Spending in Europe (1 Viewer)

Biged

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What the best way to pay for things in Europe, things like Diesel, tolls, site fees etc.

Always taken cash before, but had no site fees then and tolls were for a car and if unmanned then we paid by UK debit card, we also used less fuel than we are likely to with our MH.

We are off to France at the end of March and just wondered what everyone else does :thumb:
 
Sep 16, 2010
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Join N and P building society. Their gold account does not charge for withdrawals abroad and you only need to put £500 in per month...
Mitch.
 
Dec 6, 2011
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we use a Caxton fx card when we shop i.e. Aldi or lidle etc, even the odd restaurant. for tolls we use our credit card. and only carry a small amount of cash at any one time.
you can draw cash from a ATM with the Caxton.

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Last edited:
Dec 6, 2011
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PS. we avoid using anything directly connected to our current account unless theres an absolute must. that way it reduces any risk of access to "your Money":thumb:
 

callumwa

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Halifax Clarity Card, every time.....

.....just search previous posts, best exchange rates, no need to pre load, no fees for purchases.

We spent, spent, spent for 6 weeks in Europe this summer before we even had to pay for a penny of it.....:thumb:

How good is that, just pay off in full each month by automatic Ditect Debit....




 

Bailey58

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Posted on another thread that we applied for a Saga CC for the no foreign transaction fee back in May but got turned down :Angry: so had to use our usual CC and got hit with fees for tolls, diesel and all the usual stuff, probably £40 in all. Applied again by phone at the weekend and got accepted this time but saw the Clarity Card post and got that online instead. Saga can stuff their card when it arrives. It helps if you have a borrowing history in recent years, we don't as we pay our card in full each month and our credit rating was too good as I later discovered on Experian. :Blush:

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Jun 17, 2012
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This year, used Caxton card for cash and got a Post Office C/C
The C/C offers

Pay no fees: on any purchases you make overseas in a foreign currency, even when you’re shopping from home, online or over the phone
Pay no cash feeCash Fee was formerly known as the Cash Advance Fee: when using your Credit Card to buy travel money at the Post Office
Pay 0% interest: on all your purchases for the first three months

Whatever you do, take 2 credit cards from different banks. If 1 is lost or stolen and blocked you have another.
We had a Caxton card each in case as well, (separate accounts).

Draw cash before you run out. We were on an Aire for 2 weeks with market every day in the town. Therefore the only ATM took hammering for ready cash and ran out on Sunday, not replenished until Tuesday.
 

peter marshall

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We use the Co-oP prepaid card just pick it up in the travel agents id required used it everywhere no charges, Atm use also. Pete :thumb:

Ps checkable used amount etc on your computer to show balance.

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Last edited:

Rapide561

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Hi

I use N&P fee free debit card for cash withdrawals and Halifax Clarity credit card for spending. Just a small amount of cash to hand, just in case.

I dumped Caxton as the rates from the two cards above were better -Link Brokenfor my actual rates and results.

There are other fee free debit cards available - Metro Bank is one, Cumberland BS another. There are various fee free credit cards.

Russell
 
Feb 22, 2008
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We use Caxton cash card, back up with bank credit or debit card and some cash :thumb:
 

mariner

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Nov 21, 2013
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Hi

I use N&P fee free debit card for cash withdrawals and Halifax Clarity credit card for spending. Just a small amount of cash to hand, just in case.

I dumped Caxton as the rates from the two cards above were better -Link Brokenfor my actual rates and results.

There are other fee free debit cards available - Metro Bank is one, Cumberland BS another. There are various fee free credit cards.

Russell


N&P is the best and the Halifax Clarity or Nationwide credit card, as backup.

Forget the rest.

Don't just think about charges also think about exchange rates and when you do, you will know that these cards are the only way to go, as things currently stand.

:Smile:

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Snowbird

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Nationwide credit card, set up to pay the balance at end of month for diesel, meals, paeage, campsites etc or anywhere they will take Visa. Caxton FX for drawing cash out of the hole in the wall. Other than that, good old cash.
 

Hymerm60

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Money Card

We used a money card from the post office, you preload it with as many Euros as you want and top up if necc on the internet whilst away, it is not connected to your normal bank account, we used it without trouble this year except for the unattended fuel stations.
::bigsmile:
 

MikeandCarolyn

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For a 3mth trip we will both take €3,000 ::bigsmile: That covers most things,and we use debit card for fuel and expensive restaurant meals.
Can't be doing with getting new cards and learning new passwords etc ::bigsmile:

Mike

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callumwa

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[HI]For a 3mth trip we will both take €3,000 [/HI]::bigsmile: That covers most things,and we use debit card for fuel and expensive restaurant meals.
Can't be doing with getting new cards and learning new passwords etc ::bigsmile:

Mike



So as I read it, you carry €6000 cash at the start of your trip....?:Eeek:


If so you're MAD.....:Doh:


If I read it wrong I'm stupid and sorry........:Blush:


 

JockandRita

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Here's another vote for the N&P Debit card for cash withdrawals, and the NW Credit card for fuel, services, etc. :thumb:

Cheers,

Jock.
 
Jun 22, 2012
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Post Office credit card for as much as possible as exchange rate good and fee free plus Cashpassport from Tescos for withdrawing cash as ATM is free but you do get charged 3eu per month if you dont use it for 6 months. Fairfx exchange rate is better but they do charge a small amount for ATM use, have one of those as well.

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C

Chockswahay

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We used Halifax Clarity for all credit card purchases…………. no fee's at all ::bigsmile:

and FairFX for cash. Didn't want to carry vast sums of cash around so pre loaded the FairFX card with £200 worth of Euro's before we left…………….. after 3 months we still have £23 remaining on it unused.

FairFX do charge €1.50 per cash withdrawal from an ATM so we only withdrew cash twice.

So for €3 we had peace of mind………… worth it for us ::bigsmile:::bigsmile:
 

Allanm

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Mostly cash and keep it in the van safe. Credit card for when we need to pay by card, never stay on sites, we only use aires, and if we can, those that don't charge. Our first week in France in August,, travelling down to Dijon cost us €3 for 6 nights at aires.
Allan
 
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Feb 24, 2013
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A lot of comments on here about 'fee free', although there are some who blatantly make a charge for some aspects of use, the others will surely make it up in lousy exchange rates that you have no control over

Cash is still king for me, never had it refused yet and I know exactly what rate I got, rather than the gamble with what rate your bank decides to use

I don't keep it all in one place, but I do take enough for the whole trip each time, I can tell from above comments that some disagree, but that is the whole point of a forum, if we were all the same what would we discuss, just because we do things differently does not make my way the only way

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magicsurfbus

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The 'Santander Zero' credit card is supposed to be free of exchange fees, but I've rarely been able to get the thing to work across the Channel, even after authorising it for use there.
 
C

Chockswahay

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A lot of comments on here about 'fee free', although there are some who blatantly make a charge for some aspects of use, the others will surely make it up in lousy exchange rates that you have no control over

A valid point indeed. In the case of the Halifax Clarity card it is generally recognised as having the most competitive exchange rate out of all the cards available (called a 'perfect rate'). It will of course only be 'free' if paid in full each month.

Cash? I like it, but unlike a FairFX card or similar the cash is very vulnerable to loss or theft whereas in the case of a prepaid card at least you can limit the liability.

:winky:
 
Jan 19, 2012
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Halifax Clarity every time. Exchange rate is the going rate at the time [the one that banks pay each other - no commission] there's no fee and no charge for cash withdrawals. You pay interest on cash withdrawals from the point you take it out, but if you have internet banking you can replace this almost instantly anyway. I've forgotten what it's like to have to pay for my own money whilst abroad...

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May 23, 2013
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we use a Sainsburys Euro travel card which can be reloaded via Online or internet banking, but also use it to withdrawal Euro cash as we found in Germany no stores accepted chip and pin cards and some tolls in France also were a bit fussy as to accept the card or not.
 

Welsh girl

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The 'Santander Zero' credit card is supposed to be free of exchange fees, but I've rarely been able to get the thing to work across the Channel, even after authorising it for use there.

I have that one, only been refused in the small shops, never big shops or garages.
Never withdraw cash on it though I use the caxton card for that.

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callumwa

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we use a Sainsburys Euro travel card which can be reloaded via Online or internet banking, but also use it to withdrawal Euro cash [HI]as we found in Germany no stores accepted chip and pin cards and some tolls in France also were a bit fussy [/HI]as to accept the card or not.



Halifax Clarity used on our last tour, in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany. Switzerland and Spain, accepted everywhere, fuel pumps, Auto tolls, shops in Germany etc. No problems.

Best exchange rate going, no fees, and nothing to pay for almost 6 weeks after our tour started, just pay it off in full every month with auto DD. No worries......

Even used it in Morocco recently with no problems.....:thumb:
 

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