Prepaid Travel Cards guide

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Comments

  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,574 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    barryheffron wrote: »
    As we leave on 17th that means 10 working days would exceed that date so I'm thinking I would be at risk ordering one now.
    When there's no cost, there's nothing to risk. Don't delay signing up for several, at least one should arrive. Starling Bank debit card should take no more than three days. Use normally, never pay in pounds and reject any ATM's offer to convert your pounds.

    There's also https://loot.io/
    Evolution, not revolution
  • barryheffron
    barryheffron Posts: 415 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    eDicky wrote: »
    When there's no cost, there's nothing to risk. Don't delay signing up for several, at least one should arrive. Starling Bank debit card should take no more than three days. Use normally, never pay in pounds and reject any ATM's offer to convert your pounds.

    There's also https://loot.io/
    I signed up for Revolut but had to transfer £10 to get them to send me the card.

    Delivery is expected to be by 17th July, the day i'm going!!

    Didn't want to pay for tracking or premium

    They also charged me the £4.99 fee as noted by people above so i went onto the Live Agent to see about getting a refund but it said i have a 24 hour wait!!

    I have also signed up for Loot as per your recommendation so just waiting on the ID verification to go through.

    They said their card should be with me by 12th July.

    If both arrive i will have to see who is giving the best rates at the time.

    Do you know if there is a delay between uploading money to Loot and being able to use it?
  • EveryWhere
    EveryWhere Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    barryheffron wrote: »
    I signed up for Revolut but had to transfer £10 to get them to send me the card.

    Delivery is expected to be by 17th July, the day i'm going!!

    Didn't want to pay for tracking or premium

    They also charged me the £4.99 fee as noted by people above so i went onto the Live Agent to see about getting a refund but it said i have a 24 hour wait!!

    I have also signed up for Loot as per your recommendation so just waiting on the ID verification to go through.

    They said their card should be with me by 12th July.

    If both arrive i will have to see who is giving the best rates at the time.

    Do you know if there is a delay between uploading money to Loot and being able to use it?

    What made you choose those over https://www.starlingbank.com/travel/ ?
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,574 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    barryheffron wrote: »
    Do you know if there is a delay between uploading money to Loot and being able to use it?
    There's no delay.

    Unused funds on Revolut can be sent back to your bank, or elsewhere, without fee. The same with Loot.
    Evolution, not revolution
  • barryheffron
    barryheffron Posts: 415 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    EveryWhere wrote: »
    What made you choose those over https://www.starlingbank.com/travel/ ?

    Honestly?

    I didn't see it suggested to me so didn't know about them.

    Would you recommend them over the others I applied for?
  • DaveC07510
    DaveC07510 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Morning, I can't find the answer to this anywhere in these forums, but in case it has cropped up, apologies in advance.

    We do have a Halifax Clarity card. We pay it off immediately we get home. Tick that one off.

    However, as a result of an inheritance, we have a Barclays foreign currency account which has a few grand in EUROs in it. Barclays say that they do not supply a debit card for this account, although you can get money out by BACs (so travellers cheques are an option).

    We go to Europe two or three times a year. EU countries and Switzerland. So, what I wanted to ask was whether anyone had heard of a prepaid card that you can preload with Euros from a UK EURO account? We would also want to preload some Swiss francs onto the card which we would want to buy with GBP or Euros depending on the the prevalent exchange rate between Euro - CHF and GBP - CHF.

    Thanks in advance for any help.

    Dave
  • EveryWhere
    EveryWhere Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    barryheffron wrote: »
    Honestly?

    I didn't see it suggested to me so didn't know about them.

    Would you recommend them over the others I applied for?

    It was eDicky's first suggestion in his initial reply to you. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5249833&page=56#1102
    He just didn't bother to provide a link.
    Yes, as it has no limit or cost attached to ATM withdrawals.
  • EveryWhere
    EveryWhere Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    DaveC07510 wrote: »
    Morning, I can't find the answer to this anywhere in these forums, but in case it has cropped up, apologies in advance.

    We do have a Halifax Clarity card. We pay it off immediately we get home. Tick that one off.

    However, as a result of an inheritance, we have a Barclays foreign currency account which has a few grand in EUROs in it. Barclays say that they do not supply a debit card for this account, although you can get money out by BACs (so travellers cheques are an option).

    We go to Europe two or three times a year. EU countries and Switzerland. So, what I wanted to ask was whether anyone had heard of a prepaid card that you can preload with Euros from a UK EURO account? We would also want to preload some Swiss francs onto the card which we would want to buy with GBP or Euros depending on the the prevalent exchange rate between Euro - CHF and GBP - CHF.

    Thanks in advance for any help.

    Dave

    You can probably fund https://www.revolut.com from your Euro account if you want to spend in Euros and other currencies. Not sure if Revolut are still offering a free debit card.
    You can also try https://transferwise.com/gb/borderless/ if you want to spend in the same currency as that you deposit. You can spend in others, but there will be a relatively small forex fee.
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,574 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    DaveC07510 wrote: »
    We go to Europe two or three times a year. EU countries and Switzerland. So, what I wanted to ask was whether anyone had heard of a prepaid card that you can preload with Euros from a UK EURO account? We would also want to preload some Swiss francs onto the card which we would want to buy with GBP or Euros depending on the the prevalent exchange rate between Euro - CHF and GBP - CHF.
    There are two ways to send your euros to a Revolut account, either to your personal IBAN that they provide, or to their general euro account at Lloyd's with your personal reference number. You can check which will involve less fees from Barclays.

    Consider a multicurrency account with Fineco Bank UK, instead of Barclays.
    Evolution, not revolution
  • DaveC07510
    DaveC07510 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Thanks Everywhere and eDicky, three new avenues to look up.


    I think Barclays charge for IBAN through a UK foreign currency account, but not for when you 'pay' someone through BACs or similar, so a transfer to Revolut's bank account might be the way to do it.


    I'll look into Fineco.


    Looked at Transferwise, but it isn't clear whether you can or can't. Obviously, these companies make their money on when currencies are being exchanged and I would only be exchanging euro into CHF.


    I'll let this forum know if I find a definitive nil/low cost solution.
    Thanks
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