Best way to pay for items in US

dazanteney4

Hi All,

Me and my partner are traveling to the US for our honeymoon at the end of May.
I just wanted to know what is the best way to pay for things? I know some countrys the best way is to pay in cash but what about the US?
We are going to paying a fair bit out on food, fuel, days out and extras but we arent 100% sure how much we will need in total. My thought was $1500.
My orginal idea was to use the Revolt card that Martin recommends but it looks like you can't withdraw a lot of cash if you need it? Is the best way to use this card the most and take a few hundred $'s in cash changed from the post office etc? I am also assuming because its a currency card most places would accept this? I would iagine i'd get "nailed" for using my credit card over there?

Thanks

pollypenny

Use one of the cards which give the full Visa rate, with no changes: Halifax Clarity, Saga etc. Credit cards are widely used in the USA.

Take some cash for tips, but the Post Office rates are poor.

dazanteney4

pollypenny wrote: »

Use one of the cards which give the full Visa rate, with no changes: Halifax Clarity, Saga etc. Credit cards are widely used in the USA.

How much roughly would you save applying for one of these credit cards over a pre paid travel card like Revolut?

PeacefulWaters

dazanteney4 wrote: »

How much roughly would you save applying for one of these credit cards over a pre paid travel card like Revolut?

Against normal credit cards 3%.

Against normal debit cards more.

Against normal prepay cards more.

Against Revolut, much the same. As long as your ATM withdrawals are less than £500 a month in value.

I'd use Clarity over Revolut. But I'd also take every card I've got as a backup just in case something goes wrong.

It's more than possible to do a driving holiday in the South West USA without withdrawing any cash.

dazanteney4

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Against normal credit cards 3%.

Against normal debit cards more.

Against normal prepay cards more.

Against Revolut, much the same. As long as your ATM withdrawals are less than £500 a month in value.

I'd use Clarity over Revolut. But I'd also take every card I've got as a backup just in case something goes wrong.

It's more than possible to do a driving holiday in the South West USA without withdrawing any cash.

I am assuming as long as the halifax card is paid off as soon as i get home i wont be charged interest etc? And i'd just take it out about now, then when i get home just close the account? We arent going away for a while after this.

PeacefulWaters

dazanteney4 wrote: »

I am assuming as long as the halifax card is paid off as soon as i get home i wont be charged interest etc? And i'd just take it out about now, then when i get home just close the account? We arent going away for a while after this.

You will be charged interest on cash withdrawals. Typically 4p per £100 withdrawn per day.

Motel wifi. Online banking. Interest capped!

Don't forget USA ATMs also charge upto $5 per cash withdrawal. Occasionally you'll find a McDonalds with a $0.99 ATM and the Casino Royale in Vegas will charge $1. But one large withdrawal of cash is better than several smaller ones.

eDicky

dazanteney4 wrote: »

How much roughly would you save applying for one of these credit cards over a pre paid travel card like Revolut?

You would save nothing compared to using Revolut, unless you exceed $700 in cash withdrawals per month, which is very unlikely to be necessary for your time in US where cards can be used for virtually everything. Even with the 2% charge for further withdrawals it is cheaper than buying cash dollars from the likes of the Post Office.

dazanteney4 wrote: »

I am assuming as long as the halifax card is paid off as soon as i get home i wont be charged interest etc? And i'd just take it out about now, then when i get home just close the account? We arent going away for a while after this.

Cash withdrawals using Clarity or other credit cards will incur daily interest right away, but it does not amount to much if paid off quickly. If you decide that it's worth obtaining a suitable CC such as the Clarity, there is no particular reason to then go to the further trouble of closing it again instead of keeping it for 'next time', which may be sooner than you now imagine.

As PW mentions, take your normal cards with you as backup.

dazanteney4

eDicky wrote: »

You would save nothing compared to using Revolut, unless you exceed $700 in cash withdrawals per month, which is very unlikely to be necessary for your time in US where cards can be used for virtually everything. Even with the 2% charge for further withdrawals it is cheaper than buying cash dollars from the likes of the Post Office.

I might aswell just use the revolut card then? As long as i keep below the $700 in cash withdawls and use the card to pay for everything else that i can then i should be ok? I dont get a charge or anything for topping it up. I feel very uneasy on applying for Credit card at the moment.

mildredalien

We also spent our honeymoon in the US!

We used a prepay travelex multi currency cash passport card - it worked everywhere fine and there were no extra charges to withdraw cash (apart from charges from the ATMs themselves). It came with a free second card so we could both have one which was good. I can't say whether it was best for exchange rates but we weren't eligible for one of the better UK credit cards that you can use abroad so it worked for us!

We did need to make sure we had access to wifi every now and then so we could check our balance and top up if needed, although I think you can also do that over the phone. Unless you are staying in very small villages or rural areas most places accept cards just fine.

I did take a barclaycard and debit card as back up but didn't need either fortunately.

dondo

Not sure if you are in the mood to change bank account but I am with the Nationwide and have their flex plus account- it costs £10 a month but with it we get worldwide travel and mobile insurance (not just for me for wife and kids too) plus they don't charge anything for ATM withdrawls- I think it also includes breakdown cover (I didn't need that). In addition got their Select Credit Card which doesn't charge any commission for foreign purchases. We travelled to NZ last year so this was very handy. Not sure if you could do the account that charges then change it to a non charging one when you get back

dazanteney4

dondo wrote: »

Not sure if you are in the mood to change bank account but I am with the Nationwide and have their flex plus account- it costs £10 a month but with it we get worldwide travel and mobile insurance (not just for me for wife and kids too) plus they don't charge anything for ATM withdrawls- I think it also includes breakdown cover (I didn't need that). In addition got their Select Credit Card which doesn't charge any commission for foreign purchases. We travelled to NZ last year so this was very handy. Not sure if you could do the account that charges then change it to a non charging one when you get back

Me and NW had a little bit of a disagreement a little while ago so i dont think i will switch my current account to them any time soon lol thanks anyways