Travel to Australia and Singapore

runnerkaz

Hi, I'm going to Australia and Singapore for six weeks at the end of the year and am wondering what will be the best way of accessing cash while I'm away. Obviously I can't (nor would I want to) carry a lot of cash on me and TCs can be a bit of a pain. I was thinking of getting a second Halifax Clarity card and "pre-loading" it with money before I go or would some other card make more sense? I had an FX account many years ago but not even sure they're still in existence.


Just wondering how other folk have dealt with a similar situation

Thanks

giraffe69

I take some cash, Put a card in a hole in the wall if I run out, use a credit card for some meals etc. May not be the cheapest but works ok.

dj1471

You've already got a Clarity card so you know the answer!

Put it into an ATM, withdraw what you need. No need to mess about pre-loading it in violation of the T&Cs, just use online banking or the app to make payments every so often to minimise the tiny amount of interest you'll pay.

Don't waste money exchanging cash, but do make sure you have a fee-free backup card e.g. Monzo.

runnerkaz

Thanks. Was a bit concerned about racking up interest over the course of six weeks but I'll just have to ping cash over from my current account whenever I can get online. Not heard of a Monzo card so will check that out

zagfles

Having a second Clarity is a good idea as that'll give you a backup plus you can use one for cash and the other for spending. Pay the one you use for cash off online when you get a chance, and set up a DD for the spending one. Don't worry about a few days interest, it'll be trivial.

bagand96

As others have said, preloading the Clarity is actually against the T&Cs of the credit card. I'm not sure in practice what Halifax would do about it though. They could reverse the transaction and send the money back.

Anyway it really isn't worth it. The interest will be very little, and even if it accumulated over a mom it would still probabably be the best way to get cash.

If you have a smart phone/tablet that you're taking then download the apps for both Halifax and your current account. You'll never be far from wifi, and with smartphone apps it literally takes seconds to pay the credit card.

dawyldthing

Log in and pay it off every week or so, will help you pay less interest and give you the available spends back. That's what I did anyway

runnerkaz

I was considering getting a second Clarity card - as you say as a way of separating things and maybe being able to keep an eye on the spending a bit more (trip is already costing an eye watering amount!).

The pre-loading was just a vague idea born of having mistakenly over-paid cards before. Certainly not something I'd do if against the T&Cs

eDicky

runnerkaz wrote: »

Not heard of a Monzo card so will check that out

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-travel-cards#monzo

Gloomendoom

runnerkaz wrote: »

I was considering getting a second Clarity card - as you say as a way of separating things and maybe being able to keep an eye on the spending a bit more (trip is already costing an eye watering amount!).

My wife and I have one each. The original idea was to use them to separate purchases and cash withdrawals. In practice, we just use both for both. Interest charges for our last month long trip to Australia and Singapore was less than £1.

If pre-loading floats your boat a Monzo card might work for you but be aware of the £1000 per month cash withdrawal limit. I have one and find it very useful.

runnerkaz

Thanks all. Much appreciated!