U.K. Cash/Credit Cards In The Republic

kah22

Hi, I’ll be visiting the Rep late this week to late next week. I’ll have several largish bills to pay, we’re talking cc €1000 in total plus day to day spending. It’s the major spend I’m wondering about

I seem to have a number of options:
Bring, say €1200 with me from the North and pay the big bills in cash, plus it will give me some spends (seems sensible)
Ring £ Sterling with me and pay with it where possible
Pay with my Debit or Credit Card, but I understand there will be a charge over and above the commission rate. (Am I right?)

What’s the best option/options

Kevin

guiriman

kah22 wrote: »

Pay with my Debit or Credit Card, but I understand there will be a charge over and above the commission rate. (Am I right?)

Depends what type of card you have. If you're able to pay your bills electronically then you should probably open a Starling account as it has zero commission and zero charges.

In_For_A_Penny_2

Probably limited options given the tight time frame but would recommend the Halifax clarity credit card. No fees on non-sterling transactions and with it being MasterCard you get probably the best exchange rate available.

kah22

I have an M&S MasterCard. All my Card is paid off automatically at the end of the month, never paid a penny in interest

Guiriman can you explain what you mean by opening a sterling account, I!!!8217;m living in the North not the Republic. I!!!8217;m confused

In_For_A_Penny_2

kah22 wrote: »

I have an M&S MasterCard. All my Card is paid off automatically at the end of the month, never paid a penny in interest

This charges a foreign transaction fee of almost 3%.

guiriman

kah22 wrote: »

Guiriman can you explain what you mean by opening a sterling account, I!!!8217;m living in the North not the Republic. I!!!8217;m confused

Best explained here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/#starling




It's a bank account you manage from an app, but they also send you a physical bank card. No foreign exchange fees. You can use the electronic part straight away so it may give you a solution as you won't get a card in time. (It's actually a pretty good long-term solution though)

CEON44

Too late now to apply but Halifax clarity CC is the way to go. Zero fees and probably best conversion rate. I use it anytime I go over the border and on foreign holidays. Dont think there is anything better out there.

guiriman

The Horizon card from MBNA is better as it also has 0.5% cashback. How you get one though I don't know as I don't think it's generally available, I got one by them shutting down by United card, that was the replacement

dmxdave

guiriman wrote: »

Depends what type of card you have. If you're able to pay your bills electronically then you should probably open a Starling account as it has zero commission and zero charges.

Thanks for the tip, Opened a Starling account, apart from the obvious the app is great, We settled a hotel bill in ROI, the hotel asked if we wanted to convert to Sterling or pay in Euro, Their conversion worked out at £298, Starling was £277.......

BigAl94

Revolut or Monzo for future use, no fees in any country

skint_chick

BigAl94 wrote: »

Revolut or Monzo for future use, no fees in any country

Monzo only allows cash withdrawals of £200 per month fee free though - that's no use for withdrawing currency on holiday. I switched to Starling from Monzo and they work exactly the same only there's no limit on cash withdrawals across a month (except for obviously needing to have the funds in place!)