Holiday Money - on Credit Card

B_Barks75

Hello, looking at a good credit card, for spending on holiday, will need some cash, but would also like to use for taxis, restaurant's, shopping etc. When returning home, may no be able to pay off in one hit so concerned at the 30%APR cards. Any ideas? Thank you.

prettyandfluffy

 Virgin Slyce - doesn't charge a fee for overseas transactions and you can pay off over 3 months interest free, after that the interest rate varies according to how long you take to pay but it's typically lower than a "standard" APR.  https://uk.virginmoney.com/cards/slyce/what-you-get/

EDITED TO ADD The credit limit given tends not to be huge, my sister & I both have this card (separately) and were given credit limits of around £3K which is fine for the type of spending you describe.  Do keep an eye on your spending through the app and make sure you can pay it off within the interest-free period, though.

B_Barks75

Just checked and they are not taking any new applicants for the Slyce.    Back to the drawing board. 

lr1277

There is the Nat West Credit card. It doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee and has an APR of 12.9%. But you must not withdraw cash from cash machines using this card. Not the best rate but better than 30%.

I found this card using the finder site. Into google type: Finder credit card.

In the resulting web page there are buttons near the top of the page. One of the buttons says Overseas Spending. When you click on that a list of cards is produced. In the description of each card, it lists the APR.

As far as I know, it is only the Barclays Reward credit card that is forex free and allows you to withdraw cash from an ATM and won't charge you interest from the date of the withdrawl if you pay the statement balance in full for the next statement. It has other advantages like some cashback. But it does have an approximately 30% APR.

You have to prioritise your requirements.

sausage_time

As above, Barclaycard Reward (make sure you apply for that one) allows cash withdrawal with no FX fees and no interest if you pay your statement balance in full (which you should do anyway - but your comment above noted).

See here:

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

for other options (including travel friendly debit cards).   

If you do not plan to pay off in full a 0% purchase credit card and a debit card for cash may be a better option for you.  

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards/

CliveOfIndia

I'd agree with the previous comments - you can either use a "travel" card to avoid FX fees, or a 0% card to spread the cost.  I'm not aware of any cards that offer both perks.

One possibility may be to use a travel card to avoid FX fees, then BT the balance to a 0% card to spread the cost of the remaining balance.  Of course there's no guarantee that you'd be able to get a 0% BT card, and there's very often a fee for doing the BT (you'd have to do the sums to work out whether it was worth doing), but it's a possibility to consider.

NoodleDoodleMan

Where is it you are travelling to ?

Remember that even if your credit card has no FX fees at an ATM, the bank operating the machine is likely to take a commission - some more than others.

Barclaycard Rewards is the best deal, however you have to settle the FULL statement balance by the next payment due date, otherwise interest applies.

In reality you are very unlikely to need much cash - best practice is to use the credit card where possible and pay off as much as possible when you get home.

B_Barks75

Thanks for all your help. We booked a holiday to the far east, it cost us a lot of money and unfortunately our spending money we had put aside has been used up. Just wanted to look at the best way to finance the holiday spending and pay it back when we return.  

TwiceNightly

If you have a Chase current account, their credit card is 0% for 12-15 months which will help you pay it off over time.
Also free to use abroad.
No good for cash though, you'd need to use the debit card for that to avoid fees.

northernstar007

or you could do a money transfer to your bank acc using any 0% offers from a credit card, but will have a 3-5% transfer fee