Monzo or starling any good for....

RobM99

...Albania?  The Lek is a closed currency, does that make any difference?

la531983

You are misunderstanding the term "closed currency", just means that you cant get the physical notes outside it. You can still spend on any card inside the country.

The Cape Verde Escudo is a closed currency, still happily spent on card whilst there.

RobM99

la531983 said:

You are misunderstanding the term "closed currency", just means that you can't get the physical notes outside it. You can still spend on any card inside the country.

The Cape Verde Escudo is a closed currency, still happily spent on card whilst there.

I understand that, I'm just asking if those two cards are readily accepted. I don't want to pre-load a card that not accepted!

la531983

RobM99 said:

la531983 said:

You are misunderstanding the term "closed currency", just means that you can't get the physical notes outside it. You can still spend on any card inside the country.

The Cape Verde Escudo is a closed currency, still happily spent on card whilst there.

I understand that, I'm just asking if those two cards are readily accepted. I don't want to pre-load a card that not accepted!

It will be accepted everywhere that Mastercard is accepted, which is likely every country in the world bar North Korea.

Slinky

RobM99 said:

la531983 said:

You are misunderstanding the term "closed currency", just means that you can't get the physical notes outside it. You can still spend on any card inside the country.

The Cape Verde Escudo is a closed currency, still happily spent on card whilst there.

I understand that, I'm just asking if those two cards are readily accepted. I don't want to pre-load a card that not accepted!

We did a day trip into Albania from Greece, they were very happy to take Euro cash. Would that work for you?

MyRealNameToo

RobM99 said:

la531983 said:

You are misunderstanding the term "closed currency", just means that you can't get the physical notes outside it. You can still spend on any card inside the country.

The Cape Verde Escudo is a closed currency, still happily spent on card whilst there.

I understand that, I'm just asking if those two cards are readily accepted. I don't want to pre-load a card that not accepted!

The card issuer is irrelevant, it's the network the card is on which matters. Both Chase and Starling issue Mastercard Debit cards.

Mastercard does operate in Albania so if they accept cards ithen they will take Mastercard however get out of the cities and you may find its much more cash only. 

RobM99

OK thanks all, you have told me all I need to know.