Best way of handling money for a mid-term stay in the US

ClaireBrummell

EveryWhere wrote: »

Sorry, but this is nonsense. FlexAccount has a 2% forex fee plus £1 for ATM withdrawals. Only the FlexPlus does not charge for ATM withdrawals and that costs at least £13 per month the last time I looked.
Also all Nationwide CC apart from the Select Card charge a forex fee for purchases outside the EEA.
Gold & Classic CC which are not available to new customers 1%. All the others, except Select, 2%.

You really need to be more careful when offering advice here, as people will come back stating that they got the dubious advice from MSE. Stating "Nationwide" without even naming the particular product, even worse.

In case you are still in doubt;

The story about no fee FlexAccount withdrawals in the USA simply cannot be true. I have no idea why Archergirl would assert that it is so.

Perhaps she needs to go back and look at her statements.

Thank you for this information, I really appreciate it.

Archergirl

Everywhere, I do apologize, yes I do have the Flexplus account and pay £13 a month, but it is as I said about the free CC and ATM, also World wide travel ins and Green Flag for 2 cars plus mobile phone cover so I find it pays for itself.
Sorry if I misled anyone x

EveryWhere

Archergirl wrote: »

Everywhere, I do apologize, yes I do have the Flexplus account and pay £13 a month, but it is as I said about the free CC and ATM, also World wide travel ins and Green Flag for 2 cars plus mobile phone cover so I find it pays for itself.
Sorry if I misled anyone x

Not a problem, everyone makes mistakes. The free(for purchases) CC doesn't come with the FlexPlus account. You need to apply separately. I take it that it's the Select CC, as all of the others have a fee outside of the EEA.

EveryWhere

ClaireBrummell wrote: »

Thank you for this information, I really appreciate it.

In addition, all of the CC I mentioned earlier are suitable for both purchases and ATM withdrawals, as there are no fees apart from interest charged from the time of the withdrawal. The exception to this is the Barclaycard which doesn't even charge interest, as long as you pay off the full statement balance when due.

So the Starling account for ATM withdrawals and one of the CC for purchases/deposits etc and as a back up for ATM withdrawals, is my recommendation.
Get on with it.

WolfSong2000

Transferwise have a "borderless account" which they give you a debit card for. I've used it in the US with no problems. You can load £, exchange to $USD for a decent exchange rate and then pay directly in $USD from the account if you want.


I also have a Revolut account, but not yet tried it out.