Overseas money
What is the best way to take money abroad if you don't want lots of cash?
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well you could use your debit card over there in ATMs, or one of those credit card that don't charge over there then pay it off within internet banking. I have one of those pre-paid cards which again you can top up on line.
PS Can you still get Travellers cheques?
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Put bank card in ATM and money comes out - has worked for us in 18 countries with12 different currencies.
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Yes. We pay with credit cards as far as possible wherever we go - even in Tesco this morning, but in countries like India and Thailand too - and only draw cash as a back up. But ATMs are they only way to get cash these days when travelling outside Europe since travellers cheques died quietly a long time ago.
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Look at Caxton, no charges to withdraw cash, can be used like a credit card, can load via app or website from your UK bank account no other charges (watch out for lots of different potential charges if you don't use some cards etc etc)
Obviously, you pay in the rate but it means you can load at a time that suits you - pointless "waiting for the perfect rate" as no one can predict with any certainty. We load portions before we go to avoid buying it all at once when you don't have a choice about the rate then top up if necessary en route.
For cash, John Lewis has recently been useful and for transfers XE has no charges (other than in the spot rate) when Santander wanted £20 per transfer.
Your views may differ but that works for us.
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Like one putt, we use Halifax Clarity credit cards for both spending and cash as they do not charge any extra fees and we get a decent exchange rate.
We have an account each, set up to make full payment every month, we now use one account for spending and the other for withdrawing cash, which makes it much easier to pay off the cash withdrawals if we wish as, although there is no fee, there is interest changed.
If we are not using much cash we do not bother to repay immediately, just let the monthly DD take care of things as the interest would be very little.
OP, if you go down the credit card route, be sure you understand how paying off cash withdrawals works, it is a little complicated if you are mixing spending and cash, but once you figure out the rules it will be fine.
There are a few banks that do not charge to use your debit card abroad, check out the latest info on Money Saving Expert.
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Yeah another vote for Halifax Clarity Card. Just remember when buying stuff to pay in local currency rather than UK pounds if asked by the cashier, to avoid unfavourable exchange rate
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Sounds as though lots of us have the Halifax Clarity card as its another vote from me. I have a direct debit set up so that the Clarity bill is paid off every month so there is no risk of charges.
Received latest statement today and the rates of exchange used varied between 1.141 and 1.132 euro to £1 while we were in Lanzarote. Pretty fair I think.
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We have always been pleased with using our Halifax Clarity card when in Europe. If you use it for withdrawing cash you will pay a small amount of interest until you pay the bill but I suspect the rate you get more than makes up for that. If you have access to a computer or smart phone/tablet with a banking app you can pay money into the Clarity account a couple of days after withdrawal to reduce the small amount of interest to just pennies.
David
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We have that Halifax card too, although the latest cards from the Tandem bank and the Barclaycard Platinum card even give cash back on overseas spending. MoneySaving Expert.com is always worth reading on this subject.
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We used to have a Norwich & Peterborough current account, and they did not charge transaction fees - the Euro back to GBP was also a good rate. But N&P closed their current account facility around 2 years ago. Since then we have relied solely on buying Euros before hand - trying to guesstimate the best time to buy.
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Halifax Clarity for us, plus an old (no longer available to new customers) account with Nationwide. Both are credit cards which allow fee-free purchases. Then we both have a Metrobank debit card which is fee-free and transaction fee free in Europe. This account can be opened on line, there are no 'minimum number of transactions', minimum amount paid in per month, and no requirement to make it your main current account. We use the debit card for withdrawing small amount of cash, and everything else we purchase with the credit card. The only cash we take is anything left in our wallets at the end of the previous holiday.
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A note of caution for those using Caxton or similar cards when using them for 24/24 pay at the pump fuel purchases. We've just come back from a trip to France ( by car) and noted that the amount being authorized has gone up to 150€! That's about 4 tankfuls for our little skobia!
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We do not have a credit card and as the cost of using a debit card is so high we have, over the years, used a variety of ways to ‘take money’.
First was travellers Cheques, then it was a Caxton card now it is Nationwide Flex Plus. This gives us a debit card which provides free cash withdrawals and we only use the card to pay for things if absolutely necessary.
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We too had a Norwich and Peterborough current account and when we closed it we opened a Metrobank current account which gives the same fee free transactions and in interbank exchange rate. There are no monthly fees for the account. There is also no requirement to make it your main current account, or to pay in a minimum amount or have a certain number of transactions. An account can be opened on line, so for us it is a win-win account!
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If you use a Clarity card you will always get a better deal drawing cash overseas from an ATM than any exchange service and you will find it is very close to interbank rate. About the worst deal I have seen is the forex desk at Eurotunnel. Outrageous rates.
As others have said, you can use a smart phone to pay off the balance a couple of days after withdrawing cash to avoid interest charges. We have set up direct debit on all our cards.
Avoid the trick that many ATMs offer of converting to Sterling. The rate will not be as good as Clarity.
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We have also used Halifax Clarity. The exchange rate is good and, as long as you pay off the balance, no charges. We have Halifax current accounts with on-line banking so we are in total control of what is happening. We believe it is a very good service.
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Another Clarity user, can’t beat it. Also, have the App on iPhone and can make payments from current account. Now in Spain and use them all the time, the wife has one for the food shopping. They work for us.
BillC
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