Which pre paid travel card

Jimbouk

Hi all
My wife and i are looking for advice and recommendations regarding a pre-paid travel card.
I am currently using my credit card for purchases and my debit card for atm withdrawals, both have zero transaction fees and work well but If I misplaced or lost them whilst abroad, I would be in a bit of a pickle.

I am toying with the idea of getting a pre-paid travel, possibly a joint account, so we both have a card and my bank-linked cards can be locked in the safe for peace of mind.

The card would be purely for purchases whilst abroad and the ability to top up as and when required whilst travelling would be required.
We have a few European trips planned but also have a trip to South Africa penciled in so ideally a card to cover all bases.
 
We have been looking at Revolut , Monzo , Caxton etc and they all seem to offer what we require , however, real world experience would be greatly appreciated  .

Thanks in advance

jbrassy

Starling Bank is a better option than the ones you suggested. It's a bank account with associated debit card rather than a prepaid card, but it works well as a backup. No fees for overseas payments or ATM withdrawals and I don't think they do a hard credit check when you apply (if you decline the overdraft).

Other options include First Direct or Chase, but I think they do hard credit checks.

eskbanker

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money/ offers 'best buy' options in each of the main categories:

• Option 1: Travel credit cards 
• Option 2: Travel debit cards
• Option 3: Prepaid travel cards
• Option 4: Getting foreign currency

daveyjp

A joint account with Starling does exactly what you want and its what we use in addition to credit cards for Foreign travel.

 Transfer cash from your day to day current account when you need to use it and top up at anytime.  Unlike pre paid cards there are no fees,

You will both need to open an individual account before you can open a joint, but its straightforwards,

etienneg

I admit I'm not a fan of prepaid cards. Most that I've looked at have some combination of downsides: less than perfect exchange rates, charges (such as when trying to get unused money back after a trip, or to hold a card with a balance for a period whilst unused, or similar), potentially difficult access when abroad for topping up, and so on. But (of course) it's your choice.

Anyway, general advice (even without travelling) is to have more than one bank account (in case of freezing for whatever reason), and both mastercard and visa credit cards (in case of either network going down) - or loss of a card in either case.

If you do this, you can travel with two credit cards and two debit cards (the absolute minimum I would ever take). One pair can then be "locked in the safe for peace of mind".

flaneurs_lobster

jbrassy said:

Other options include First Direct or Chase, but I think they do hard credit checks.

FD do, Chase don't.

What banking arrangements does your wife have?

Good idea to spread the arrangements across more than one person/card/bank