Travel money cards

CKhalvashi

Just some advice for general spending abroad; always pay with a card.

I use a Wise card as I use them for personal and business transfers. You can keep cash in sterling if you wish and just use the card with a tap. Many friends and contacts who have had to move this year at short notice are using their app and card now as an everyday account as it's fast to set up and works with many currencies.

I am aware that a small number of people have had problems, but no company gets to their size without a few hiccups and it's generally issues with AML for large amounts, which doesn't seem to be the case here..

NoodleDoodleMan

eDicky said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

eDicky said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

You can also use it fee free at most restaurants and bars etc........

Santander debit card has no fee or rate markup for non-sterling purchases..?

My bad - 2.95%

I always use our Santander Zero card to avoid fees.

Ok, that's a relief, you had me wondering why I've never used my Santander debit card all these years..!

Perhaps not quite the best deal for Spain then, if you need to find a Santander ATM, withdraw cash with it, then carry that around including the coins you get as change from spending it. Better the fee-free plastic products, such as your Zero.

I misinterpreted the OPs question - thought withdrawing currency was part of the scenario.

As you say, there are better deals for fee free card transactions for goods and services using a "user friendly"credit card - MSE flags these up.

If he needs one quickly (which appears to be the case) I believe Metrobank will issue their CC on the spot - only one drawback, you need to attend in person and there may not be a branch within convenient distance.