Prepaid Travel Cards guide

declanmorris

Hi all,

My first post so hope this goes as expected!

I'm off to Venice soon and was going to get a prepaid currency card as I don't like the idea of carrying a lot of Euros around.

Do Italian ATMs charge a fee to withdraw Euros using these prepaid cards?

Thanks in advance for your help!

jupiter93

Had a chat with the Monzo guys and as they now have their full license, they will be sunsetting the prepaid card and moving people to the new current account. TBH, I dont really want yet another account and the prepaid card was great for me so guess I will have to look for other alternatives. Any suggestions? Im after a prepaid card with mobile app management

eDicky

jupiter93 wrote: »

Im after a prepaid card with mobile app management

I'm using Loot, seems ok: https://loot.io

I don't have a problem with Monzo bank account as long as zero fees continues - but we don't know that yet...

gettingtheresometime

I'm going to NZ in December and had the brain wave of loading a prepaid card each month to try and even out currency fluctuations.

Can I do this with a revolut card? The info on the app seems to suggest I can with no fees if I use a debit card.

Also can I chose what currency is 'bought' ? Although I'm going to NZ so will need NZ$ primarily I'll need US$ as well as possibly AUS$ so would like to be able to swop around if that's possible.

eDicky

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Can I do this with a revolut card?

No, you can only hold GBP / EUR / USD on Revolut. You can find a card that holds NZD but it will cost you >2% every time you load it. This is likely to offset to some degree the advantage of your hedging against the perceived chance of GBP weakening further.

gettingtheresometime

eDicky wrote: »

No, you can only hold GBP / EUR / USD on Revolut. You can find a card that holds NZD but it will cost you >2% every time you load it. This is likely to offset to some degree the advantage of your hedging against the perceived chance of GBP weakening further.

Thanks for replying


Ideally I wouldn't want the card to be loaded in NZ$ (or AUS$ if I'm honest!)


What I was thinking was loading it in primarily US$ (as the cruise ship we'll be on charges in US$) and £, so that if we needed NZ$ or AUS$ we could withdraw the money via an ATM

eDicky

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

What I was thinking was loading it in primarily US$ (as the cruise ship we'll be on charges in US$) and £, so that if we needed NZ$ or AUS$ we could withdraw the money via an ATM

YES, Revolut would be ideal for this, but note there's no FSC protection so at least keep your pounds in the bank. You can load pounds with a debit card instantly at any time, your card(s) saved in the app, and convert to dollars instantly - but do that on a weekday for the straight interbank rate. Note the Fair Usage Policy terms.

Pay with the card whenever possible because of the fee-free ATM limits, and make sure payment systems are charging you in USD (or the local currency) - often when they detect a UK card they try to take pounds and convert at their own lousy rate.

Having Monzo and/or Loot in addition will cost you nothing, provide backup and additional ATM cash if needed, giving the straight MasterCard rate at the time of transaction.

gettingtheresometime

eDicky wrote: »

YES, Revolut would be ideal for this, but note there's no FSC protection so at least keep your pounds in the bank. You can load pounds with a debit card instantly at any time, your card(s) saved in the app, and convert to dollars instantly - but do that on a weekday for the straight interbank rate. Note the Fair Usage Policy terms.

Pay with the card whenever possible because of the fee-free ATM limits, and make sure payment systems are charging you in USD (or the local currency) - often when they detect a UK card they try to take pounds and convert at their own lousy rate.

Having Monzo and/or Loot in addition will cost you nothing, provide backup and additional ATM cash if needed, giving the straight MasterCard rate at the time of transaction.

Thanks very much for all your help & patience

YogiOdie

First post - newby
Any advice re Travelex vs WeSwap?
Traveling to Canada & USA June this year.
Used Travelex previously in same countries and got conned by them at Toronto Pearson airport - did finally after much time and struggle get refunded.
I notice in the latest MSE card suggestions that Travelex does not feature.
I do not use a mobile/cell so will need to use my laptop for managing.
Am I correct in thinking from the little I have so far gleaned from posts and articles that WeSwap is the better option?
Thanks for any advice!

bobsy852

HI everyone,

I'm off to Prague, Czech Republic, in a few weeks time. I've saved up for the trip but don't want to carry a load of cash around with me as I'll be mostly staying in hostels etc.

So I got looking into travel credit cards and was ready to apply for one. Before I did, as I'm hoping to also apply for a mortgage in the next month or so, I checked whether I should with my mortgage adviser. They strongly recommended that I don't apply for the credit card as it could hurt my chances of getting a mortgage.

So, instead I started looking at pre-paid travel cards. I've got no issue in getting one of these but I can't seem to find ANY that allow me to pre-load them with £ and then convert that to Czech Koruna?

I wondered if anyone on here could help?

Thanks