Surely you will only get a notification if you have data switched on, or are connected to Wi-Fi? If you don't have data switched on whilst in the US you won't get notifications. If the notifications are via SMS then you won't be charged in any case.

Moved to the general Credit Card board as it wasn't about stoozing

Gets three sim for USA. No roaming charges

Does it say if it is a text message or app notification (I'm sure that they are app notifications but I don't use Starling)? I have Revoult and it is an app notification that only comes though if I am connected to data or wifi. When I was in Japan I didn't have a local sim so the notifications would pop up when I got somewhere with wifi.

The notifications are done via the app and not a text message, you would see this is the case on google, I can do it on Android but cant speak for iOS though.

Just don't have your mobile data on.

You can even turn the notifications off.

Remember a Starling card will almost certainly incur ATM usage fees in the USA.

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 traveled the USA with a Starling card.

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).

You should be able to. Try entering 99999 or the zip code of your hotel. If that doesn't work, just prepay at the till.

For pay at the pump, enter digits from your UK card address postcode, padding with enough zeros at the end to make 5 digits. So SW1A 2AA would become 12000.

My experience in the US is that Starling works well. However, as already has been mentioned, US banks charge a fee for each ATM withdrawal from their ATM. The lowest I've seen is $1.75, the most has been over $4, but the average at most ATMs seems to about $2.50 - $3.00. It's a bit of a shock since most of our ATMs are free here. So, as advised, if you are taking cash out, do so in as few transactions as you can. It would be better if you just used the debit card to pay for things, rather than take the cash out. For tips I usually order a certain amount of $1 and $5 notes from a bureau de change or the post office before I go. I figure even though they're slightly more expensive, I'm not having to make unnecessary small purchases just to break 10s or 20s. Also keep in mind that if you use your debit (or a credit) card to pay in a restaurant, you can usually add the tip on to the bill, so you don't have to have a lot of tipping money.

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).

Whenever we go we use our Clarity Card with a cash withdrawal at the airport for as much as we think we'll use and then use the card (or Nationwide Credit Card) in shops as much as possible.

I'd make sure you have at least 2 fee free cards to use with 1 for backup.

There's free wifi in most places so I always paid off the cash withdrawal as soon as it appeared on my credit card account.

If you access your bank acount via unencrypted public wifi, ATM fees and foreign loading may be the least of your worries...

On my phone with fingerprint authentication?

How does unlocking your phone by fingerprint authentication then go on to provide secure public wifi?

I bought a 12 day sim from Amazon (search "Mostsim") when I was in the US last year, cost £23 or something, so roaming shouldn't be a concern. Of course there is wifi everywhere, but I typically don't use public Wi-Fi. Don't see it as any safer than using 4G... which arguably could be more secure.

ATM Withdrawals at WAWA petrol stations in the USA are free : ) Used my Starling card in September of 2019 and confirmed this.


Debbie

It's a few years ago, but there was no fee for using a UK £ Citi debit card in a Citi ATM. Most 7-11 stores had one. The Citi rate was also very good.

We used (almost exclusively) my Starling card in the US last May.


The only ATM's to charge fees were banks - the ones found in shops, bars etc didn't charge at all.


Like others, none of our cards, Starling or other CC worked in the pumps even when putting in the zip code of our hotel - so we just either prepaid or I hung around the shop until hubby had finished and I paid then.


the notifications only came through when data is on or you're in wifi so no roaming charges or text charges.



We added up the amount of non stg transaction fees from an earlier US trip and had paid over £300 in fees on our cc, whereas this time with the Starling card we paid under £10 - a no brainer for us.


The only thing we had issues with was funding it from Lloyds - they wanted all sorts of confirmation on the transaction, whereas HSBC - no problem in sending money to there - probably looked dodgy - sending money from Lloyds to HSBC to Starling but that's what we had to do.