Prepaid Travel Cards guide

eDicky

overloaded75 wrote: »

And on the free international transfers (how do they make money I wonder?) - that means they are a superior choice compared to transferwise as well.

They just hope people use the cards sometimes, to give them some revenue.

Transfers to bank accounts using Revolut can take up to five days, but are often faster lately, and banks in some jurisdictions, such as Puerto Rico, don't accept payments by their system (Currency Cloud). However if a transfer fails they can see what happened and credit the money back to your balance immediately.

Depending on your need for speed and certainty, it may sometimes be worth paying TransferWise.

Anthorn

eDicky wrote: »

There are those who, for whatever reason, feel the need to indulge in pointless personal attacks and illogical criticism of products that they have never used, but most of us tend to concentrate on providing relevant information that might be useful. My own frequent endorsement of Revolut is perhaps justified by having used it extensively enough for them to raise my annual limit to £100k.

The mid-market or interbank rates offered by WeSwap when you order seven days in advance are the same as those given by Revolut instantly (except weekends), although I'm not sure at what point in those seven days the WeSwap rate is fixed. Revolut's rates are updated every half second during weekdays when the market is open. In your case when you know exactly what you want to spend next week, you can make suitable use of WeSwap, but the way it functions would be much more limiting for most users than the relative versatility of Revolut, as far as I can see. WeSwap also, I think, has no facility to make free international transfers to bank accounts, or instantly between users (?), in the same way as Revolut.

Oh really? And there are those who persist in repeatedly referring to different "exchange rates" "no fees" and "0% commission" which are actually works of fiction. There is actually only one exchange rate. No such thing as the "We Swap rate" or the "Revolut Rate" or when the rate is fixed. It's all the same rate which is tweaked to provide a mark-up.

If FX providers were honest the rate across all providers would be the same but with differing fees.

Here's what Transferwise says about it:

"Zero Fees", "0% commission". Lies.
What makes the great exchange rate scam truly frustrating is how it catches out even the savviest of customers. It's really little more than an old boys network of banks and brokers hiding behind spurious marketing guff. Even though you may feel you've paid no ostensible transaction fee, you’re still getting thoroughly ripped off on the exchange rate.

https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/one-real-exchange-rate

Perhaps you like this better: "Oh yes, Revolut is absolutely fantastic, the beez kneez of currency cards, better exchange rate than the others". But saying that, as you do constantly to the point of boredom, is all lies, stuff and nonsense. But I don't think anyone is actually bothered about your ceaseless promotion of Revolut.

Lastly, there is something you really must try to understand: I had a Revolut card, I used a Revolut card. Based on my own personal experience of Revolut I don't like Revolut and I say so.

Anthorn

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Why are you posting this nonsense? You should certainly know better. But you seem to get a 'bee in your bonnet' about certain providers and then lose perspective.

First of all, you lose perhaps 2% of your funds on the very first step of loading, as compared to Revolut. 3% if you use their card denominated in Pounds.
So they get you on both purchases and with double charges on ATM withdrawals.
So the cards may be comparable, but once compared, the Cash Passport fares poorly.
Did I mention the £6 cash out fee and if you use the card in any other currency there is a hefty 5.75% charge?
Seriously....

You selectively quoted my post out of context. It was an example. As I said, "For example ..." I did not fully compare the two cards. This also means that your response fully quoted above is complete and utter drivel. But I suppose you are going to seize every opportunity to promote Revolut even to the point of misquotes and invention and that goes without saying.

On fees, refer to my post above.

Overall, I like transparency, I like knowing what I'll be paying before I get a currency card. Like it or not that means a clear fees table.

eDicky

Anthorn wrote: »

I had a Revolut card, I used a Revolut card. Based on my own personal experience of Revolut I don't like Revolut and I say so.

In that case I should apologise, I'm confusing you with the guy who said he would never use it. It's a pity you didn't notice that the rates given by Revolut and TransferWise are identical as they constantly fluctuate, both being the interbank rate. Still, education derived from the publicity blurb of TransferWise would be better than nothing, if it wasn't tainted by bigotry...

Anthorn

eDicky wrote: »

In that case I should apologise, I'm confusing you with the guy who said he would never use it. It's a pity you didn't notice that the rates given by Revolut and TransferWise are identical as they constantly fluctuate, both being the interbank rate. Still, education derived from the publicity blurb of TransferWise would be better than nothing, if it wasn't tainted by bigotry...

There you go with rates again. It's obvious and simple to anyone. Just like shares there is the bid price and offer price and the mid-price which is roughly the midway point between the bid price and offer price which is called the interbank rate. That's the only rate there is. Even with selling currency (or shares) at the mid-price there is a mark-up, some making more of a mark-up and some making less of a mark-up which is reflected in their own rates. That mark-up is their fee for providing their service.

lampshuk

I have a savings account in the US, and will be going on holiday there soon.
Since I am a UK resident and citizen I cannot get them to send me a debit/cash card (against their policy) so was thinking of using an international bank transfer to pay straight in to a travel card.
I checked with FairFX and they told me that I could not top up in $. I suppose that's to make sure you pay them their split on the currency transfer, as well as making money on ATM and card transaction fees.

Does anyone know of a card that does allow me to do the top-up in $ ? I'd prefer not to incur the cost of back-to-back $->£ and £->$ changes.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Lampshuk.

eDicky

lampshuk wrote: »

Does anyone know of a card that does allow me to do the top-up in $ ? I'd prefer not to incur the cost of back-to-back $->£ and £->$ changes.

You can load Revolut directly in USD by bank transfer from your US account, making sure that your bank will not send GBP converted at their own rate. There will be no fees to use the Revolut MasterCard (costs £5) in USA, unless you need to withdraw cash in excess of £200equ per month, but presumably you can take cash from your US account. Any leftover USD can be sent back to your US account without fee, or converted to pounds at interbank rate (weekdays) and spent or withdrawn in UK.

https://revolut.com

Alternatively you could use a transfer service such as TransferWise to cut out the bank fees sending it in pounds to your UK account, then use that to fund a suitable fee-free travel prepaid or credit card. Compare the cost with what your US bank would charge to send the dollars. You might simplify this by opening a Virgin Money Essential account to receive the pounds, their debit card has no fees for overseas spending.

Revolut is probably the simpler solution.

dogchops747

Sorry first post - couldn't find the new thread button! My problem is I have 500 dollars on a fairfx prepaid car from a cancelled us holiday. I'm now going to Europe and would like to change to euros .Fairfx says it can't be done and I need to pre load another card - no way! What's the best way of getting my dollars into euros - please! thanks!

eDicky

dogchops747 wrote: »

Sorry first post - couldn't find the new thread button! My problem is I have 500 dollars on a fairfx prepaid car from a cancelled us holiday. I'm now going to Europe and would like to change to euros .Fairfx says it can't be done and I need to pre load another card - no way! What's the best way of getting my dollars into euros - please! thanks!

This is the problem with the 'old style' cards, getting your unspent funds back in GBP. Check how much FairFX charge for this, maybe it's not too outrageous. Then forget about using them again, look at Monzo, Revolut or Loot for prepaid (if you use a smartphone), or a Metro Bank account and card.

You can probably load your FairFX dollars on to Revolut USD balance directly, but there will probably be a 3% charge for USD card top-up, so not ideal - but the dollars can then be converted to euros at the interbank rate (weekdays).

Hayling

Hi
Can anyone help me please? I was planning to get a prepaid currency card for my 16 year old son to use in USA but now discover that you need to be 18 to apply for most of them.
Has anyone any suggestions as didn't really want him to only take cash