Prepaid Travel Cards guide

eDicky

photek1000 wrote: »

Hi,

We are off to Spain at the end of August and I have been looking at a pre-loaded style card to take as I think that works best for us.

From a quick read of the main website and this thread to me Starling looks like the best option for our needs, but to save me the digging as I'm sure it has been covered, is there a cost to load the card from another current account and vice versa move any funds back after the holiday if there are any?

And I am assuming you just load in GBP and it all gets calculated at the time of a transaction rather than being a pre-loaded Euros card?

The days of 'preloaded style cards' are numbered.

Starling is a bank account with full facilities and no fees, zero-load conversion at the MasterCard rate, so yes, your money remains as pounds until used. You can transfer funds in or out by FP, or add funds by debit card.

Loot.io is very similar as a prepaid card, an excellent backup. Never rely on a single source of funds when traveling.

photek1000

Thanks eDicky,

I'll apply for Starling at least, the Loot.io looks to be almost the same from a quick browse, kind of a half way house to between a pre-load and a current account with zero or very small European transaction fees.

Would that be a fair assumption?

eDicky

photek1000 wrote: »

I'll apply for Starling at least, the Loot.io looks to be almost the same from a quick browse, kind of a half way house to between a pre-load and a current account with zero or very small European transaction fees.

Would that be a fair assumption?

Yes pretty much, Loot lacks some of the facilities and the FSCS protection of a 'real' bank account. There are no transaction or other fees, same as Starling, except £1 per ATM withdrawal after the first two free per month. Starling has no such fee or limit so far, it remains to be seen for how long they can absorb the costs of foreign ATM use.

Jimmy1959

Starling is a bank account with a debit card not a prepaid card it's totally on line and pays small interest on account ballance so no charge for deposits of money which you will obviously need to do online. You just use your card to pay in the local currency with near to perfect exchange rates with no additional fees. I'm in Greece currently and it's working a dream. I have not tried to get cash at an ATM yet so cannot comment other than there is a charge.

gettingtheresometime

I've had a revolut card for a few years & am very happy with it - the only problems we've ever had with it is trying to use it when I've frozen it!

A feature I like is that say we're planning a big holiday in the US them I can put money away each month convert it to $ (so I can't dip in to it lol).

However I do know that it's not so good for ATM withdrawals & im planning a trip where most of the transactions will have to be in cash so I'll need an alternative card.

From what I've read Starling is best for ATM withdrawals but am I right in thinking that you can only have £s in the account? Is there a card that multi currency (as I like the feature not to be able to have the temptation to dip into it) that is good for ATM withdrawals?

Thanks

EveryWhere

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

I've had a revolut card for a few years & am very happy with it - the only problems we've ever had with it is trying to use it when I've frozen it!

A feature I like is that say we're planning a big holiday in the US them I can put money away each month convert it to $ (so I can't dip in to it lol).

However I do know that it's not so good for ATM withdrawals & im planning a trip where most of the transactions will have to be in cash so I'll need an alternative card.

From what I've read Starling is best for ATM withdrawals but am I right in thinking that you can only have £s in the account? Is there a card that multi currency (as I like the feature not to be able to have the temptation to dip into it) that is good for ATM withdrawals?

Thanks

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-travel-cards/#weswapeurodollar

Edmondcat

Looking for card the can take euros us$ nz$ etc and I can used abroad to buy meals etc


There are so many cards loot, Revolut. Transferwise Santander Zero, starling etc

Want a card the I pay £ and can top up online, and it converts to local currency with no charges

Totally confused I am a pensioner.

eDicky

Edmondcat wrote: »

Looking for card the can take euros us$ nz$ etc and I can used abroad to buy meals etc

There are so many cards loot, Revolut. Transferwise Santander Zero, starling etc

Want a card the I pay £ and can top up online, and it converts to local currency with no charges

Totally confused I am a pensioner.

You need a smartphone for Starling, Revolut. Loot account can be accessed online also, I'm not sure if you need the smartphone to sign up. These kind of cards, also credit cards like the Zero, convert to any currency when you use the card, so you don't need to worry about different currencies. Revolut can be a little complicated.

EveryWhere

Edmondcat wrote: »

Looking for card the can take euros us$ nz$ etc and I can used abroad to buy meals etc


There are so many cards loot, Revolut. Transferwise Santander Zero, starling etc

Want a card the I pay £ and can top up online, and it converts to local currency with no charges

Totally confused I am a pensioner.

If you are not of the Smartphone set or your phone not compatible with the relevant applications, consider the relatively old fashioned; https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/current-account/essential-current-account.jsp

No fees for spending abroad. Only a £1.50 charge for ATM withdrawals abroad. So perhaps best to take out a chunk of cash on arrival and subsequently pay for what you can with the card. Using the cash for cash only transactions.
Nice and simple.

Simon331

Hi all,

Just a general warning as we have just got back from holiday to be hit with a big bill. Prior to going on holiday we got a Revolut pre-paid card as our usual credit card (Tesco Bank) has a big transaction fee (2.75% on each transaction) and dreadful exchange rate when we have used it abroad in the past. While on holiday I topped up my Revolut card on a few occasions without thinking about it.

I have now got home and checked my statements to find that each time I topped up I have been hit with a 4% Cash Transaction Fee by Tesco which immediately starts accruing interest, so it really is a double whammy, so for each £500 topup, I have been charged £20 and they have started charging interest on the £500 immediately so I also have an interest bill to pay.


Suffice to say I am more than a little displeased, especially with Tesco, but would have thought this would have been mentioned on the MSE webpage about prepaid cards, but I have just checked and Revolut is still top of the recommended list but there is no mention of these charges. I am trying to get in touch with Tesco to argue about it, but suspect I will not get anywhere so, either way, I wanted to warn other prospective Revolut card users, as I suspect this is going to be a policy more 'normal' credit card companies are going to implement.

Cheers
Simon