Travel cards

Miles86

There's also HSBC UK's Global Money Account which also allows you to convert funds in advance and spend with no fees abroad.

SavingStudent1

[Deleted User] said:

If you're going to the USA then Chase is no brainer as it has one of the largest ATM networks in the USA - using Monzo/Starling/First Direct you'll get charged around $5 per withdrawal.

There is also the Nationwide FlexOne or Student accounts - they don't charge for overseas use and are a Visa card - which is useful as others are Mastercard.

Thanks, that is helpful. I think I'm going to go for Chase, just because of that and also the 1% cashback. I don't really intend to withdraw from the ATM and will always pay by card, but it is just a cautionary thing in the event that I do need cash for some reason or the other.

I am over student age so they won't apply to me - thanks though!

SavingStudent1

Miles86 said:

There's also HSBC UK's Global Money Account which also allows you to convert funds in advance and spend with no fees abroad.

Thanks, that is a good idea. Is this mainly to lock in good rates in advance of your travel? For example, if you don't want to use rates at the time of payment, you can lock in USD in advance at any time for your trip, for example - taking advantage of any good rates?

Also, just for my understanding, this account uses "competitive live exchange rates". Are these better than what these mastercards do i.e. they use the Mastercard 'wholesale' rate without any mark-up on the exchange rate. Now, for example, if I was to make a payment of $50, I could just use a Monzo and it'll convert my GBP into USD at the Mastercard 'wholesale' rate. Alternatively, I could use the Global Money Account at that time to convert my GBP into $50 using "competitive live exchange rates". May I ask what is the difference between these two approaches in terms of the rates they use and which would be better?

I'm just asking out of curiosity, I don't intend to use this approach as a comparison each time I make a payment - I would actually use the Global Money Account to lock in a good rate in advance, instead.

huw01

Can anyone confirm my understanding of the Santander Edge account.
If you don't setup any Direct Debits on it, you won't qualify for any cashback and then according to their terms and conditions they won't start charging the monthly fee.

So could you just use it as a fee free account to spend and withdraw cash abroad ?

https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/AD_documents/santander_edge_current_account_key_facts_document_bankmc0315jul23hcd.pdf

grumbler

huw01 said:

Can anyone confirm my understanding of the Santander Edge account.
If you don't setup any Direct Debits on it, you won't qualify for any cashback and then according to their terms and conditions they won't start charging the monthly fee.

So could you just use it as a fee free account to spend and withdraw cash abroad ?

https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/AD_documents/santander_edge_current_account_key_facts_document_bankmc0315jul23hcd.pdf

Yes, that's what many people did here, but to qualify for 7% Santander Edge saver in the first place, not for spending abroad.

Miles86

SavingStudent1 said:

Miles86 said:

There's also HSBC UK's Global Money Account which also allows you to convert funds in advance and spend with no fees abroad.

Thanks, that is a good idea. Is this mainly to lock in good rates in advance of your travel? For example, if you don't want to use rates at the time of payment, you can lock in USD in advance at any time for your trip, for example - taking advantage of any good rates?

Also, just for my understanding, this account uses "competitive live exchange rates". Are these better than what these mastercards do i.e. they use the Mastercard 'wholesale' rate without any mark-up on the exchange rate. Now, for example, if I was to make a payment of $50, I could just use a Monzo and it'll convert my GBP into USD at the Mastercard 'wholesale' rate. Alternatively, I could use the Global Money Account at that time to convert my GBP into $50 using "competitive live exchange rates". May I ask what is the difference between these two approaches in terms of the rates they use and which would be better?

I'm just asking out of curiosity, I don't intend to use this approach as a comparison each time I make a payment - I would actually use the Global Money Account to lock in a good rate in advance, instead.

It's not the Mastercard rate no, effectively you're buying at the rate the bank is offering based on it's holdings and demand... The general consensus seems to be that it's amongst the competitive rates, Euro always seems to be a pretty good rate, Danish Krone I recently bought seemed to be relatively poor. 

But yes it's the equivalent of loading a card in advance or buying physical cash in advance. You have certainly. I quite like not seeing the price in GBP so that I'm not comparing with home but with other places where I am. Also being HSBC your balance is FSCS protected which isn't true for all the competitors.

[Deleted User]

The HSBC Global Money Account is a Visa card - so will never use the Mastercard rate.
It uses the currency directly if available or converts Sterling at the Visa rate if the account has only GBP.