Mytravelcash has gone, so what's the best way for cash in Europe now? (1 Viewer)

[Theonlysue]

I thought you can check out yourcaxton balance on the internet free?

 

[Kevan]

Minefield int it, favourites seem to be revolut and Halifax .
No mention of Caxton , that always used to be the one mentioned.
I'm moving towards cash but it's a lot to be carrying about, need some sort of backup.

More cash

 

[berni109]

A little building society Norwich and Peterborough debit card. Zero charges on all purchases and cash and the exchange rate on the day.

Yep commercial rate for cash withdrawals with n&p. and Halifax an NW credit cards no charges on purchases.

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[Steve101uk]

I thought you can check out yourcaxton balance on the internet free?

yes you can but they charge if you check on an ATM in the UK

 

[Our Bumble]

We use the Caxton card. Allows us to have two cards linked to one account. As well as Euro's you can use for all other currencies too, a great help when doing northern europe.

 

[MitchandJenny]

N and P credit card and Santander Zero debit card as a backup.
But I do take 4 or 500€ for convenience.
Mitch.

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[DigglyDog]

Right looking at this clarity card , very interested, but just one point I'd like to clear up, now I have a tesco cc, and on this if I pay it off all on time, I don't pay any interest at all,apart from cash withdrawals, but if I use it in France I have charges and interest but this clarity one says although there's no charge on cash withdrawals or usage there is interest , do you have to pay this interest even if you pay off in full on time.

No - pay it off in time and it is indeed free. Just watch you leave enough time for funds to clear though. I set mine unto automatically clear full balance each month, but over a holiday it failed to be delivered on time.
Fortunately as the payment was through their sister back Lloyds, they did reimburse me..

 

[Huwmari]

We have an ICE travelcash card, pre-loaded with euros and Santander and Nationwide zero credit cards which make no charge for paying in euros.

 

[themogs]

Always get my cash (albeit not a lot !!) from the missus.
I'm not allowed to have cards !!

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[Badknee]

Halifax Clarity credit card for us with a Caxton pre paid for back up...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards#halifax

Pete

Wot PJ sed.

 

[pjay]

..and don't forget to phone Halifax to let them know when you're going abroad.

Pete

 

[Minxy]

Just to clarify some confusion/different comments, if you get cash out of an ATM with a credit card you WILL pay interest on the cash amount until the monthly credit card bill is paid off in full, some cards may also levy a charge for cash withdrawals too (commission, admin fee etc).

The only way around this is to 'top up' your credit card account in advance so it is has a 'money credit' balance and you won't be charged interest as it's your 'own' money you're drawing out at an ATM (ie not a 'loan' which is basically what a credit card is when you have a negative balance!), note that purchases with the card don't affect this 'money credit' balance so long as it is paid off in full each month.

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[pjay]

Don't know about other cards but you're not supposed to load or go into credit on the Clarity card although I think it is possible to do it online when you settle a bill manually. I wonder if they check?

Taken from Clarity card FAQ's....

"Can I put money on my card to increase my available credit whilst on holiday?

Credit cards are not designed to be used this way. Using the card in this way breaches the product's Terms & Conditions, which state:

B7.3 Payment amount
You must make at least the minimum payment by the payment due date if there is a balance payable to us on your statement. You can always pay more than the minimum payment at any time, including repaying everything you owe.

You must not pay us more than you owe when you make payments to your account, or transfer funds from another credit or store card if this creates a credit balance on your account. If there is a credit balance on your account at any time, we may apply it to any recent transactions not yet shown on your account, or to transactions made after the date your account goes into credit. We may also return any credit balance to the account from which the money has been sent or pay the funds into a deposit account you hold with us. We do not pay interest on any credit balances or take them into account for the purpose of any reward schemes."

Pete

 

[Minxy]

Don't know about other cards but you're not supposed to load or go into credit on the Clarity card although I think it is possible to do it online when you settle a bill manually. I wonder if they check?

Yes I know you're not supposed to but there are some funsters who HAVE done this with no problems, IMV so long as you don't 'overload' it with credit then I can't see why they'd bother.

We have a Clarity, Nationwide and now Aqua (pays cashback) cards for purchases and use a Revolute or FairFX card for cash - always better to have 2 different ones for each type of transaction in case there's a problem with one and you can't use it any more.

 

[Reallyretired]

I use a Caxton card for cash withdrawal but was paying a charge on purchases.
I have now applied for and been granted a Clarity card. Only took afew minutes and they doubled the credit limit I asked for.

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[chaser]

We went for clarity, and had no regrets whatever, works everywhere, and there is absolutely no charges whatever, we draw cash out with it and get far better rates than advertised on any money thing, and once again , NO charges, apart from a small amount of interest, we drew out approx £1000 in a month, and ended up paying about £1.50 interest.

 

[Khizzie]

Halifax Clarity credit card for us with a Caxton pre paid for back up...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards#halifax

Pete

Same as this

 

[Viennese]

Same as this

Me too!

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[MannClan]

today I took out a Tesco prepaid card (2 in fact) no standing charges on the account. its a MasterCard so should be good everywhere. apparently if you leave money in it and do not use it for a year there is a 2.00 per month charge - don't think that will effect us.
also there is the usual charge for using an ATM £1.75 per withdrawal - I will get around that by asking for cash back when we purchase anything with it.

 

[chaser]

today I took out a Tesco prepaid card (2 in fact) no standing charges on the account. its a MasterCard so should be good everywhere. apparently if you leave money in it and do not use it for a year there is a 2.00 per month charge - don't think that will effect us.
also there is the usual charge for using an ATM £1.75 per withdrawal - I will get around that by asking for cash back when we purchase anything with it.

Sorry, but why, do you get points on it or something, clarity, is MasterCard , no charges whatsoever ever, no upfront paying out, don't understand the benefits of these Tesco cards.

 

[chaser]

today I took out a Tesco prepaid card (2 in fact) no standing charges on the account. its a MasterCard so should be good everywhere. apparently if you leave money in it and do not use it for a year there is a 2.00 per month charge - don't think that will effect us.
also there is the usual charge for using an ATM £1.75 per withdrawal - I will get around that by asking for cash back when we purchase anything with it.

Can you in fact get cash back on a prepaid card?

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[Robert Clark]

Can you in fact get cash back on a prepaid card?

We withdraw cash on our Revolut card

Edit
Just read the previous post
Ignore my ramblings

 

[MannClan]

maybe I am missing something but isn't the clarity card a credit card ??? Khizzie's link above leads to this...
Need-to-knows

• There's no fee for cash withdrawals, yet you'll be charged interest at 18.9% representative APR even if you pay it off in full. So it works out at about £1.50/month for each £100 withdrawn (if you get this APR).
• You can minimise this cost: you're only charged interest until you've fully repaid the balance, so if you pay off the withdrawal amount as soon as you can (via internet banking while abroad, or when you get home) you can minimise interest.
• You don't get charged interest on spending abroad, provided you pay this off in full by the date shown on your statement. .............

We don't want a credit card - all we need is a prepaid card - without the 18.9% rep APR or whatever else it charges if you don't pay it off in full.
yes you can get cash back - so I was informed by the Tesco finance people and as far as I am aware there are no points available - should you need them !!

 

[Reallyretired]

Interestingly the interest rate on the Clarity card can vary according to credit rating. The standard is around 16-18% though can go as high as 25%. Mine was stated at 12.3% so I must be a good risk. Ive set it up to pay off the full bill every month anyway so its a bit academic.

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[MrsMac59]

We use a pre-loaded Caxton both to withdraw cash and use in shops which we have been able to do without attracting fees while abroad. Because we live in Spain for six months each year we also have a Spanish bank account and I'm looking at Transferwise or similar peer to peer service when I want to top that up.

 

[The Wino]

Halifax Clarity credit card for us with a Caxton pre paid for back up...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards#halifax

Pete

Same for us

 

[JockandRita]

Existing N&P customers (part of the YBS) will be aware that YBS are closing down current accounts, thereby forcing customers to seek banking elsewhere. As a result, we will have lost our fee free DC facility across the EU.

So, what we have decided to do, is to transfer everything across to our Nationwide bank account, and use their Select CC for fee free purchases worldwide. In May, we'll open 3 x Metro current accounts ( 1 x joint, 2 x single), as their DC can be used for fee free cash withdrawals across the EU. Although our nearest branch of the Metro Bank is forty miles away in Cambridge, once opened, the accounts can be operated by phone, or online, and their fees for cash withdrawals outside the EU, are less than they would be, if we used our Nationwide DC.

Whilst we have the use of fee free DCs and CCs, we feel we won't need to use pre-paid cards.

Cheers,

Jock.

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[chaser]

maybe I am missing something but isn't the clarity card a credit card ??? Khizzie's link above leads to this...
Need-to-knows

• There's no fee for cash withdrawals, yet you'll be charged interest at 18.9% representative APR even if you pay it off in full. So it works out at about £1.50/month for each £100 withdrawn (if you get this APR).
• You can minimise this cost: you're only charged interest until you've fully repaid the balance, so if you pay off the withdrawal amount as soon as you can (via internet banking while abroad, or when you get home) you can minimise interest.
• You don't get charged interest on spending abroad, provided you pay this off in full by the date shown on your statement. .............

We don't want a credit card - all we need is a prepaid card - without the 18.9% rep APR or whatever else it charges if you don't pay it off in full.
yes you can get cash back - so I was informed by the Tesco finance people and as far as I am aware there are no points available - should you need them !!

Clarity is a credit card yes, but there is absolutely no charges anywhere, so you may pay a bit of interest, but you are not losing the interest on the money you have uploaded in to a prepaid card and you have your money for two months till you pay it off, prepaid, might sit there for a year doing nothing, and don't know how you worked the interest out, as I said in an earlier post we drew about a grand out and ended up paying less than two pounds interest. If you pay it off regular , some of the money might only be a couple of days interest.

 

[JJ]

I'm looking at Transferwise or similar peer to peer service when I want to top that up.

Check out using CurrencyFair for peer to peer money transfer.

I have used it for quite some time now.

Indeed, if I introduce anyone and they choose to use them, they pat us on the back and give us some money as a thank you.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...WJvdhc5WESGBVoCsQ&sig2=peblf2e1qjtYz_eCkb-MZw

JJ

Transfer money on CurrencyFair and get €45 free!
https://www.currencyfair.com?channe...ource=MOBILE_ANDROID&utm_campaign=sharebutton

 

[Shrimp]

We both use REVOLUT, and have been using it for a couple of years now.
You can get money out of ATM's, pay with it in shops and pay for fuel/gas as long as you use the kiosk, the only way you can't use it is in automated fuel/gas pumps.
You can send people, in your contacts, money will work with whatever currency you need.
App on your phone acts like a bank then you have a card, app will let you stop or start the card-in case you loose it-app also holds your pin so you can remind yourself. All secure behind a fingerprint or passcode.

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