Travel cards and the exchange rate (1 Viewer)

Charlie

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Having never been a card user in so much as I have not had a credit card for ten years I/we recently got a Post office travel money card.

But I have a couple of questions regarding these cards.

Firstly if I top up at today's rate and buy say 500 euro the 500 euro stays just that irrespective of any exchange rates ? May be a daft question but best to ask.

I've had a wee nose round the net and its predicted the pound will weaken so I'm thinking its prudent to buy a heap of euro as we will use them up no doubt.

How many study form RE the exchange rate and buy when it at a good rate ?

What are peoples opinions on how rates will go ?

Lastly we got our card in haste as we dint even know about them till we got great advice here ! We were going to take a heap of cash euro with us on or first trip a couple of monts ago or rely on a debit card at cash points.. Neither are or were a good idea ! So which card should we look to acquire or should we just stay with the Post Office one we have just now.

Thanks,
 
D

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Firstly if I top up at today's rate and buy say 500 euro the 500 euro stays just that irrespective of any exchange rates ? May be a daft question but best to ask.

Yes. You are buying Euros at the rate on that day and they are held on the card until you spend them.

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Robert Clark

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Cards like the Post Office one are pre paid cards, in that you load them up with Euros and spend them as you go along.
The exchange rate is set at the prevailing rate at the point at which you transfer your funds into the account.
We opted for the Easyjet card originally as Caxton were not accepting new applications. However we are likely to get a Sainsbury bank one as it allows two cards on the one account.
 
D

Deleted member 29692

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The potential problem with a big stack of cash is obvious.

If you want to use your debit card you need to know two things from your bank:

1. What exchange rate are you getting?
2. How much are the transaction fees?

Once you have those answers you can make your own decision about whether or not you want to use it. There are loads of threads about alternatives so just have a search.

For what it's worth I have Caxton and UKash currency cards for ATM withdrawals and a Halifax Clarity credit card for purchases, tolls and fuel.

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Jul 1, 2010
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Presently into our 6 th week in France, on recomendations of fellow funsters we got a Caxton card 2 years ago it's brilliant for everything except automated Toll booths on Paeges or fully auto non manned garages then you need a credit card. Again on the advice of funsters we took out a Halifax Clarity Card one of the best about and as recommended by Martin Lewis the money guy. We also carry euros stashed in several hidey holes around the van. Absolute peace of mind and we are covered for all contingencies. Caxton can be topped up online in seconds.
 

lou020

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I also use the caxton, never had a problem with it. Also we use the halifax clarity credit card or santander zero credit card for abroad only.
I never use my santander debit card as it charges twice.
I thought the post office travel card charges when you use it.

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Charlie

Charlie

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Why not ?
For 30 yrs we've been taking cash and our debit cards-never had a problem.

I tried my debit card at a supermarket just to establish it worked fine. We were only picking up a few groceries.. TSB charged just over £5 for the privilege. Only bought fifteen quids worth of stuff !!!! Bobbing rastards....
 

tonka

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Another vote for Caxton. Only had it for a year and working fine for us.
One thing to note.. Some / most of these cards are not covered by the bank / government guarantee. So if you load up to much and they go bump you could loose it all.!!
 
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Charlie

Charlie

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I also use the caxton, never had a problem with it. Also we use the halifax clarity credit card or santander zero credit card for abroad only.
I never use my santander debit card as it charges twice.
I thought the post office travel card charges when you use it.

PO travel card makes no charges for using the card. Each transaction we did only the sum spent was deducted.

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Charlie

Charlie

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Another vote for Caxton. Only had it for a year and working fine for us.
One thing to note.. Some / most of these cards are not covered by the bank / government guarantee. So if you load up to much and they go bump you could loose it all.!!

If the Post a Office goes bump we really are in trouble ...
 
Jul 1, 2010
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For info you do not have to be a Halifax customer to apply for a Clarity card and there are no charges when you don't use it nor is their a charge to apply for one. It is a credit card.

Similarly the Caxton card is free to apply in that you are required to pay a small admin fee to set it up this is refunded onto your Card in euros the first time you top it up. A big advantage of this card is being able to top it up when rate is favourable.
 
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Charlie

Charlie

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For info you do not have to be a Halifax customer to apply for a Clarity card and there are no charges when you don't use it nor is their a charge to apply for one. It is a credit card.

Similarly the Caxton card is free to apply in that you are required to pay a small admin fee to set it up this is refunded onto your Card in euros the first time you top it up. A big advantage of this card is being able to top it up when rate is favourable.

Thanks... But I don't want a credit card.. The pre load card suits us just fine.

Is is/has the MasterCard symbol on it and worked fine on the Toll roads we used..

Part of my question is how people judge the predictability of the exchange rate ? Where do we look for reliable ... Well as reliable as it can be predictions on which way the rates are likely to go ?

It seems from what I have read is the pound will weaken so I'm thinking about bunging a lump onto the card.. I mean it earns bugger all in the TSB after all.
 
Jul 1, 2010
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The way rates are going down I would go for it we just have this evening.

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DBK

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I used to have a post office card but the exchange rate was poor. I then got a Caxton card but I've never used it as I then got a Brittany Ferries cash card and I used that in France recently. Unfortunately, it isn't recognised as a French account which I had hoped it might and at one aire we used we didn't have a card which worked, but this only happened once.

I also use a Barclay's visa debit card to take money directly out of my account. This does not attract any fees but it is important to remember if the ATM asks you at the end of the transaction if you want to be charged in pounds or Euros you must choose Euros. If you choose pounds the owner of the ATM will use their own exchange rate. Choose Euros and you will get the visa/MasterCard rate which will be better.
 

Minxy

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We have the following:

Cash Cards
  • Caxton - no charge for ATM withdrawals; minimum top-up is £100/€150

  • FairFX - charges €1.50 for each ATM withdrawal and 50p for each top-up or balance request via text; minimum to-up is £50/€60 [due to the ATM fee and text fees we're going to stop using this one]

  • Ukash - no charge for ATM withdrawals; can only be topped-up on line; minimum top-up is £50/€60

  • Revolut - no charge for ATM withdrawals; you use a mobile phone app to top-up and can hold funds in more than one currency; no minimum top-up and if you apply via the moneysavingexpert website there's a free £5 credit when you top-up for the first time with £10 or more - we've only just got these so haven't had a chance to use the cards yet but the benefit is being able to have balances in different currencies so we can use it to spend £ here, or € in Euroland - the app is extremely easy to use.

Credit Cards
- both are fee free for purchases abroad.
  • Nationwide (not available to new customers now though)
  • Halifax Clarity
 
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Charlie

Charlie

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I think the card we have is pretty fair.. The rate may not be the best down to the split percentage point but it's competitive ..
Anyway I dumped a lump of coin onto it last night as the predictions are the rate will reduce and the money is earning nowt in the bank..

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Welsh girl

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We have a Santander zero credit card which we use for food, fuel and aires.
You can't get into some aires without a credit card.
We use the Caxton card for getting cash out of the wall. Never top up by more than a hundred, the minimum allowed. I don't carry much cash, ever.
 
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Charlie

Charlie

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The
We have a Santander zero credit card which we use for food, fuel and aires.
You can't get into some aires without a credit card.
We use the Caxton card for getting cash out of the wall. Never top up by more than a hundred, the minimum allowed. I don't carry much cash, ever.
The Post Office card is or has the same useability as a credit card . Difference being it's pre loaded with money before we travel .
My question was about when to buy our Euro . With a normal credit card you pay at the exchange rate on the day you use the card. So no chance of getting the advantages of the current good rates which it seems are not to last much longer.

Some cards give this and take that and so on. All have charges somewhere but none of that part is relevant to the exchange rates..
 

Minxy

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A cash pre-load card allows you to 'buy' euros at the rate at the time of purchase, so if the rate is good then that could be the time to buy (subject to the risks etc involved if the cash is not 'protected') and this can be done at any time in advance; a credit card on the other hand gives the rate on the day of the transaction, not in advance, so if the rate has dropped you could end up paying more in £ for the same amount of euros.

I checked on our credit card transaction from our last holiday and found that at one point in Italy we got an exchange rate of €1.42 !!

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It is impossible to predict when the exchange rate will move up or down. Do not put your energy into something you have no control over, you will be wasting your time. A few on here may suggest waiting or buying now but it's just a guess and one or two experts will tell you exactly what to do and why and much of it will be coming out of their arse.
Presently, the rate is around 1.32 which is good IMO. I loaded up earlier this year at 1.40 but now that the Greek crisis has been resolved not sure if we will see that again soon.
1.32 is a good rate, I would advise you to load your card now as it could fall further. It's all a bit of a gamble.
 

Judge Mental

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Oops! did not see this..opened a new thread re new card

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