paying overseas

Robby79

Asking my bank to allow me to spend overseas e.g. paying a hotel bill once in America, my bank will add an 'overseas code' to allow me to do this. However they did mention, and i quote, ' theres a 50/50 chance your card will stick be blocked, but just phone us to unblock'. Now, that could be annoying with the time difference esp if it happens to be middle of the night in the UK.

So, i was looking to Revolut, Chase, Monza…as usual the more you look, the negatives creep out. Not keen really on putting a lot of money onto one of these cards, ok for bits of spending but to pay a large hotel bill..annoying really.

Thoughts more than welcome on what options are there, the safest, the card which will work without any hassle? Been told Monza is good,but i read a £200 daily limit..or some fee etc - lost with all this to be honest.

kindest regards

jackieblack

MSE article here https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money/

In more than a dozen trips to the USA, the only card that was ever blocked was a Post Office card. I’ve never had any trouble with Halifax Clarity, Nationwide or First Direct cards - no guarantee of course, just my experience.

Usual advice is to make sure you have at least one back up card in case of issues.

la531983

A £200 daily limit on Monzo? For card payments?

Not sure where you have read that but that is utter rubbish.

springmagpie

I used my Monzo card in the states, several purchases over £200 and many day spent more than £200. No issues. If you aren't keen on having lots of money on the card, Monzo allow you to use "pots" so you can transfer money out of a pots to use on the card.

I also got much better exchange rates on Monzo than the people I was travelling with

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6653709/paying-overseas

Most banks dont require you to inform them that you are going to be travelling any more. Ultimately all transactions go via fraud detection systems which try to work out if the payment is legitimate or not. If they have concerns then they will block the transaction and ask you to contact them. Most, but not all, banks have extended operating hours for their fraud teams, if not 24/7.

50/50 seems highly pessimistic. You dont say which bank you are talking with but having taken an average of 10 trips abroad a year for at least two decades I dont recall a single transaction thats been blocked other than 1 ATM withdrawal but the bank said it was an issue with the ATM as they never received the request.

Clearly what country you are going to will play a part too, some are much more known for fraud than others. Similarly what you are trying to pay for will influence things, payments in strip clubs, casinos etc are more likely to be blocked than a hotel or train ticket.

As for the Monzo £200 limit? Think you are mistaking the ATM free cash withdrawal limit. There is no corresponding limit for purchases.

Marksfish

Halifax Clarity and Barclaycard Rewards (fee & commission free atm withdrawal) for me. Always found Clarity had the slightly better purchase rates, but it is being changed from Mastercard to Visa.

Maegi

The Chase credit card has been trouble free so far - card and Google Pay.

The (former) Barclaycard Rewards declined in the US a few times (all non-chip and pin transactions) but then sent me a text each time inviting me to reply Y then try again. This was with the card, Google Pay never declined.

Debit/prepaid cards aren't the best for big holiday items like hotels or car rentals.

penners324

Every bank has 'issues' if you go looking for them. Those are all banks. Thousands use them as their main account.

I personally think Starling is the best but personal choice