Best card to use in Europe

Pedro62

Which is the best credit/debit card to use in Europe

pogofish

If only we had a dedicated forum for money issues when travelling..!

devondisplay

following........... have you looked on travelsupermarket as thats the kinda thing you would probably find on there i guess

eDicky

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/

NoodleDoodleMan

Pedro62 said:

Which is the best credit/debit card to use in Europe

Europe in general, or a specific country ?

If this for your cruise - no need to ask in more than one thread.

AlexMac

We swear by the one which Martin praises in eDicky's link above; 

"Halifax Clarity Credit Card...This is a top overseas spending card...perfect exchange rates with no fees on spending....it's far cheaper to spend on the card than withdraw cash"

As we have often found in Spain, where some banks charge ATM fees of up to 8 Euros; as you can see at

https://www.triptipedia.com/tip/qNefdhY/atm-withdrawal-in-spain-without-fees

And as we're going there again next week we might even save a few cents more if the pound strengthens against the Euro by the time our bills hit the account.  Provided you don't fall for the "opt to pay in GBP" dodge on the terminal screen as that will add a few quid to your bill!

grandadgolfer

AlexMac said:

We swear by the one which Martin praises in eDicky's link above; 

"Halifax Clarity Credit Card...This is a top overseas spending card...perfect exchange rates with no fees on spending....it's far cheaper to spend on the card than withdraw cash"

As we have often found in Spain, where some banks charge ATM fees of up to 8 Euros; as you can see at

https://www.triptipedia.com/tip/qNefdhY/atm-withdrawal-in-spain-without-fees

And as we're going there again next week we might even save a few cents more if the pound strengthens against the Euro by the time our bills hit the account.  Provided you don't fall for the "opt to pay in GBP" dodge on the terminal screen as that will add a few quid to your bill!

Lots of Spanish banks now charge for Halifax clarity card withdrawals typically 3.95 euro the answer is a Santander card at Santander atm's.....just back from Canary islands and used debit card with no atm fees and full exchange rate £87.35 for 100 euro. Its the first time we haven't used Clarity card for years

NoodleDoodleMan

Yes, a Santander UK debit card used in Santander branded ATMs in Spain, (including the Balearics) and the Canaries is the best deal there - as explained above.

Their Everday Current Account has no strings attached which makes it ideal for that purpose.

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/everyday-current-account

It has a feature to advise the bank online of travel dates - nice touch.

Roz81

Never had a problem with Revolut while traveling in Europe.

Indout96

I use my Chase card, decent exchange rate, 1% cash back on purchases and no withdrawal fee (takes 2 seconds to top up from either another chase account so keep money in a savings one for the 1.5% and transfer over when needed on the app)
Some ATMs charge a fee, we try to use ING ones which have no fee.
So far this year used it in Poland, Egypt, Portugal, Lithuania and Bulgaria with no problems.
Only hiccup was a car hire in Bulgaria which we had to return without filling tank up and they could not charge the fuel to the number they had on file for some reason as it would not go through (poss security - so a good thing) they had to come back to the hotel and take a secondary payment from the card.