Prepaid Travel Cards guide

eDicky

jimbo93 wrote: »

I have a Samsung Galaxy s3 mini that runs 4.1.2 and Revolut is only supported by 4.4 KitKat. Another dead end. Has anybody got any other ideas as I am thinking now to try and change my offshore bank from Lloyds to someone who do not charge extorionate charges. I seriously need some advice but this UK resident address is completely wrong as everything I do for my banking is internet based. Please help.

What do the Portuguese use for travel? Can you not open a suitable bank account with card, as a resident?

Or maybe it's worth upgrading to an android 4.4 phone, such as a used S4 Mini, to use Revolut..?

Obviously_the_best

jimbo93, have you looked at WeSwap? They could be what you're after. It's similar to revolut, but charges 1%

https://www.weswap.com

NiftyDigits

Obviously_the_best wrote: »

jimbo93, have you looked at WeSwap? They could be what you're after. It's similar to revolut, but charges 1%

https://www.weswap.com

Erm...no. That is an oversimplification.

WeSwap fees... to include £1.50 ATM withdrawal for transactions under £200.

What is not clear is what happens if you don't swap your currency from Pounds, but you spend in another currency. Do you get the full Mastercard exchange rate with no deductions?
If not, I would use Kalixa Pay rather than WeSwap.

JMFD

Heading out to New Zealand in March, so needing a card for NZD. Travelex seems to be fee free for single currency, but doesn't seem to be rated highly? Am I missing something? Does anyone have any recommendations?

(I'll have clarity for purchasing, but need to watch credit rating so don't want to use for atms, plus some places charge for using credit cards)

Spivved1987

eDicky wrote: »

What do the Portuguese use for travel? Can you not open a suitable bank account with card, as a resident?

Or maybe it's worth upgrading to an android 4.4 phone, such as a used S4 Mini, to use Revolut..?

I have a Samsung s3 Mini running 4.2.2 and everything seems fine with the app - loaded and used to exchange/withdraw euros within last couple of days!

NiftyDigits

JMFD wrote: »

Heading out to New Zealand in March, so needing a card for NZD. Travelex seems to be fee free for single currency, but doesn't seem to be rated highly? Am I missing something? Does anyone have any recommendations?

(I'll have clarity for purchasing, but need to watch credit rating so don't want to use for atms, plus some places charge for using credit cards)

Yes. Use Revolut.

JMFD

JMFD wrote: »

Heading out to New Zealand in March, so needing a card for NZD. Travelex seems to be fee free for single currency, but doesn't seem to be rated highly? Am I missing something? Does anyone have any recommendations?

(I'll have clarity for purchasing, but need to watch credit rating so don't want to use for atms, plus some places charge for using credit cards)

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Yes. Use Revolut.

I am genuinely curious, for single-currency, what is actually wrong with Travelex - people have said on this thread that "it's bad", but not pointed in the actual direction of what in the terms makes it so when not converting between different currencies.

NiftyDigits

JMFD wrote: »

I am genuinely curious, for single-currency, what is actually wrong with Travelex - people have said on this thread that "it's bad", but not pointed in the actual direction of what in the terms makes it so when not converting between different currencies.

Takes a cut from the initial exchange rate and another 5.75% between currencies.

eDicky

JMFD wrote: »

I am genuinely curious, for single-currency, what is actually wrong with Travelex - people have said on this thread that "it's bad", but not pointed in the actual direction of what in the terms makes it so when not converting between different currencies.

If you look at the various Travelex charges and the exchange rate they give compared to the current mid-market rate, then consider that Revolut has zero fees and exchange rate loading, you can understand Revolut's popularity and advantage, even for use with conversion to a single foreign currency (if that's what you mean).

Galbraith

ShoesAreDamnExpensive wrote: »

I have a caxton Global card which I have used for a number of years but will be scrapping mine. (NB - first make sure your card is still valid as they changed people from Visa to Mastercards this year)


Since moving over to the mastercard I've had a number of issues with it whilst travelling lately and the support is very poor. I'm not convinced that the exchange rates are as good as they were and loading the card is now more difficult. Previously you could load by text message but this is no longer possible with the MasterCard version so you need wifi to load. I've had a number of instances where the card just hasn't worked for no reason.
The main reason I am changing is that the weekend just gone both my husband and I tried to load extra on our cards whilst in Venice. The app wouldn't work - neither would the online version so we couldn't get more money onto our cards. I have checked my bank this morning and the loads HAVE left my bank account but not credited my card. I spent 10 minutes on hold trying to query this and then was told it had been 'captured' and they would release it now. Too late for me to use and I will now have a 3% fee to put it back into my bank account. Women I spoke to didn't seem to understand why this was a problem. So purely from my experience I would not use - I would switch to a more reliable card. hth

Thank you for your reply.

I managed to get my Caxton funds transferred back into my bank account even though the card had expired and have now applied for a FairFX and Revolut card.