Prepaid Travel Cards guide

etienneg

There are charges. for example, getting excess money back in GBP costs £1.50 at an ATM or £4 + 1% of transaction over the counter. Card replacement (damaged/lost/stolen) is £6, as is an additional card. A disputed transaction costs £25 !

Why not get a travel credit card where there is never an excess to get back and the rest are free?

Grumpygit

I haven't read all 57 pages of this topic.......


I am looking at getting a FairFx USD card for our holiday.


OH is asking questions and there isn't an answer on their FAQ's so i wonder if anyone had any insight.


If, while you're on holiday you lose your card or it gets stolen and you report it to them (and they cancel it), would you be able to get the balance refunded to your bank account then or do you have to wait until you have the new card to do it (which would obviously be when you got home as they only post it to your home address)


Thanks in advance

dj1471

Grumpygit wrote: »

I am looking at getting a FairFx USD card for our holiday.

Why, when there are so many better options?

I guess MSE are to blame for listing cards based on how much commission they can earn rather than what's best for the customer. You'd be better off with one of the specialist debit or credit cards, e.g. Starling Bank, Monzo or Revolut:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/

Grumpygit

Thanks for the reply - I hadn't actually considered one - it was only someone at work has one of those and I thought oh good idea!


I will look at the others, although I don't know if there would be any restrictions on getting one as we are not UK based - but I will have a look anyway


Thanks for the link as well

Grumpygit

Well, so far so good with Starling - applied and will wait to see if the card comes through.


The others had too low a cash withdrawal limit.


Thanks DJ1471

dj1471

Grumpygit wrote: »

Well, so far so good with Starling - applied and will wait to see if the card comes through.

The others had too low a cash withdrawal limit.

Grab one of the others too, you should always have a backup in case your card gets lost/blocked/etc.

But not the FairFX, they charge $2 per ATM withdrawal on top of what the ATM operator will charge you.

Hannah2

Hi

We are due to go on holiday in July and the hotel is to be paid in Euros on arrival. Normally we use our post office credit card to pay and therefore get good rate of exchange at the time, however, given Brexit I am a little wary and wonder if it is worth locking in the Euro rate at the moment for all or part of the cost by using a prepaid card. I don't want to take out Euro cash and have it around the house/travelling with it.

If we are not wanting to use it for cash machine withdrawals and only to cover the cost of the hotel, am I right in assuming that the FairFX card would be a good choice given its rate for loading Euros and the fact it is FCA authorised? Thanks.

dj1471

Hannah2 wrote: »

If we are not wanting to use it for cash machine withdrawals and only to cover the cost of the hotel, am I right in assuming that the FairFX card would be a good choice given its rate for loading Euros and the fact it is FCA authorised? Thanks.

No, it's exchange rates aren't the best. Doing this will be a gamble, if you really want to then Revolut would be a better choice as they use the interbank rate (during the week, don't exchange at weekends). They charge for card delivery but you can get this free if you get a referral from the referrers board:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5756972/revolut-referral-thread

eDicky

Hannah2 wrote: »

given Brexit I am a little wary and wonder if it is worth locking in the Euro rate at the moment for all or part of the cost by using a prepaid card.

The chances of the value of the pound against the euro either improving or declining over time are equal, but the exchange rate margin of FairFX makes your chances of any benefit less than 50%. You could 'hedge' by buying some now, Revolut on a weekday instead of FairFX. I probably wouldn't bother unless it's a huge amount, just pay with the right plastic and best rate at the time.

Elizajane72

Pre Paid card for SA

Looking for some advice. My (when she travels) 18 year old daughter is heading to South Africa in July to volunteer with some friends and a 2 teachers from her school. The teacher (who is South African) has advised that they take a prepaid travel card, but looking at the 2 'advertised' on MSE, neither allows rands. Do we open a new bank account, that allows international debit transactions? I'm not keen on the credit card option, not that she should be getting one as she has just left school!

Look forward to your help