Retrieve Money From a TravelEx MoneyCard

Moonwolf

tldr: What is the least loss way of getting Euros off a Travelex moneycard.

For a few years I have used a Travelex Cash Passport to smooth currency fluctuations. I would add £50 a month and it worked as a savings and smoothed out currency fluctuations.  If the current rate was better than the average on the card I could still use my Nationwide card, if it was worse then I would be better off.  I switched the balance it to a MoneyCard when my Passport was expiring.  
I finally got around to opening a Starling account for the same job because it was pointed out to me how much better their rates are, and was going to withdraw all the cash from the TravelEx in Euros next time I went away.  We have had two holidays cancelled and won't be going away be for a little while now. 
I currently have a little over 900 Euros on the Travelex card loaded at an average of 1.145 per £.  If I change it or withdraw it as GBP today I get 0.8467 which feels poor and I lose about £25.  Is there a better way given the bank rate is below 1.12 at the moment?

TheRightOne

Nope. The cheapest is to spend it in Europe. No one would have ever recommended such a scheme to you. As there were almost always better options.
Haven't checked, but the Passports used to have a 5.75% forex charge for changing Euros back to Pounds.
Whatever you do, other than spending in a Euro denominated country or withdrawing from a Euro denominated ATM, such as at some UK airports, is going to be painful.
You will lose at least 5.75% of your balance. Plus you overpaid for your Euros in the first place.

Moonwolf

Thanks but the scheme worked well for me although clearly I should have reviewed it sooner.  
Arguably I paid too much recently but when I started a lot of the options available today weren't around, the rates I was getting were better than cash and card is more secure, I'm pretty sure pre-paid cards were recommended on here for a time.  Electronic card payment was rare outside cities until the last couple of years and our favourite Greek destination still has a cash bias.
I prefer this to the volatility of exchange rates, getting almost 1.20 one year and a year later getting 1.09.

You are incorrect about the Forex charge.  The buy back rate is poor given the bank rate but I have withdrawn some as GBP and the rate was .8427 which is poor but would be close to the £25 I suggested and not the £50 that a 5.75% charge would be.

I'll probably take the hit as circumstances mean I doubt we will going to Europe again before summer 2021.

TheRightOne

Moonwolf said:

Thanks but the scheme worked well for me although clearly I should have reviewed it sooner.  
Arguably I paid too much recently but when I started a lot of the options available today weren't around, the rates I was getting were better than cash and card is more secure, I'm pretty sure pre-paid cards were recommended on here for a time.  Electronic card payment was rare outside cities until the last couple of years and our favourite Greek destination still has a cash bias.
I prefer this to the volatility of exchange rates, getting almost 1.20 one year and a year later getting 1.09.

You are incorrect about the Forex charge.  The buy back rate is poor given the bank rate but I have withdrawn some as GBP and the rate was .8427 which is poor but would be close to the £25 I suggested and not the £50 that a 5.75% charge would be.

I'll probably take the hit as circumstances mean I doubt we will going to Europe again before summer 2021.

The difference between 1.187(your .8427) and 1.12 (current) seems close enough to 5.75% to me...

inspectorperez

Must admit I was glad to get out of Travelex earlier this year. Victim of fraudulent spending on my card which contained euro and dollar currencies. Absolute nightmare experience dealing with their Customer Services and then they went offline for weeks when they themselves were the victim of a ransomeware attack. I actually took a big hit by cashing in the card at one of their "shops" just to be away from them. In theory it was a great concept, but I found the app flakey and the Customer Services worse than useless. In fairness I was fully recompensed for the fraudulent activity but it took some doing and I had to create my own spreadsheet to help them rectify the balances!