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Is Starling Best For USA Trip?
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Hi Guys - not asked a question here before so please be gentle with me! Off to USA in May. Looking for a card to get cash out whilst there. Considering opening a Starling personal account and putting funds in it so I can withdraw cash via ATMs as well as use it for purchases. But a bit concerned that Starling say they send a notification every time I use the card - surely that'll cost me lots of roaming charges? Any thoughts/suggestions you can give me really appreciated.
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Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
Just don't have your mobile data on.
You can even turn the notifications off.
Not from the card company - but from the ATM owners bank.
I'm not up to speed on specifics, but as a general rule it's a fixed amount per transaction, so better to make a larger withdrawal than a series of smaller ones.
A top rated "user friendly" credit card is recommended for North America - one that does't apply foreign currency fees for goods and services - Halifax Clarity and Santander Zero come to mind.
Settle as many purchases as possible with such plastic, rather than greenbacks.
We found that even though it is a debit card, it’s classed as a credit card in the USA, when trying to withdraw cash (it was confusing but didn’t affect any prices).
Only snag, if you hire a car, you can’t pay at the pump with the card (albeit, non of our UK cards worked).
Don't worry about notifications, that's only if you have data on - and again, as someone said 3 is the best. I got an estimation coming back from the States one year that my estimated bill would have been £75,000 if I hadn't been on a Go Roam tarriff (was £17, now £15). Mind you I had used 11.5GB over the course of the month and loads of calls back home.
If you have time and the means, what I would do is get a credit card. The Halifax Clarity is the best card now that Barclaycard have stopped offering theirs. This way you avoid the cash withdrawal fee, and credit cards are even more widely accepted in the US than the UK. They seem to work a bit better than debit cards, though I've only encountered problems with my starling in one regional chain of fast food restaurants. I have had really hit and miss with using credit and debit cards for Pay-at-the-pump, the Barclaycard was the only one I got to work, and yes I tried zip code 00000 / 99999, the digits from my postcode, etc. But I always just paid inside instead (after stubbornly trying half a dozen times).