Some advice re Euros

bellybee

We go away in June and I have been doing some overtime to save up each month for our euros and will have between £150-£200 a month to change up.
Am I best to save this in my account here and change all at once before I go or get a euro card and load on a bit at a time.


I have only ever taken cash on foreign holidays and I am a little concerned about having cash laying around for months before we go.

PeacefulWaters

I'd get a Halifax Clarity Card.

Save up your cash in an interest earning account. Spend on the Halifax card when overseas. Pay off in full when you return.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money?_ga=1.180641639.1116300417.1393518509

Fortyfoot

Yep, I agree, I have been using one for a couple of years now. I load the card before I go and do not have any problems. I explain to the cashier what I am doing and they are happy with it although it seems to go against some of their conditions.

Fortyfoot

Voyager2002

Fortyfoot wrote: »

Yep, I agree, I have been using one for a couple of years now. I load the card before I go and do not have any problems. I explain to the cashier what I am doing and they are happy with it although it seems to go against some of their conditions.

Fortyfoot

You may have been lucky... I would not advise another poster to go against the card's conditions since the Halifax would be within their rights to change the way they treat the situation and block the card. Paying as you use (via on-line banking) works well and costs very little... even paying it off as soon as you get home costs less than typical currency exchange fees.

Voyager2002

bellybee wrote: »

We go away in June and I have been doing some overtime to save up each month for our euros and will have between £150-£200 a month to change up.
Am I best to save this in my account here and change all at once before I go or get a euro card and load on a bit at a time.


I have only ever taken cash on foreign holidays and I am a little concerned about having cash laying around for months before we go.

At the moment the value of the pound against the Euro is unusually high: you may want to take a view as to whether the Euro might rise before your holiday, in which case it might make sense to buy some Euro while they are cheap. In which case, loading some money on to a pre-paid Euro card would make sense: the downside of course is that the Euro might go even lower; and you would not get any interest on the money saved.

Otherwise, you could put your savings into some kind of interest-bearing account (you can earn 5 per cent at TSB or Nationwide) and spend them when it is holiday time.