to change the more that he reads.
Unlike yourself, I have detailed knowledge of how things work in that region.
My intention is to make sure that they understand fully.
As you might have noticed, after each of my posts, the OP learns a little more than before.

There are clear reasons for have two Prepaid cards rather than one(in the event of the OP not being able to obtain a mainstream account).

Always a good idea to have a backup. A good value one is all the better.

ATM withdrawals in Thailand cost 180 baht per withdrawal.
Using the Caxton for a small withdrawals of say £50 at a time will cost the OP 180 baht(£3.50) + £1.38 = £4.88. If he tries to bypass the ATM and withdraw over the counter, Caxton will sting him with a £4.50 + 2% fee in addition to the 2.75% mark up. So for a £50 over the counter withdrawal, he could end up with £6.88 in charges. I'm sure that he would be thanking you for your intervention at that moment.

With the Kalixa Pay card, he has other options. Withdraw a larger amount of cash each time(which would be cheaper than the Caxton option) or withdraw over the counter using the Kalixa Pay.
Withdrawing the equivalent of £100 over the counter in Thailand using Kalixa Pay may cost as little as £2.25, as opposed to £9.25(£4.50 + £2 + £2.75) over the counter with Caxton or £6.25(£3.50 + £2.75) with Caxton at the ATM.

Good idea to have both a Visa and a Mastercard in your arsenal.

There will be instances when a purchase will be advantageous to a cash withdrawal costing 2.75%. Caxton will charge 2.75% for both the purchase and ATM withdrawal. Kalixa Pay would be the one to use for all purchases as there no charges at all for such transactions.

So it makes sound financial sense to have one card that is best for making smaller ATM withdrawals(under £80) and another for larger ATM withdrawals(£80 and upwards) and all purchases. Taking note of the specific situation in Thailand with it's hefty ATM fees, in which it will likely be better to use the Kalixa Pay over the counter for all cash withdrawals and purchases.

I tried to save the OP from complicated explanations, so that he could just get on and get the cards first, with regard to the proximity of the date of his travel.

The OP should use these two Prepaid cards in combination, in order to get the best value for his money.

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