France, Belgium and Germany , cash vs card?

[Jake Royd]

Were off to the countries above in a couple of weeks , mainly France.
Just been for a non motorhome holiday in Italy and we were caught out a bit by having loaded Revolut cards and not much cash.
It seemed that there was not the progress towards cards and contactless at the small business level there as there is here in the UK.

Would any kind forumites please advise for France but also Belgium and Germany (mainly the Mosel area)

 

[Kirsten]

Use cards all the time in France.
German ‘aires‘ needed cash in the main - which was tricky as coins only in most of them . Big shops and petrol stations ok for cards but smaller ones not so technically enabled as uk.

 

[Carpmart]

Card

 

[Crazylegs]

We are frequent visitors to the Moselle usually in September. We have learned through embarrassing attempts to pay bills by card in rural Germany that it doesn’t always work. We now always have some euro’s for those occasions.

 

[Gaston aires]

Revolut card but euros in cash as well. Why not ? They all use the same currency.
Phil

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[TDub49]

Starling debit card has worked well for us.

 

[Carpmart]

Starling debit card has worked well for us.

Except Spanish toll roads for us… elsewhere absolutely perfect.

 

[Stealaway]

Halifax Clarity card - No charges and daily bank rate exchange.
100€ in cash for paying for bits - You can always get more from the cash machines at no charge

 

[orridge]

Belgium most places accept cards but the cheaper supermarket chains like Okay do not. Larger supermarkets DeHaize, carrefour etc are all fine for cards.

 

[The Wino]

Halifax Clarity card - No charges and daily bank rate exchange.
100€ in cash for paying for bits - You can always get more from the cash machines at no charge

I thought if you used the halifax card to get cash out it's quite expensive?

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[bladerunner]

Cards

I find the post office exchange card good. I load it up when the £ is strong (yeh right!) and it works contactless fine.

 

[Langtoftlad]

I thought if you used the halifax card to get cash out it's quite expensive?

If you use any card in an ATM abroad, you'll be charged interest from day one as it's a "cash advance" so isn't covered by the no fee, no commission, best rates offered by Halifax Clarity, Santander Zero, Starling or any of the others..

The way to counteract this is to make an adhoc payment equalling what you've just taken out from the hole in the wall.

Of course the ATM host bank might charge a fee too.

So you're right, it's quite expensive in comparison to 'spending' on a card but probably cheaper than taking a handful of £££ and converting them into €€ at a travel money kiosk.

 

[ChrisL]

I thought if you used the halifax card to get cash out it's quite expensive?

Only in the sense that you start to pay interest from the time you withdraw the cash, however if you were to transfer the amount you withdrew on your card from your current account to your Halifax clarity account immediately then you shouldn't pay any interest. The Clarity card worked really well throughout France and Spain for everything I used it for including tolls, fuel, restaurants and shopping, I did take Euros with me but could have managed without but obviously better to have some for small things.

 

[Lenny HB]

France and Belgium nearly everthing on a card.
On a small Municipal Aire in France at the moment, lady who came round to collect the €7 had a card machine with her.

Germany lot better with cards now at one time you cold only pay cash or German bank card nowdays majority of places take cards. After Lidl & Aldi started taking CC the other supermarkets followed.

 

[AXO66]

Starling card, no charge for cash withdrawels. They do have a daily limit. Bank might charge though for using their machine.

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[Langtoftlad]

Starling card, no charge for cash withdrawels. They do have a daily limit. Bank might charge though for using their machine.

Come to that - Starling bank allow you to have a Euro account running alongside your Sterling Starling

 

[AXO66]

Come to that - Starling bank allow you to have a Euro account running alongside your Sterling Starling

yep they do.

Is that useful?

Could I move ££ into it then use it to pay in Euros or withdraw euros, and maybe ”play “ currency movements to make a few cents? any other benefits?…..or is it just tooo much hassle.

 

[pagey]

We are in Germany now the only time we were asked for cash was at the increase shop although the Aires are mainly coin only

 

[The Wino]

Only in the sense that you start to pay interest from the time you withdraw the cash, however if you were to transfer the amount you withdrew on your card from your current account to your Halifax clarity account immediately then you shouldn't pay any interest. The Clarity card worked really well throughout France and Spain for everything I used it for including tolls, fuel, restaurants and shopping, I did take Euros with me but could have managed without but obviously better to have some for small things.

I think it depends how they allocate payments you would probably need to pay off the whole balance to have the payment allocated against the cash withdrawal and the terms need watching they can charge up to 5% on cash withdrawals. I usually just use a debit card although we usually keep a stash of euros and buy a couple of hundred quids worth at a time. We had a currency card but so seldom used it that we got rid.

 

[Rob Turner]

The Germans like cash at the moment. I recently bought export plates and neither the registration office or the number plate office would except anything but cash.

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[Brains]

yep they do.

Is that useful?

Could I move ££ into it then use it to pay in Euros or withdraw euros, and maybe ”play “ currency movements to make a few cents? any other benefits?…..or is it just tooo much hassle.

Yes you can.
We do.

We moved a load of money from the £ account to the € account a few weeks ago when it was at £1=€1.21
With the intention of moving more when it got to £1=€1.23+

However my foray into becoming a Foreign Exchange dealer fell flat as it's now £1=€1.18, just hoping it gets to above 1.20 before we go away!

Moving money between accounts in Starling is easy as it's a phone app (also usable on a PC)
They only charge 0.4% to change money, which is one of (if not the) the cheapest rates you will find.
(Beware banks that change money for 'free', what you gain on the lack of charges you lose on the exchange rate)

We looked into all the options for holding Euros (Monzo, Calix, Halifax, Revolut, Wise, and the rest,)
Starling came out ahead on all counts as long as you primarily have Pounds and want Euros.
(If we had wanted multiple other currencies on a regular basis then there were other cards that were better)

 

[Reallyretired]

No problems ever with cards in France or Spain, though the French like cheques, probably just to hold up the queue at checkout.

 

[Minxy]

I think it depends how they allocate payments you would probably need to pay off the whole balance to have the payment allocated against the cash withdrawal and the terms need watching they can charge up to 5% on cash withdrawals. I usually just use a debit card although we usually keep a stash of euros and buy a couple of hundred quids worth at a time. We had a currency card but so seldom used it that we got rid.

AFAIK the cash advance is usually settled first then any excess goes of card debits (eg shopping), but the terms for the card should always be checked first to ensure this is definitely the case.

 

[AXO66]

Yes you can.
We do.

We moved a load of money from the £ account to the € account a few weeks ago when it was at £1=€1.21
With the intention of moving more when it got to £1=€1.23+

However my foray into becoming a Foreign Exchange dealer fell flat as it's now £1=€1.18, just hoping it gets to above 1.20 before we go away!

Moving money between accounts in Starling is easy as it's a phone app (also usable on a PC)
They only charge 0.4% to change money, which is one of (if not the) the cheapest rates you will find.
(Beware banks that change money for 'free', what you gain on the lack of charges you lose on the exchange rate)

We looked into all the options for holding Euros (Monzo, Calix, Halifax, Revolut, Wise, and the rest,)
Starling came out ahead on all counts as long as you primarily have Pounds and want Euros.
(If we had wanted multiple other currencies on a regular basis then there were other cards that were better)

Thanks.

do you get another starling card for your euros account

maybe you have made money….. if you now move your euros back to pounds?

 

[ChrisL]

I think it depends how they allocate payments you would probably need to pay off the whole balance to have the payment allocated against the cash withdrawal and the terms need watching they can charge up to 5% on cash withdrawals. I usually just use a debit card although we usually keep a stash of euros and buy a couple of hundred quids worth at a time. We had a currency card but so seldom used it that we got rid.

There are no charges on the Clarity card for overseas transactions and cash withdrawal (unless the atm you are using charges you) but cash withdrawal will be charged interest from day one.

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[Brains]

Thanks.

do you get another starling card for your euros account

maybe you have made money….. if you now move your euros back to pounds?

You only get a single Starling card.
I guess it knows which account to hit for the money depending on whether you were changed £ or €

You do however get individual IBAN numbers for each account, so online payments (in or out) can be directed to the correct account

If you make money (or have Euro's left at the end of the holiday) you can easily transfer them back into the Pound account.
You will get whatever the rate is on the day (less 0.4%)

 

[Stealaway]

I thought if you used the halifax card to get cash out it's quite expensive?

It is.
I should have made it clearer.
Use your standard bank cash/debit card to get more cash from the cash machines FOC.
Sorry

 

[ChrisL]

It is.
I should have made it clearer.
Use your standard bank cash/debit card to get more cash from the cash machines FOC.
Sorry

I'm sorry but I'm not understanding this, visa charge a 2.99% transaction fee on overseas debit card transactions both cash and card purchases, plus a less favourable exchange rate, how is that FOC? as long as you remember to pay into your clarity account the same day as you withdraw cash you won't pay any interest so it must be cheaper as there are no transaction fees on clarity overseas use.

 

[Barti Ddu]

Another happy Starling card user.

As a debit card (rather than credit card) account I didn't pay any charges for card purchases or ATM withdrawals during 3 months in France, Spain and Portugal last Autumn. You also get the "interbank" rate which is significantly better than standard tourist exchange rates Just transferred funds from my usual current account periodically onto the Starling account to keep it charged up. Easy to do by direct transfer using the very slick Starling app.

One caveat, choose your ATM with care in Spain. Many Spanish banks will charge for withdrawals even though Starling don't, including some of the bigger ones such as Santander. Smaller local banks were generally free. There's a thread about it on here somewhere from last October listing the free Spanish ATMs.

 

[Jake Royd]

Thanks for all your posts.
On balance I thinki will opt to take a bit more cash with our Revolut balance.
Revolut incidentally refused to give me some cash in Amalfi I think because the ATM machine was not within their agreement?

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