taking money abroad (1 Viewer)

Clive17

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Hi can anyone tell us the best way to take money to Spain as we are going for 3 months in December i.e travellers cheques?

thanks

Clive
 
Aug 27, 2009
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Hi can anyone tell us the best way to take money to Spain as we are going for 3 months in December i.e travellers cheques?

thanks

Clive
Edge your bets cards cash and T cheques if you think you will need them. I would just take a debit and credit card with some cash. You will have to look around for the best deals.
 

scotjimland

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Forget travellers cheques.. you lose at both ends.. and they are a pain to cash in..

I've only ever used my bank debit card .. lifting cash only for pocket money .. everything else on the card.. never had a problem.
 

Brisey

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A small amount of cash and a loaded Caxton Card works well for us. We had no problems using the Caxton Card in Spain last year. We used it to pay for shopping, fuel and campsite fee's.

Brisey.
 
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We take

Caxton cards, which can be topped up, and 'no foreign fee' credit cards. Mine is a Halifax Clarity card.

Catherine

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icantremember

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Credit / debit cards, a small amount of local currency and a Caxton preload card .... the only problem I find is that the Caxton is not accepted at most French auto tolls or at unattended fuel stations where you put your card into the pump.
 

keith

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Forgive my ignorance..


but what 's the benefit of a Caxton card over a Bank Debit Card ?

Isn't it the fact that Caxton card don't charge you for using ATM's, whereas bank debit cards do have some charge, either by a fee or an exchange rate penalty?

Gone are the heady days of Nationwide fee free cards at international exchange rates. :cry:

Unless you live "up North" and can get a Cumberland B S bank card, they don't charge us or massage the exchange rate. :thumb:

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WynandJean

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Another vote for Caxton from us. :thumb:

Simple, straightforward and no charges.

Wyn
 

Chris

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Thing is with Caxton and similar they might not make a charge but they offer lower exchange rates than most high street banks in my experience.

The benefits are therefore marginal I suspect.
 

Pikey Pete

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The Norwich and Peterborough B.Soc. ( part of Yorkshire B.Soc.) offer a charge free DD card, which uses the latest Bank Exchange rate, if you pay in at least £500pm or keep a min. balance of £3k.

They have a full Internet Banking.


Pete:Cool:

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scotjimland

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Isn't it the fact that Caxton card don't charge you for using ATM's, whereas bank debit cards do have some charge, either by a fee or an exchange rate penalty?

Gone are the heady days of Nationwide fee free cards at international exchange rates. :cry:

Unless you live "up North" and can get a Cumberland B S bank card, they don't charge us or massage the exchange rate. :thumb:

Honestly I can't recall Keith .. but while travelling in France and Spain for more than two years I only used the Coop Bank Debit card and lifted Euros for pocket money ..

I like to keep things simple.. I'm sure Caxton don't do it for nothing
 
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Thing is with Caxton and similar they might not make a charge but they offer lower exchange rates than most high street banks in my experience.

The benefits are therefore marginal I suspect.
I was going to ask who pays for the service, you have probably answered that.
 

Jaws

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A little cash and a Post Office credit card is the way we go.. No charges for transactions outside the UK

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keith

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A little cash and a Post Office credit card is the way we go.. No charges for transactions outside the UK

Never been very impressed with the P O, their exchange rates over the counter are very poor, so are they any better if you have a card from them?

Caxton today are exchanging at €1.2160 to the £, so that's how they get their money as at present it is €1.2448
 

Chris

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Never been very impressed with the P O, their exchange rates over the counter are very poor, so are they any better if you have a card from them?

[HI]Caxton today are exchanging at €1.2160 to the £, so that's how they get their money as at present it is €1.2448[/HI]

That's the point I was making. Whats that about 2% less?

As i said earlier Caxton v debit card is pretty marginal.
 
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Three weeks ago (after visiting Money Saving Expert to check out best rates) I ordered £250 in Euros from HSBC online. I think they gave me 1.22 to the pound which was the best on offer at the time (for such a small amount). I also took a Halifax Clarity and that was all.

I did get a Caxton card back in February for my skiing trip but tbh I get easily confused with too many choices. I did bring it with me (unloaded) in case I needed it in an emergency as the beauty of it is you can top up anytime with your mobile. :Smile:

I was under the impression that normal debit cards charged you a fee from withdrawing cash abroad and a conversion fee when used in payment.

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scotjimland

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I was under the impression that normal debit cards charged you a fee from withdrawing cash abroad and a conversion fee when used in payment.

prompted me to check what the Coop charge

Q:
What's the charge for withdrawing cash from abroad?

A:
We currently charge a 2.75% conversion fee, plus 2.5% or £3.00. From 1st July we will charge a 2.75% conversion fee, plus 3% or £3.00 whichever is the minimum cash advance fee.

Q: Do I get charged for using my card abroad?

A:
For using your card to buy things in shops while you're overseas, there's a 2.75% commission charge on every purchase. This is for converting the foreign amount into pounds, and it'll be included in the total transaction when it shows on your statement.

When you use your card to buy currency or travellers cheques, or to draw money from a cash machine abroad, you'll also be charged 2% of the amount withdrawn (minimum 2 pounds) for each transaction you make. These charges will show separately on your statement as 'Visa charge'.
 

Snowbird

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I used to carry cash in sterling since the Nationwide stopped doing free withdrawals at ATMs. But for sometime now have used the Nationwide credit card for purchases such as fuel and provisions as they give a good rate and no charges as long as you pay the bill in full at months end, which I have set up by DD. I also have a pre loaded Caxton card for Europe which I load through the year when the exchange rate is good and a Caxton Worldwide pre load card for when am outside of Europe. I only use the Caxton for drawing cash abroad from ATMs, this way I don't have to pay for the privilege of spending my own money.
 

pappajohn

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unless things have changed, Santander don't charge for using their machines in Spain, if you have a santander account of course.

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Trouble is that a 'free' service sometimes disappears. We had a 'no charge' Nationwide account for a year and then they changed it so that it wasn't free any more. We are currently opening a bank account abroad (in euros) so we won't be doing any converting except when we put money into it.
 

Snowbird

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One more problem I encountered in Spain last year was that outside Benidorm banks would not change Sterling cash into Euros unless you have a Spanish bank account.
I have never had this problem before......Is it something new ?.
 

vwalan

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just go abit further away from benidorm and they will. benidorm isnt spain its a british enclave in spain .
torrox is a german enclave in spain .
personally never had a problem .
must be my good looks dave .ha ha .

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Snowbird

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just go abit further away from benidorm and they will. benidorm isnt spain its a british enclave in spain .
torrox is a german enclave in spain .
personally never had a problem .
must be my good looks dave .ha ha .
I trudged round all the banks in Murcia last year and none would change Sterling. I tried to change some in Bolneuvo and got the same result. Each one said "Only in Benidorm now"
 

lou020

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Caxton card for me. my santander debit card charges twice for every transaction, don't know about spain but does in france,belgium,italy,germany,swiss

sorry if the writing is small, but it wont let me alter it.::::::Eeek::whatthe:
cheers Louis

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Minxy

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Nationwide credit card for purchasing stuff in shops, fuel etc.

Caxton card for 'cash' - we load it up when the rate is good shortly before we're due to go away and then use that to withdraw cash from ATMs when we need it. The advantage is that we don't have to carry lots of cash around and can top it up as and when the need arises by sending a simple text. The other benefit is that as we don't usually put lots of cash on it at any one time, if the worst happens and we have it stolen or lose it, we haven't lost a lot and no one can use it to obtain more cash than is stored in our Caxton card account.

Debit cards generally are a no-no abroad as you get charged for using them and most credit cards are the same. Also if you use a debit or credit card to get cash out of an ATM quite apart from the initial charges made for doing so, you will also be charged interest from the day you withdraw the cash, so if you do it at the start of the card's 'month' with quite a bill!
 
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Forgive my ignorance..


but what 's the benefit of a Caxton card over a Bank Debit Card ?

NON..except they have your money till you decide to spend it and they give a slightly lower rate than Nationwide.
We travelled 3 months around Europe, several countries - Euros, Swiss Francs, Croatian Kuna - only ever used Nationwide debit card to draw local currency from cash machine and Nationwide Credit card to pay for fuel, camp sites, shopping & restaurants. Always got a good rate from Nationwide which made up for having to pay £1 per withdrawal on the debit card (no charge for credit card)
Had 100E on a Caxton card as an emergency but never used it, withdrew money from cash machine before we came home.
 
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Debit cards generally are a no-no abroad as you get charged for using them and most credit cards are the same. Also if you use a debit or credit card to get cash out of an ATM quite apart from the initial charges made for doing so, you will also be charged interest from the day you withdraw the cash, so if you do it at the start of the card's 'month' with quite a bill!
Never use a credit card to draw cash from a cash machine as you will pay a lot in charges however a Nationwide credit card is very good to use to pay for purchases (fuel,food,campsites etc..) as you don't pay charges and get a good exchange rate.

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