Best way to spend euros abroad

Mistermeaner

Hi couple of European holidays planned been a while - what’s best way to carrying euros we were thinking to get some cash at best exchange rate we can find plus to each get a chase account for their commission free debit card 

is this sensible , haven’t got much free time to hunt around for a percentage point here or there just don’t want to get ripped off my our existing banks (Barclays and Santander) who would charge 3% commissions 

thanks 

400ixl

A fee free credit card will give the most protection, a fee free debit card would be the next best option.

Find a fee free ATM and you could withdraw a minimal amount of cash.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Mistermeaner said:

Hi couple of European holidays planned been a while - what’s best way to carrying euros we were thinking to get some cash at best exchange rate we can find plus to each get a chase account for their commission free debit card 

is this sensible , haven’t got much free time to hunt around for a percentage point here or there just don’t want to get ripped off my our existing banks (Barclays and Santander) who would charge 3% commissions 

thanks 

Revolut is straightforward and the exchange rate is fine.  They have different levels of service but the basic (free) one is perfectly ok.

Simple to top up from your current account and you can add it to your Wallet on both Apple and Android devices I think if you don't want to carry a physical card with you.

If you know someone who already uses Revolut they may well be able to get a referral bonus, which you could split 😉.

annabanana82

If you want to take cash M&S we're coming up best priced today was 1.14 something. I'm taking a small amount of cash but fully expecting to use either my Barclays rewards card or Halifax Clarity for the bulk of my spending

Mistermeaner

Revolut looks like hard work - daily limits and various charging policies , chase seems much more straight forward 

Doshwaster

Mistermeaner said:

Revolut looks like hard work - daily limits and various charging policies , chase seems much more straight forward 

I've been using Starling for overseas trips for the last 3 years and had no problems at all. Just works as a normal current account but without any overseas fees. When at home I just use it as a piggy bank to build up holiday spends.

Indout96

Used Chase in many countries and never had a problem their exchange rate last week was 1 = 1.164
As long as you have a phone signal / Wifi you can keep it all in your 4.1% interest pot and just transfer what you need over, meaning if you lose your card there will be only a small £ amount you can lose.

Bigphil1474

I've used Revolut for a few years now. It's not complicated. They basically can charge if you do currency exchange over the weekend, but I've never had to. Similar to Chase, you can put money in your savings account and transfer it to the spend account when you need it. I use it as my daily spend in the UK as I like the app and it helps me with budgeting. Not used Chase, but I'd say Revolut is an okay, straightforward card. You might get better interest/exchange rates somewhere else but it suits me.

basill

Free to use ATMs can take some of your precious holiday time hunting down abroad and cards are readily accepted in most places.  We keep a float of about 150 Euros for small purchases and the times " the card machine is out of order" and use Metro or Sterling for everything else.
MSE travel money finder is useful to find a sensible place to get currency to top up. They don't usually charge a fixed fee, just take a couple of percent through the exchange rate.  Not much for convenience and less than an ATM usage fee on smaller amounts.

Spain /canaries have some free ATMs but as far I know machines in Greece all have at a flat fee of a 3 Euros or more to use.

DullGreyGuy

Mistermeaner said:

Hi couple of European holidays planned been a while - what’s best way to carrying euros we were thinking to get some cash at best exchange rate we can find plus to each get a chase account for their commission free debit card 

is this sensible , haven’t got much free time to hunt around for a percentage point here or there just don’t want to get ripped off my our existing banks (Barclays and Santander) who would charge 3% commissions 

thanks 

Which country are you going to? 

A fee free debit/credit card is generally the best option and you can withdraw cash from an ATM if you need cash. Though the card is fee free many ATMs will charge you a fee of a few €. Depending on what ATMs are around where you are going it can sometimes be worth aligning on banks so if going to Spain the fee free Santander card may be the best option as the in bank branch machines won't charge you a fee. 

Obviously there always an element of trade off between avoiding fees and wasting hours walking around checking fees of different ATMs

Doshwaster

basill said:

Free to use ATMs can take some of your precious holiday time hunting down abroad and cards are readily accepted in most places.  We keep a float of about 150 Euros for small purchases and the times " the card machine is out of order" and use Metro or Sterling for everything else.
MSE travel money finder is useful to find a sensible place to get currency to top up. They don't usually charge a fixed fee, just take a couple of percent through the exchange rate.  Not much for convenience and less than an ATM usage fee on smaller amounts.

Spain /canaries have some free ATMs but as far I know machines in Greece all have at a flat fee of a 3 Euros or more to use.

Spain has been catching up with the UK in going contactless so I find I spend less and less cash on every trip. 

On a recent a weekend in Madrid I took €50 which I had leftover from a previous trip and spent less than €20 of it.

Free ATMs in Spain include Banca March (more common in the Canaries), Deutsche Bank and Unicaja.