Cash passport or Credit card 21 February at 1:42PM in Flights, Currency & Car Hire 9 replies 101 views

Kazsweety

Hi, we are visiting Switzerland for 5 days and wonder if a credit card or cash passport would be best and cheapest with rates to pay for everything while we are there, if cash passport can anyone suggest one with good exchange rates 

eDicky

The cash passport type of prepaid card is one of the worst solutions for travel, with adverse rates, various fees, and likelihood of leftover funds that cost again to convert back to pounds. Forget it, using your regular credit or debit card is more convenient and unlikely to cost more even with their fees.

The best option is a debit or credit card without fees or exchange rate loading, such as Halifax Clarity or Starling Bank, the latter can be set up in minutes on your phone.

gingerdad

Open a starling bank account - free to use abroad, cracking app, you get the MasterCard day rate and most importantly its free to use, no fees

NoodleDoodleMan

gingerdad said:

Open a starling bank account - free to use abroad, cracking app, you get the MasterCard day rate and most importantly its free to use, no fees

The bank that owns the ATM may impose their user surcharge for FX, which Starling have no control over, so to say it's free to use without this health warning can be misleading.

Not sure what the position is in Switzerland though.

A Halifax or Santander Zero credit card would be a good choice in my experience.

jasdev

Also worth having a backup to hand should something go wrong with your primary overseas card (e.g. IT issues with the card provider). Monzo or Starling are popular debit card options, I use a Barclaycard Rewards card for fee-free foreign spending with 0.25% cashback on all spending, and carry a Halifax Clarity card for fee-free ATM withdrawals where necessary (though interest is levied on the withdrawals from the moment they appear on my statement to the day they are paid in full). And as NoodlelDoodleMan says above, ATM withdrawals aren't always free and depends on the machine operator.

zagfles

I was in Switzerland last summer and the ATMs I used were free.

NoodleDoodleMan

If you could identify these ATMs that would help the OP - or is it a universal scenario in Switzerland ?

zagfles

NoodleDoodleMan said:

If you could identify these ATMs that would help the OP - or is it a universal scenario in Switzerland ?

Yes according to this https://www.dropbox.com/s/ajifjmncdazhzm6/Revolut_FreeATM.xlsx?dl=0

NoodleDoodleMan

Thanks - very useful.

The situation in Spain is difficult to keep up with as it is changing significantly.

I think Santander now charge 5 Euros for ATM usage unless you have one of their eligible fee free accounts.

zagfles

Free ATMs still seem to be the norm in Europe - Spain being the main exception. I've made ATM withdrawals in about 15 European countries in the last couple of years and it's only been in Spain that I've been charged.