Spending money abroad - Im confused!!

angel549

Hi all,

I need advice and this seems the best place for it! In May, my partner and I are off to Paphos for a 10 day holiday. The hotel is all inclusive, but we will still want some spending money for tips etc, you have to pay for drinks after midnight, and we are likely to go outside of the hotel to the odd bar/restaurant during our stay.

Im normally great with being savvy (thanks to this site!), but the travel money stuff still confuses me. I cant work out the most cost effective way to go about it.

So - I have a santander 123 credit card, which 0% on 'non sterling transaction fees for purchases'. Is it best to use this and pay by credit card wherever possible, then just take a little bit of actual Euros cash? Or is it all about the pound to euro rates, so it might be cheaper to get all the spending money in cash euros or on one of those FairFX cards or something?

Having a few Euros left over isnt a huge problem - my parents live in france so we're likely to be in europe again within a year.... unless Cyprus Euros and French Euros are different??!

Would really appreciate any advice so i can be as savvy as possible with this to get the best for our money (and the most drinks for our money!) :beer:

Huge thanks in advance to everyone who responds and helps x

Ganga

angel549 wrote: »

Hi all,

I need advice and this seems the best place for it! In May, my partner and I are off to Paphos for a 10 day holiday. The hotel is all inclusive, but we will still want some spending money for tips etc, you have to pay for drinks after midnight, and we are likely to go outside of the hotel to the odd bar/restaurant during our stay.

Im normally great with being savvy (thanks to this site!), but the travel money stuff still confuses me. I cant work out the most cost effective way to go about it.

So - I have a santander 123 credit card, which 0% on 'non sterling transaction fees for purchases'. Is it best to use this and pay by credit card wherever possible, then just take a little bit of actual Euros cash? Or is it all about the pound to euro rates, so it might be cheaper to get all the spending money in cash euros or on one of those FairFX cards or something?

Having a few Euros left over isnt a huge problem - my parents live in france so we're likely to be in europe again within a year.... unless Cyprus Euros and French Euros are different??!

Would really appreciate any advice so i can be as savvy as possible with this to get the best for our money (and the most drinks for our money!) :beer:

Huge thanks in advance to everyone who responds and helps x

Euro,s are Euro,s and legal tender across the European Union

eDicky

First, it's the same euro wherever you are.

Your 123 credit card has no fees for overseas spending, but is not ideal for withdrawing euros from an ATM.

See the MSE article on travel spending and related links to prepaid cards etc:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

The Monzo card may be all you need if you don't have to withdraw too much while there.

PeacefulWaters

Ganga wrote: »

Euro,s are Euro,s and legal tender across the European Union

Err not quite everywhere ...

angel549

Thanks both. Part of my confusion is around the exchange rates part - will my credit card have no fees, but a really high exchange rate? So using it would be as bad as exchanging money at the airport in terms of how much my money will buy?

benjus

Ganga wrote: »

Euro,s are Euro,s and legal tender across the European Union

I suspect you don't know what "legal tender" actually means. The Euro is certainly not legal tender across the whole of the EU as there are many EU countries that don't use it. Even within the Eurozone, while the Euro is the official currency I don't know if each country even has the concept of "legal tender".

Ningaloo

Martin recommends a Halifax debit card called a Clarity Card for the best exchange rate.

jackieblack

Ningaloo wrote: »

Martin recommends a Halifax debit card called a Clarity Card for the best exchange rate.

Halifax Clarity is a credit card, not a debit card

zagfles

angel549 wrote: »

Thanks both. Part of my confusion is around the exchange rates part - will my credit card have no fees, but a really high exchange rate? So using it would be as bad as exchanging money at the airport in terms of how much my money will buy?

No, your credit card (assuming VISA or MasterCard) will use the VISA/Mastercard rates which are very close to interbank rates. See here:

https://www.visaeurope.com/making-payments/exchange-rates

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

Now most banks will add their own charge of around 3%, but a few cards don't, see the link quoted earlier for zero fee cards. Looks like you already have one.

But you need to watch out for Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). This is where the retailer converts the currency for you and charges you in GBP. The rate will be much worse than the VISA/Mastercard rate. The retailer is supposed to ask you before using DCC but some don't because they get a cut of the profit in ripping you off on the exchange rate.

So it's best to tell them to charge you in Euros when you hand over the card.

Ganga

benjus wrote: »

I suspect you don't know what "legal tender" actually means. The Euro is certainly not legal tender across the whole of the EU as there are many EU countries that don't use it. Even within the Eurozone, while the Euro is the official currency I don't know if each country even has the concept of "legal tender".

Suspect wrong
Legal Tender- " The National currency is Legal Tender in practically every country"

mgdavid

Ganga wrote: »

Suspect wrong
Legal Tender- " The National currency is Legal Tender in practically every country"

If you're going to use a quote to try to justify an inaccuracy then at least provide a source!

PS - use of 'practically' noted. Meaning 'not all'.