Which bank cards are best for a long european trip
In February I am going abroad for an extended trip. Which bank cards give best value, bearing in mind all charges?
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Martin Lewis gives detailed answers for you on his MoneySaving Expert.com website.
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Halifax Clarity. No forex charge worldwide.
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I see that the Santander Zero card is once more available and may (if you're eligible) be an even better option than Clarity as I understand the rates are slightly lower.
http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/credit-cards/zero-credit-card
We have both Clarity and Zero - use the former for cash advances (and pay off within a few days), the latter for purchases although of course we can use both cards for both purposes.
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We use a Clarity Card. You will pay a modest interest card on any ATM withdrawals but otherwise no charges.
David
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We use a combination!
Credit Cards: we have a Halifax Clarity Card, and an old Nationwide Gold Card (before they changed the terms and conditions) and we use those for shopping, restaurant meals, fuel and anything 'expensive'.
Debit Cards: Norwich and Peterborough Building Society - current account (put £500 in a month and use the account five times a month) which allows you to withdraw cash at ATM's or pay tolls without incurring any sort of fee. We use cash for market spending, coffees, and purchases of a smallish value.
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I think there was some mention on MSE of the N&P cards no longer being fee free for new applicants.
There is no indication of that on their 'terms and condtions' where the following paragraph deals with foreign currency withdrawals:
If you carry out a transaction using your Card in a currency other than sterling it will be converted on the date that the amount of the transaction is debited from your Account at the wholesale rate of exchange applied by VISA.
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I think what Kjell means is that the N and P Gold Classic Current Account - which had a debit card which was a top pick on Money Saving Expert for overseas use - is no longer available to new customers . Availability for new customers closed last week on October 5th 2016 but is presumably still OK for pre-existing customers.
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Aah - shame about that, but I'm not suprised to be honest. It's a bit 'too good to be true'.
The same thing happened with our Nationwide Account - but fortunately those who had held an account for a certain period of time carry on receiving the original benefits.
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We have Tesco and Nationwide CC's, Nationwide Debit card and we both hold Caxton FX pre-paid cards. The advantage of Caxton is that you can load it in seconds, withdraw it straight away if needed and the exchange rate is very good, no charges for withdrawing cash and it can be used for buying goods. The only drawback with Caxton is you cannot use it in toll machines and if you use it for the self service fuel pumps it will put on hold the highest amount until the fuel price has been taken, doesn't bother us as we don't use it for either. We have a toll fob and we use CC for fuel purchases. The Caxton is used purely as a fee free method of withdrawing money in any currency anwhere in the world (almost)
Same here AD Caxton linked to Nationwide, quick text money on card
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I've got a Halifax Credit Card bit I only used it a few times last summer. My personal preference is to use the FairFx pre-paid card. It means I know exactly where I stand with money. You load money on to the card from your bank account and it tells you how many Euros you have before you start spending. The pounds are converted to Euros at the time you transfer the money to the card so you know where you stand.
David
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If you have a smartphone take a look at the Revolut card. You need a smartphone to run the app that manages your account. It is a debit card that you load with cash. Zero fees up to £500 per month and converts local currency transactions at interbank rate.
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Forgot to say, with Revolut you can also hold your cash on the card in £ $ or € so if you are clever you can convert when the rate is in your favour then just use the cash you converted.
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We have Tesco and Nationwide CC's, Nationwide Debit card and we both hold Caxton FX pre-paid cards. The advantage of Caxton is that you can load it in seconds, withdraw it straight away if needed and the exchange rate is very good, no charges for withdrawing
cash and it can be used for buying goods. The only drawback with Caxton is you cannot use it in toll machines and if you use it for the self service fuel pumps it will put on hold the highest amount until the fuel price has been taken, doesn't bother us as
we don't use it for either. We have a toll fob and we use CC for fuel purchases. The Caxton is used purely as a fee free method of withdrawing money in any currency anwhere in the world (almost)Same here AD Caxton linked to Nationwide, quick text money on card
TG If you have not used it latlely I am afraid the text option has been replaced with a smartphone App, works very well but it needs internet access.
Of course you are correct AD, OH uses his smart phone to do it
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If you have a smartphone take a look at the Revolut card. You need a smartphone to run the app that manages your account. It is a debit card that you load with cash. Zero fees up to £500 per month and converts local currency transactions at interbank rate.
Sounds very much like the Caxton card, although you can have as much as you want on it, (only covered up to £1000.00) no fees at any time and you can have not just $, £ ,€ but lots of other currencies on it aswell, if you put too much on you can transfer it back to your bank or convert it to another currency. Pretty much the only card you need IMO.
Have also found out another benefit with having a Caxton card is that you can do an International money transfer with them with no fees. Our son has just moved out to Malta to live and work and moving money back and forth is very expensive through Banks £30 a pop with the RBS
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Sounds very much like the Caxton card,
yes there are a whole raft of very simular cards. The Martin Lewis Money web site recommends several. I think the Caxton uses its own exchange rate rather than the "pure" interbank rate but my guess is that this would end up being marginal.
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In February I am going abroad for an extended trip. Which bank cards give best value, bearing in mind all charges?
Hi Biggarmac, Whichever card you choose, do get one which works without problems at automated fuel pumps - which are breeding and spreading more quickly than they are in UK.
We used a UK credit card to fill the tank for a Portuguese family at an unmanned filling station in France. They had a card, which didn't work, and they had cash (which they gave us) but there were no staff to take payment.
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We use a Fair FX card its preloaded with Euro its within mastercard set up we get a better exchange rate and can top via internet banking never had a problem with it anywhere
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We've upgraded to a Nationwide Flexplus account and the debit card with that gives fee- and commission-free ATM withdrawals across Europe (and elsewhere AFAIK). However, it does charge 2% on purchases so we will continue to use our trusty Zero and Clarity
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Another vote for FlexPlus no charge for withdrawals and fairly good rate depending on which withdrawing banks ATM. We have the credit card too 0% on purchases worldwide. Flex charge isn't paid for by interest or cash back like Santander but good value cover.
(Worldwide travel insurance, vehicle breakdown, extended electrical purchase warranty, mobile phone insurance and identify theft help - luckily not had to test them yet although we've always used Brittania by choice and found them great on the odd occasion
we've needed them)0 -
We have a Britline bank account. (Credit Agricole). I transfer money when the exchange rate is OK, use it for fuel, shopping etc.
As it's in Euros there's no need to worry about exchange rates while you're away. When I. Exchange money I get my UK bank commercial exchange rate and pay £10 per transaction to transfer money to the account.
You can now apply online. Very good customer service with English speaking staff .
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We also use a Post office card ( money loaded on it before we leave) . We use this for getting cash out of atm. We use Halifax card for restaurant, shops, tolls etc.
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