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Cash passport or Credit card

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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 

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  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,835 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 21 February 2020 at 1:53PM
    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.
    Evolution, not revolution
  • gingerdad
    gingerdad Posts: 1,920 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    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 futures bright the future is Ginger
  • 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
    jasdev Posts: 112 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Name Dropper
    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.
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  • zagfles
    zagfles Posts: 21,443 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Chutzpah Haggler
    I was in Switzerland last summer and the ATMs I used were free.
  • If you could identify these ATMs that would help the OP - or is it a universal scenario in Switzerland ?
  • zagfles
    zagfles Posts: 21,443 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Chutzpah Haggler
    NoodleDoodleMan said:
    If you could identify these ATMs that would help the OP - or is it a universal scenario in Switzerland ?




  • 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
    zagfles Posts: 21,443 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Chutzpah Haggler
    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.
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