Prepaid Travel Cards guide

eDicky · 13 October 2017 at 9:59AM

Pedrobandito wrote: »

Help, am I supposed to choose to pay in £ or $ when the option comes up on my Monzo & Starling

Always pay in dollars if the choice is given, so that your card does the currency cinversion, as intended. Never choose pounds and allow the merchant or ATM to convert at their own adverse rates. But I don't think this 'service' is as commonly offered in the US as it is elsewhere.

Pedrobandito · 13 October 2017 at 12:47PM

Thanks eDicky &#55357;&#56833;

gregdfc · 23 October 2017 at 1:45PM

Hello,

I'm struggling to find the close to perfect travel card.

Going to Norway (Bergen) for a few days. Thinking of getting a travel card. but would like a travel card with no or very low fees. Easy to use, and one that could be topped up by family (in case I run out money), back home in the UK. I do travel a lot and never really thought of a travel card before.

Any ideas on which ones are good? I leave 6th Nov.

Thanks

Greg

EveryWhere · 23 October 2017 at 8:26PM

gregdfc wrote: »

Hello,

I'm struggling to find the close to perfect travel card.

Going to Norway (Bergen) for a few days. Thinking of getting a travel card. but would like a travel card with no or very low fees. Easy to use, and one that could be topped up by family (in case I run out money), back home in the UK. I do travel a lot and never really thought of a travel card before.

Any ideas on which ones are good? I leave 6th Nov.

Thanks

Greg

starlingbank.com/travel/

If you run out of money, they can transfer money to your bank account.

eDicky · 24 October 2017 at 12:54AM

gregdfc wrote: »

Any ideas on which ones are good? I leave 6th Nov.

You are leaving it a bit late, sign up for the best ones and hope you receive a card or two in time - Starling Bank, Loot, Revolut.

In SE England you can open a Metro Bank account in branch (only) and be issued with the debit card immediately, fee free in Europe.

HolidaySpend · 4 November 2017 at 5:00PM

Hi,
I recently subscribed to both a Monzo and Revolut card to use on holiday in the US. They were both accepted almost everywhere. The only problems were as deposit for car hire, (only 'proper' credit cards accepted) and at Tesco in the UK, where both have been declined on more than one occasion.
They were easy to use and perfect for monitoring spending etc, but make sure you carry a traditional alternative as well.

adindas · 11 November 2017 at 3:15PM

I just got an email asking whether I wanted to upgrade my account to become a fully Current A/C ?

I wonder what is advantages and Disadvantage of doing this.

At the moment I really like this card because it is a prepaid card so less scrutiny which mean it is unlikely to get blocked.

In the meanwhile I also already get Euro account as well as other no fee debit card for foreign transactions.

So what is the benefit of converting this to become a current account ? What happen if I opt to not to upgrade it, are they going t close it ??

thanks

.

Neil49 · 11 November 2017 at 11:33PM

adindas wrote: »

I just got an email asking whether I wanted to upgrade my account to become a fully Current A/C ?

I wonder what is advantages and Disadvantage of doing this.

At the moment I really like this card because it is a prepaid card so less scrutiny which mean it is unlikely to get blocked.

In the meanwhile I also already get Euro account as well as other no fee debit card for foreign transactions.

So what is the benefit of converting this to become a current account ? What happen if I opt to not to upgrade it, are they going t close it ??

thanks

.

All Monzo prepaid accounts are being changed to current accounts so you won't have any choice in the matter. Mine is being changed at the moment and will become a current account by the end of the week.
I believe that all accounts will be converted early next year.

gettingtheresometime · 13 November 2017 at 12:30PM

Just thought I’d post to give my experience of revolut.

As we plan to use it Christmas time I thought I’d try it on a weekend away to see if there were any problems.

I put £20 and converted it into euros & used it with no issues, even thoug it already had US $ on it. Also had an app confirmation of the amount I’d spent.

I liked being able to freeze the card so if it did get lost I wouldn’t worry too much

trevor2522 · 17 November 2017 at 5:06PM

I have severe doubts about Monzo:

1) Not recommended by MSE as a prepaid travel card.

2) Extremely hard to contact them.

3) App does not install on iPhone running iOS 11.1.

4) Trust Pilot users complain that Monzo added foreign-use fees after they got the card.

5) Apparent shortage of cards / queueing system.

Overall just too many alarm bells to even consider Monzo.

We Swap is useless unless travelling to countries which use their 16 listed currencies (Colombia, Madagascar -- forget it). Revolut uses spot interbank rates but charges 2% ATM fee after withdrawing a mere £200 within a month. Fair FX has fixed ATM charges of €1.50 each time, which are cheaper. Post Office card is terrible at 3% to 4.5% ATM fees. Sainsburys charges 5.75% foreign exchange fee. Most of these cards are on the MasterCard network. Bank cards tend more towards Visa network. Foreign ATMs shouldn't have any preference or network-related problems -- but welcome comments on this.

Any others, apart from Revolut & Fair FX, half-decent ... ? Starling bank?

Prepaid Travel Cards guide

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