Which prepaid money card?

[scotzsue]

Looking to replace our money card have used them for years. See not so many available.
so, what do you use and why.
Minxy you are usually good on this. please
Edited to add have done a search but not found anything recent.

 

[Spara4042]

Looking to replace our money card have used them for years. See not so many available.
so, what do you use and why.
Minxy you are usually good on this. please
Edited to add have done a search but not found anything recent.

Not a prepaid card but took out a Halifax Clarity CC a few years back, for trips abroad.
No charges for Cash withdrawal, as long as money already in credit or if paid back the same day, & purchases in Euros converted at interbank rate, not commercial rate.

Took the advice from Martin Lewis's Moneysavingexpert.com website, which is worth a perusal

 

[wiljoy]

Halifax card always. Used to use Caxton until they became greedy.

 

[Steve N Tracy]

I used to use a prepaid card but found that it was often refused at filling stations and tolls abroad, so now use opened a Starling bank current account, no charge for withdrawals from card machines, and no transaction charge for foreign transactions, they just charge the Mastercard conversion rate for that day.
You also get paid a now very small intrest amount for money in the account which is a small bonus.

 

[funflair]

Revolut, you can hold a multitude of different currencies if you need/want and can buy and sell currency within the app, great exchange rates and easy to use with auto top-up from another card, I have it linked to the payment app on y phone so can pay a bill in any currency without even having the card on me.

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[Kups]

Not a prepaid card but took out a Halifax Clarity CC a few years back, for trips abroad.
No charges for Cash withdrawal, as long as money already in credit or if paid back the same day, & purchases in Euros converted at interbank rate, not commercial rate.

Took the advice from Martin Lewis's Moneysavingexpert.com website, which is worth a perusal

Agree that the Halifax card used to be top of the list but it has recently been downgraded by Martin Lewis to second after Barclaycard Rewards. This because Halifax have started charging for cash withdrawals even if you pay in full, as I found out to my cost recently. In fact it's 19.94%-27.94% interest on cash withdrawals, charged daily until it's paid off

When I rang them the nice lady at Halifax refunded the interest charged and advised me to change to Barclaycard if they offered a better deal!

Yes, I've switched to Barclaycard Rewards as it also gives cashback on purchases. Quick application route from Martin Lewis's website.

Top cards for travelling abroad

Going abroad, or spending on foreign websites? You can save £100s by using specialist travel cards for near-perfect exchange rates.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

 

[jessthedog]

Revolut for us. Very easy to use.

 

[MichaelT]

Agree that the Halifax card used to be top of the list but it has recently been downgraded by Martin Lewis to second after Barclaycard Rewards. This because Halifax have started charging for cash withdrawals even if you pay in full, as I found out to my cost recently. In fact it's 19.94%-27.94% interest on cash withdrawals, charged daily until it's paid off

When I rang them the nice lady at Halifax refunded the interest charged and advised me to change to Barclaycard if they offered a better deal!

Yes, I've switched to Barclaycard Rewards as it also gives cashback on purchases. Quick application route from Martin Lewis's website.

Top cards for travelling abroad

Going abroad, or spending on foreign websites? You can save £100s by using specialist travel cards for near-perfect exchange rates.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

I have had a Barclaycard for a few years for EU use, no charges for purchases or cash till 2023 plus a little cash back.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Re Halifax... have had one for a long time.
Thought it was standard practice that cash withdrawals attracted interest immediately.
If I ever had to withdraw cash, I transferred the equivalent into my credit card account immediately.

Another fan of Starling Bank here.

 

[Lenny HB]

Revolut for us as well, the multiple currencies we find useful with a daughter living in Thailand.

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[HKF]

We use a card from www.Wise.com and have done for years, for personal use and for our business. You can hold as much money as you like in there in various currencies, and can convert from one currency to another at the same rates as www.XE.com (the two companies are now partners, too). Very easy to use and excellent customer service, if you need it. You can also access your account online or use the app

 

[Minxy]

Sue ... have you been spying on me? I suppose it could just be coincidence that we started looking into this yesterday.

If you're only intending to use it in the UK the you can probably ignore most of the below!

We have the following for use abroad:

Revolut pre-load card - (we have standard separate accounts) - you are limited to £200 per month (max 5 transactions) before you start getting charged a fee of 2% on all withdrawals or charged £1 per transaction, whichever is greater; you could also get charged a fee on currency conversion too.

Does Revolut charge for cash withdrawal? | Revolut Help Centre

Please select the country in which your Revolut user agreement was signed prior to using our FAQs, terms may differ depending on your region.Withdrawing cash...

www.revolut.com

Virgin Money current accounts - fee free when withdrawing funds abroad (assuming there isn't a charge from the ATM provider) so we intend to use them if we've used up our Revolut allowances and/or the ATM doesn't like the Revolut card (something we experienced last time we were in Spain). [Note you also get 2.02% interest on up to £1,000 in the account although there was a deal where you got 5% for a year but not sure if it's still available. There is also £150 up for grabs if you switch an account from elsewhere (assuming you having had it before with them or Clydesdale Bank).

Service Unavailable | Virgin Money

uk.virginmoney.com

Starling current account - fee free but it does have some restrictions, eg you can make up to six withdrawals per day, with a daily limit of £300, regardless of what currency you are withdrawing.

 

[Minxy]

Just remembered, for UK use there's the newish Tesco Clubcard Pay+ card which might suit as you get points:

Prepaid cards

Prepaid cards let you load cash on them & spend anywhere. There s no credit check, so those usually rejected can also get one.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

 

[EuroTrotters]

REVOLUT

If I refer you I might get a tenner!

 

[Minxy]

REVOLUT

If I refer you I might get a tenner!

Oi ... bog off ... she named ME!!!

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[Sheddy]

Revolut and Starling, exchange pounds to emus on Revolut and transfer to Starling .
£200 monthly limit ATM on Revolut, but currently no limit on Starling, works well for us.

 

[Smudger55]

I've used Easyfx whilst abroad and generally it has worked well for us.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Oi ... bog off ... she named ME!!!

I love your SOH

 

[Minxy]

Revolut and Starling, exchange pounds to emus on Revolut and transfer to Starling .
£200 monthly limit ATM on Revolut, but currently no limit on Starling, works well for us.

Once you have a £ Starling account you can get a € Starling account but I'm not sure if you can fund it with € from Revolut or not as I didn't bother looking further for us.

 

[EzeeRider]

I have a Caxton FX card and have used it on many trips. However for the last couple of years I have not been anywhere to use it and it has just sat there with about £130 credit on it. Shock, horror, I got round to checking it a few days ago ready for a trip only to find they have been charging me what they call a "Dormant Fee" of £2 a month! So far this totals £26 and I have shot off a compaint to them about it being daylight robbery. (No response so far)They know what they can do with their card. Its going in the bin after I withdraw what ever Euro balance is left. We will manage with the Clarity Card and debit cards on future trips.
ezee

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[jumar]

Revolut 100% for travelling or even an everyday account...we both have one...

 

[pete4x4]

Revolut for us, much easier to pay contactless in Spain now since covid so cash not always needed so the £200 pound a month limit on withdrawals is fine.

 

[Land Yachties]

Halifax Clarity card for us. Been using it in Spain for the past 5 weeks with no issues, no fees and getting close to €1.20 to the pound exchange rate. In the last 5 weeks have only used about €50 in cash which we brought with us. Every other expenses including buying the daily baguette has been on the card

 

[scotzsue]

You have all given me a lot to think about, John has a Virgin a/c and i have a virgin CC just really want a stand alone card like the PO we used for many years, don't want the hassle of new bank accounts. I have another CC which I keep for use abroad, but prefer to pay the amount at the time. Interestingly our PO one worked quite well in many, mostly supermarket, fuel stations. We still have a bit on the out of date one they failed to renew, think we may just get another. We take some Euros with us too as some of the places we go weren't keen on cards. May all have changed post B and C.
Sorted for uk just use our debit cards. Trying to persuade J to use his Tesco one a bit more so we can get better deals on the tunnel. Which reminds me we need to change our existing booking again
Thanks for the info folks.

 

[clanjones]

Don't forget the nationwide credit card as well. Commission free withdrawals in Europe. We also have a Flexplus account as well so use the insurance and breakdown cover as well. You need to bea nationwide member though.

Member Credit Card | Nationwide

The Nationwide member credit card has two great introductory offers to choose from, and offers commission free purchases abroad. Find out more here.

www.nationwide.co.uk

Works well for us.

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[Stewart J]

Revolut and Caxton and a Halifax Clarity card for fuel stations as some won’t accept the preload cards.

 

[Minxy]

Don't forget the nationwide credit card as well. Commission free withdrawals in Europe. We also have a Flexplus account as well so use the insurance and breakdown cover as well. You need to bea nationwide member though.

Member Credit Card | Nationwide

The Nationwide member credit card has two great introductory offers to choose from, and offers commission free purchases abroad. Find out more here.

www.nationwide.co.uk

Works well for us.

No fee but you will pay interest on the cash withdrawn from the day it's taken out.

 

[Taran_Las]

Caxton & Fairfx for me. I also have my normal credit & debit cards to fall back on. Unfortunately, the transaction fees on my credit and debit cards are rather high.

 

[Stoosal]

A few have mentioned having issues with prepaid cards at fuel stations etc. How common is this? Got a Caxton card for use in a few weeks but was intending to use it for as much as we could, including fuel. Do I need to think about another type of card as well. My ‘UK’ ones have fees which rule out using them.

 

[kevenh]

don't want the hassle of new bank accounts.

Now a days the only hassle is setting up the new online banking credentials.
I moved from Halifax to First Direct for a reward/incentive. Currently higher than what I got at £150
Both banks are in the “Current Account Switch Service” scheme.
Everything moved over.
I would’ve been happy with just the obvious direct debit details being present at the new account.
But also moved over are standing orders and manual payment details I’ve setup to, for example, pay friends, etc.

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