can't get CC for holiday spending

Sandtree

patgc said:

 I am a retired widow with healthy savings and investments, own my home and have no dependants. I have Gov pension, pension from my late husband and small private pension. 

First of all, why do you need credit then? Could you not get a fee free debit card and move some savings into it instead (eg Starling)?

Secondly, savings are not considered because they are finite, if you have healthy savings which are generating routine yields then those yields can be included in your income statement but not the savings themselves.

Your best chances are with subprime lenders or whoever you currently bank with however these are likely to attract international payment fees. You can also get a pre-paid credit card but that puts you in the same position as using a starling debit card in terms of having to use savings etc and many come with some form of fees.

Marchitiello

Sandtree said:

patgc said:

 I am a retired widow with healthy savings and investments, own my home and have no dependants. I have Gov pension, pension from my late husband and small private pension. 

First of all, why do you need credit then? Could you not get a fee free debit card and move some savings into it instead (eg Starling)?

Secondly, savings are not considered because they are finite, if you have healthy savings which are generating routine yields then those yields can be included in your income statement but not the savings themselves.

Your best chances are with subprime lenders or whoever you currently bank with however these are likely to attract international payment fees. You can also get a pre-paid credit card but that puts you in the same position as using a starling debit card in terms of having to use savings etc and many come with some form of fees.

As in my original reply, I also suggested a Debit Card (Chase) and my suggestion (if the holiday can be pre-funded from saving etc) is definitely to use Chase rather then other options, as it has a Unique Selling Points of having free ATM withdrawals at Chase ATM in US (Starling will be charged by all ATM operators over there) and in addition, there will be a 1% cash-back on most purchases (already benefited of no forex fee and at nearly perfect MasterCard exchange rate) 

OP, please note that if you need to use a CC to check in in Hotels / rent a car, you could give one at Check in /car collection, but then swap to the Chase Debit card at Check Out/car return, getting cash back on your spend (I have done this in LA last March and earned some healthy cash back) 

in terms of subprime cards, you are likely to get very low limits (potentially rendering the whole exercise useless), but Aqua Advance also does not carry a fee for foreign currency expenditures.

Sandtree

Marchitiello said:
OP, please note that if you need to use a CC to check in in Hotels / rent a car, you could give one at Check in /car collection, but then swap to the Chase Debit card at Check Out/car return, getting cash back on your spend (I have done this in LA last March and earned some healthy cash back) 

In my experience there is rarely a "need" for a Credit Card even if that's technically what they ask for. Most the time I use a Charge Card, in the old days when I first got it I used to ask if a charge card would be ok and most of them just looked at me very confused. In practice I just hand the card over and they process it and it goes through.

At times when AmEx isn't accepted I've equally handed over a debit card, without comment to them that its not a credit card, and it equally worked fine. You just have to be aware that hire cars in particular may seek authorisation of circa £1,000 and so you have to have that sort of balance available and unneeded for a week or so before the authorisation drops off. In theory with the card number in most cases the first 4-6 numbers would tell them if its credit, charge or debit so they could enforce the requirement for credit card but have never come across anyone that does. 

Sure Chase could be another good option, just I've never used them and personally dont like recommending something that I've not used. 

Marchitiello

Charge Cards (the original Diners Club then Amex, and more recently even Visa and MasterCard Versions), have always been the aimed at travellers and as such widely accepted at hotels and car rental companies.

i have however in the past being rejected with a Debit Card (there was a nice balance and I had £7k overdraft limit on that account) as the system could not put an hold required for the booking.  

So, if not in a real hurry to check out (like using the key drops boxes at certain hotels), I usually spend 5 minutes checking out, removing the hold from the Credit Card and then settling the total bill on my Chase debit card (have done so in Bulgaria, Italy and USA over the last 8-9 months).

I appreciate your standpoint on not having experienced the product, but in countries where ATM fee are commons (e.g. USA, Spain, Greece and others), knowing how to avoid or at least minimise them should be key. For Spain, for instance, my recommendation would be to use (if available) either a UK Santander Select Debit Card or Santander Zero). In Greece or Tanzania and Kenia for example, there are only one local banking group in each country that do not charge  ATM fees. As per all things related to travelling, research beforehand is key. 

Sandtree

Marchitiello said:

I appreciate your standpoint on not having experienced the product, but in countries where ATM fee are commons (e.g. USA, Spain, Greece and others), knowing how to avoid or at least minimise them should be key. For Spain, for instance, my recommendation would be to use (if available) either a UK Santander Select Debit Card or Santander Zero). In Greece or Tanzania and Kenia for example, there are only one local banking group in each country that do not charge  ATM fees. As per all things related to travelling, research beforehand is key. 

And in some countries don't expect any consistency... having been in Latin America for an extended period in one city Santander was by far the most expensive ATM and a regional bank was one of the cheapest. Move to the coast and suddenly there Santander was one of the cheapest, the previous bank didn't operate in that city and its equivalents were really expensive, thankfully a national bank was even cheaper so went with that.

The other one to always remember is to decline the dynamic currency conversion but we are straying a little far from the topic of the OP wanting recommendations of how to get a CC for travel

Marchitiello

Sandtree said:

Marchitiello said:

I appreciate your standpoint on not having experienced the product, but in countries where ATM fee are commons (e.g. USA, Spain, Greece and others), knowing how to avoid or at least minimise them should be key. For Spain, for instance, my recommendation would be to use (if available) either a UK Santander Select Debit Card or Santander Zero). In Greece or Tanzania and Kenia for example, there are only one local banking group in each country that do not charge  ATM fees. As per all things related to travelling, research beforehand is key. 

And in some countries don't expect any consistency... having been in Latin America for an extended period in one city Santander was by far the most expensive ATM and a regional bank was one of the cheapest. Move to the coast and suddenly there Santander was one of the cheapest, the previous bank didn't operate in that city and its equivalents were really expensive, thankfully a national bank was even cheaper so went with that.

The other one to always remember is to decline the dynamic currency conversion but we are straying a little far from the topic of the OP wanting recommendations of how to get a CC for travel

Both good points.

as Santander was mentioned quoting my earlier post, and whilst I understand that it was not meant to refer to UK Santander Select Customers, I would like to clarify that UK Select customers will not incur in any ATM fee using Santander ATM abroad as far as they select the local currency.

I wish HSBC premier had a similar policy so between my two accounts and Chase, I would be covered in 90% of the place I regularly travel to.

patgc

Pleased to say that Nationwide have passed my application for their member CC and I think it looks ok, fee free abroad etc. It will do me for whats needed for a few weeks in USA as wull be staying with relatives, no car needed just day to day spending, no hotels etc.