Prepaid Travel Cards guide

eDicky

weeg wrote: »

I'd like to give my brother a wedding present of a preloaded card in Canadian dollars for their honeymoon. The best rates all seem to be tied to an ap, or take a couple of weeks to arrive. Can anyone point me in a good direction, or should I just go buy the dollars? (Except I'd have to get them posted to him, as I won't see him before they leave)

There's no such card that can be obtained in another person's name, and in general cards 'preloaded' in a foreign currency are not good value.

Assuming that your brother has a suitable means of spending in Canadian dollars, just send him pounds to his bank account.

Right now there's an opportunity to get the Revolut plastic card free of charge (usually £5) if you sign up and order it with the app by tomorrow (Sun Mar 11th). This is excellent for travel. If you really like the idea of giving him CAD instead of GBP and you both sign up, you can load GBP to yours, add a CAD account, convert at the interbank rate (weekdays) and instantly send him the CAD to his own account, ready to use with the card.

Rachaelgcuba

I am travelling to Denmark sweeden and norway on one trip, what prepaid card is best and in what currency as all three counties have different money?

PeacefulWaters

Rachaelgcuba wrote: »

I am travelling to Denmark sweeden and norway on one trip, what prepaid card is best and in what currency as all three counties have different money?

Starling Bank.

Fund in Sterling, spend in local currency.

Neil49

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Starling Bank.

Fund in Sterling, spend in local currency.

I agree, but is the Starling account a prepaid or a current account?

I thought it was a current account which makes applying for one a bit more involved.

luckwudaveit

We're going away to the Eurozone in 5 weeks for an all inclusive holiday so probably won't need much cash. We'll take !!!8364;200 but will need a back up if we need more cash. I've had a Caxton pre paid card before but misplaced it and they will charge £5 for a replacement. FairFX looks next best but if I load £500 on it, how can I transfer it back to sterling on our return? I'm starting to think about just withdrawing on a debit card should we need more cash.

PeacefulWaters

FairFX looks next best

In what ways?

luckwudaveit

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

In what ways?

ATM withdrawal fees at a £1, no load fee and no card fee. If I load £500 on to it I'll get the £8 currency bonus, but any balance left on the card after returning to the UK will cost me 1.75% on spend, or 1.75% at an ATM plus 1.50 euro. Seems they want you to just keep the money there, but I don't know if we'll use the card any time soon.

Perhaps a Starling debit card is the way to go?

Donkey_Oti.

Having read the guide and opted for a Revolut card, I was surprised to find the "free" card actually costs £5, and another £10 to have it delivered by standard mail to a UK address. (10 days). The guide mentions neither. Just saying.

PeacefulWaters

luckwudaveit wrote: »

ATM withdrawal fees at a £1, no load fee and no card fee. If I load £500 on to it I'll get the £8 currency bonus, but any balance left on the card after returning to the UK will cost me 1.75% on spend, or 1.75% at an ATM plus 1.50 euro. Seems they want you to just keep the money there, but I don't know if we'll use the card any time soon.

Perhaps a Starling debit card is the way to go?

Abserbloodylutely. And none of those fees.

luckwudaveit

Can you tell it's been over 5 years since I've been abroad? The market has changed considerably.