Travel credit card

Brie

NoodleDoodleMan said:

"it's also a card that will allow you to put a credit on it so I can put say £200 on it and then take out euros from an ATM when I arrive across the channel."

In theory, preloading a credit card in this way breaches the terms and conditions of the account - practice appears to be another matter, by the sound of it.

been doing it for years and have never seen anything that indicates it's a breach of T&Cs.  maybe it's because of the type of card I have.

Ganga

I have the Santander Zero card ( as well as the Halifax Clarity card ) but have never used the Santander one ,it is my back up card when abroad ,i think i better use it this May when i go to Greece or i might loose it due to non use.

spinningsheep

I have the Zopa CC which I use when travelling, no fees on purchases or conversion fees. I'm rebuilding my history, Zopa is often targeted at the sub prime market, but I received a £3000 limit and 18% APR (always pay in full anyway so irrelevant really) if you can get the likes of Halifax Clarity with a decent limit then you'd be mad not to of course, but with a thin credit file, Zopa would be worth a look. See what you're pre approved for on eligibility checks and go from there.

Marchitiello

Ganga said:

I have the Santander Zero card ( as well as the Halifax Clarity card ) but have never used the Santander one ,it is my back up card when abroad ,i think i better use it this May when i go to Greece or i might loose it due to non use.

Re: Santander Zero- You may want to do a small transaction in the UK ASAP as Santander do close accounts for inactivity.. all you need to do is buying a sneaker bar at Sainsbury or something like that. Worth trying to keep this product as it is discontinued and from time to time Santander may run a good deal on it (last Summer it run a 1% cashback on forex spend, matching Chase Debit Card but with the additional benefit of “pay later” and buyer protections). As a side note, Greece is one of those countries where ATM operators charges for usage, but there are few exceptions, especially around Athens but not on the smaller islands, so may be worth to look into it before travelling otherwise even with a Chase Debit Card or something similar you may incur in some additional charges. 

Alex9384

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Marchitiello

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Good point and certainly a positive point of difference, but also remember that this would still be reported to the credit agency (ATM withdrawal on a credit card) and nowadays that we have several Bank Account /Debit Card that have equal Forex free benefits (my personal preference would be Chase as I travel often to the US and is the only card - across the majority of the states- that let me avoid local ATM operators fees), CC ATM usage should be really avoided.

main differences for Barclaycard Rewards for me is that it is a Visa and it has 0.25% cash back.

penners324

Best option is to get a Starling or Chase account as well (Monzo also a possibility but less cash withdrawal allowance)

zagfles

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Depends which card, my new Rewards one allows fee free withdrawals in the UK too. The old one doesn't.

NoodleDoodleMan

I maintain a regular debit charge on the Santander Zero card by having it pay my Epson printer usage fee - £1.99 a month..................I don't print out much stuff !!!

Netflix is another option.

NoodleDoodleMan

zagfles said:

Alex9384 said:

No one has mentioned that the main difference between Barclaycard Rewards CC and other travel CCs is that Barclaycard allows you to withdraw cash from ATM abroad without charging you interest immediately! Other cards start charging you interest from the day of cash withdrawal. As far as I know, this only applies to Barclaycard withdrawals abroad, not in the UK.

Depends which card, my new Rewards one allows fee free withdrawals in the UK too. The old one doesn't.

Are Barclaycard Reward withdrawing the (time limited) overseas fee free benefit when taking currency at an ATM when the card becomes due for renewal ?