Credit card use in France (1 Viewer)

Movinon

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I have acquired a Barclaycard since I last travelled in France and am planning to use this for fuel and aires/campsites in France when necessary. As I need to know this is OK before I travel, has anyone had a Barclaycard rejected for such use?
 

laneside

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We have never had a problem with Barclaycard in France but I am afraid you will not get very far paying for aires without euros
 
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Movinon

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Thank you Laneside. Paying with euros is not a problem - I am more concerned about access to aires which are card operated

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nelly

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We encountered several aires that had been changed to card only payment this summer. We did not have a problem using our card but it was not Barclaycard but i am sure that would be fine

Nelly
 

Ivory55

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We was going to get a Caxton card, filled in all on line. Then got an email saying they need passport and utility bills. I am the one giving them money ! So have given it a miss and hope our credit cards work in France at aires etc.
 

laneside

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Sorry you are quite correct I forgot we came across a couple of aires earlier this year with new barrier entry or in some cases barrier exit where it was pay by card and yes our Barclaycard worked

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peter marshall

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We got a Cash Card from the Co.op travel, loaded up with Euro's no charge when used also it comes of at the same rate as going on, there are others as well, we used it in Portugal Spain & France with no prob's. Pete

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Mack100

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We was going to get a Caxton card, filled in all on line. Then got an email saying they need passport and utility bills. I am the one giving them money ! So have given it a miss and hope our credit cards work in France at aires etc.
Why blame Caxton, it's probably more to do with money laundering regulations?

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Feb 16, 2013
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We was going to get a Caxton card, filled in all on line. Then got an email saying they need passport and utility bills. I am the one giving them money ! So have given it a miss and hope our credit cards work in France at aires etc.
We have http://www.mytravelcash.com/LANDING...repaid-card/?refcode=msmwstd0013&offer=mtcftd
Can't remember them wanting passport or anything, and if you sign up now they give you an extra £12, not as good rate as Caxton but you get one per cent back on all uses , some tolls and auto petrol pumps won't take it but otherwise no probs

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Nov 6, 2013
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I have acquired a Barclaycard since I last travelled in France and am planning to use this for fuel and aires/campsites in France when necessary. As I need to know this is OK before I travel, has anyone had a Barclaycard rejected for such use?

In my limited experience of French campsites, they like the feel of cash.
Barclaycard will be fine at petrol stations, supermarkets etc, but let Barclaycard know you intend to use it outside of the UK and approx dates.
 
Oct 29, 2013
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Also be aware that if you use the card at unmanned fuel stations they will probably earmark a substantial amount on your card irrespective of how much you spend - this will reduce the amount of available credit you have on the card till the transaction is processed by the card issuer and the true amount debited ( could be 2+ days)
 

Goronwy

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Best credit card to use in Europe is Halifax Clarity card,no charges for using it, also consider getting Fair FX card which you can preload,I use FairFX for all purchases at motorway and other fuel stations,for security reasons.

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Feb 16, 2013
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Best credit card to use in Europe is Halifax Clarity card,no charges for using it, also consider getting Fair FX card which you can preload,I use FairFX for all purchases at motorway and other fuel stations,for security reasons.
Heard this many times but do you have to have another Halifax account or something to get one as they never show up on here Broken Link Removed
 

Goronwy

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I found out about clarity card and Fair FX through Martin Lewis Moneysaving expert .com.
You don't need to have an account with Halifax to get Clarity card.

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lou020

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Used Caxton all over Europe for the last 3 years with no problem, including aires, in fact I wouldn't be without it now.
Same here,wouldn't be without it,,,,but it won't work in unmanned 24h fuel stations or toll booths, I use Santander zero card for them, no charges whatsoever..
 
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I have acquired a Barclaycard since I last travelled in France and am planning to use this for fuel and aires/campsites in France when necessary. As I need to know this is OK before I travel, has anyone had a Barclaycard rejected for such use?

Every single time you use Barclaycard in Europe you will pay a foreign transaction charge for each transaction which will be about £1 plus you will get a poor conversion rate. After a holiday you would be astounded to find out the total of these charges, depending on the length of your trip will depend on what you pay but suppose you use the card twice a day for 14days - £28.00. plus the markup because of the poor exchange rate.

Best advice is don't use any credit card unless you have to. Get a debit card that does not charge for foreign transactions and gives a decent exchange rate (N&P come to mind).

Our first long trip was for three months which cost us dear, several hundred pounds in charges and, so now we use N&P's debit card for all transactions. No fees for purchases to ATM withdrawals whatsoever.

I would read your terms and conditions on Barclaycard vary carefully.

If you didn't have the money available up front, rather than use the Barclaycard, for transactions abroad you could take a cash advance/transfer to your UK bank account. (Providing its an account that does not charge a forieign transaction fee).There would only be one transfer fee, £3% I believe and you would pay not interest n the advance for I think 12 months. On the other hand you could request an arranged overdraft from you non fee changing UK account which would be cheaper than Barclaycard.

Whatever you do, have a great time.
 
Jun 22, 2012
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Post office credit card is also good. I took out a Caxton card about 6 months ago and did not have to provide pasport or utility bills so it must have changed recently. Travelex from tescos did want to see photo id each time you load up. Also have a fairfx card which is better than caxton on exchange rates except if you are drawing out smaller amounts of cash frequently.
Best to use a proper credit card like clarity or postoffice at petrol pumps.

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Jun 26, 2012
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We use a post office credit card when abroad for fuel etc they don't charge you anything for using it
 
Oct 20, 2010
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We use the Nationwide credit card with no fees and a good exchange rate, and for cash we use the N&P debit card also no fees and a good rate. (y)
Have experienced problems using the 24 hr petrol pumps on Sundays, so make sure you are full if traveling over the weekend. :)
 
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We use Post Office Credit Card no extra charge. Also use our Debit Card as they don't charge extra either, you also get a good exchange rates. Occasionally some 24 supermarkets will not take one of the cards but usually take the other, if non are accepted we just move on to the next supermarket but that has only happened a couple of times and it may have been that particular pump that was at fault and not the cards.

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7

7735

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Best credit card to use in Europe is Halifax Clarity card,no charges for using it, also consider getting Fair FX card which you can preload,I use FairFX for all purchases at motorway and other fuel stations,for security reasons.

We have a FairFX card and have had it refused at self service filling stations, also Halifax debit card has been rejected. My barclaycard has been no problem, a lot of filling stations in France are now self service.

spongy
 
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One thing no one has commented on is the security of a pre paid card, if you lose it or get it stolen you only stand to lose what is on it, if you use a bank card to your bank account the person who gets it has all your bank details which would meen changeing all your bank stuff or lose a lot more out of your bank.
 

snowdrops

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We too have gone with the Halifax Clarity, looks good. Will see if it goes smoothly when we go in a few weeks.

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littlehouse

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currently in paris and have been asked in several times in Monoprix supermarkets for passport details to be able to use credit card. no longer using these supermarkets, no problem anywhere else.
 
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Movinon

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Thank you all for your response. I'm a folding-money sort of fellow and using a credit card would only be as a last resort but I thought I'd try and find out whether my Barclaycard - much hated by Paypal - would be sufficient if necessary. I did look at cashcards but what seemed to be a simple transaction - I give them money and they give me a card with the money credited - became bogged down by demands to set up an online account and undergo ID checks.
 

Biged

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I got a Halifax Clarity card earlier this year because of the many recommendations, they are fussy who they give it to but i had no problems. Could not fault it on our 3 weeks in France, fuel, tolls, site fees, everything.
I did set it up to pay all the bill by direct debit every month, mostly because it was going to be due while we were away, worked like a charm

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