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Travel Money Cards


Jamie_B

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Hi guys,

We're off to Florida in a few weeks. In the past we've always just taken cash (and maybe used our Bank of Scotland credit cards for a larger purchase or two - incurring a fee). However, the way things are now as I understand it there's far more option for paying contactless and a lot of the stuff in the theme parks encourages you to mobile order via an app and an associated bank/credit card.

As such I'm looking at getting a card of some description that I can just load cash into and avoid incurring overseas transaction fees that I'd get with my own BoS cards. Looking at the likes of Monzo/Revolut - just wondering if anyone has any experience of those (or similar) and has any recommendations?

Cheers!

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I got Monzo for when I went to Germany, easy to use and no fees for taking cash out.  It is now my default digital card for payments and I never use my main bank account for any transactions now, to avoid ATM cloning and skimming.  Any time the card is used you are sent a notification to your phone and can quickly freeze the card if you don't recognise it and move money out of the account.

If you pay your salary in you can also get paid early.  So if your pay is due on Monday you can get it on Friday at 4pm.  Sometimes that isn't a good idea though 😂  If you want I can DM you a referral link and we'll both get a fiver when you use the card.  I would recommend it, it is very easy to use.

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I've used Revolut several times abroad...Cyprus, Moldova, Czech Rep. It's a free card but they charge a £5 for delivery.

I'll be using it again when I go to Poland next month. Just link it to your bank account, load it with £s and then exchange for the currency of your choice. You get excellent rates and in Cyprus and CR there were no fees at all. In Chisinau it was a flat 1.5% but I only used the one ATM which was round the corner from my hotel. Others may have been free.

You can use it like any other debit card, either chip n pin or contactless but the only slight drawback is that you can only withdraw a max of the equivalent of £200 per month. You can get other cards in their range for a monthly fee which allows a greater monthly ATM total.

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I've had the Halifax Clarity credit card for nearly a decade now - it has no fees on foreign transactions, and you'll pay no interest at all if you pay it off in full every month (ie when you're back from your trip). You do pay interest immediately on any cash withdrawals overseas, but you can avoid that by either preloading the card or paying it off via online banking on the same day. Maybe the Monzo and Revolut stuff have other benefits but I've never bothered using anything else because that card has worked perfectly for me ever since I got it.

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I sent the bairn to the US with a Revolut card in July (shes 12).  No issues/fees etc (maybe apart from card getting delivered as mentioned above) apart from when she was in a brewery (dont ask).  She did have a Junior card though so thats why it was refused.

Apart from that was able to take out $ at the ATM etc with no issues.  Instant money transfer etc etc. 

I think most of these cards work pretty much the same now and are in the main fairly reliable. 

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  • 1 year later...
19 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

Where have you seen that?

I've just been on their website...

 

Screenshot_20240107_113236_Chrome.jpg

Wish I'd seen that! Just changed some money for Euro24 stuff and got charged, happened a couple of weeks ago too but never before.

P.S. Found this. Maybe I haven't changed money at the weekend before, never knew about it.

Quote

Revolut is a bit different as your fees may vary depending on your subscription plan. The company charges 1% in fees after an exchange limit of £1,000 per month for free accounts. Plus accounts can exchange up to £3,000 per month without exchange fees. They get charged 0.5% after that.

Premium, Metal and Ultra customers don’t pay exchange fees, but they pay £7.99 to £45 per month in subscription fees. It’s also worth noting that Revolut charges a 1% markup fee on foreign exchange during weekends — regardless of your plan.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/04/heres-how-hsbcs-new-international-payments-app-zing-compares-to-wise-and-revolut/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHuNfCEkFKLaL_rEwfkabqMMUnyDjl-wJ3tWHcyjDMRnj0HUXgoq1x9Ol9Bye__75-89eoGRttXJszsptHXraFW3zU7n4kSeIDCY_RL7mavw8xl5yQ5is4DYsDY1l9s9r16ymcj7nvbuDpojFtQgvu7KPV_16PuU4tPoDsLq5Tcc

Edited by welshbairn
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  • 1 month later...

Florida sounds like a blast! When I traveled abroad, I stumbled upon the same dilemma with transaction fees. Ended up giving Monzo a shot, and it was a game-changer! No more sneaky charges eating into my vacation fund.

Speaking of saving while spending, have you checked out digital coupon apps? They're lifesavers for cutting costs on the go.

Edited by waldesbringthewa
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27 minutes ago, waldesbringthewa said:

Florida sounds like a blast! When I traveled abroad, I stumbled upon the same dilemma with transaction fees. Ended up giving Monzo a shot, and it was a amazing. No more sneaky charges eating into my vacation fund.

Holidays.

We can them holidays.

And we also spell "travelled" correctly.

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