For ALL Pre-loaded cards / debit cards / credit cards - What is best for travel?

wessie said:
Halifax Clarity - got this after binning Virgin. Works great using card or phone.
Nationwide - only have the debit card which is fee free for ATM (unless there is a local access fee)
Virgin Money - recently binned in protest at branch closures and piss poor service after taking over Yorkshire Bank
Santander - good for Spain as you won't pay local ATM fees that can be 8 euros since Brexit.

All have fee free travel credit cards.
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It was Yorkshire/Clydesdale that took over Virgin, they just now use the Virgin name. Virgin was pretty bad long before the takeover.

Get a Chase Bank Account, 1% back on all spending up to £1,500pm for the first 12 months. Fee free spending abroad.

This may of interest for ATM withdrawals:
  • Kutxabank: no fees
  • Banca March: no fees
  • Deutsche Bank: no fees
  • ING: no fees
  • Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa (BBK): no fee
  • Unicaja Banco: no fees
  • Eurocaja Rural: no fees
  • Banco Pichincha: no fees
  • iberCaja: no fees - €1.75
  • Bankinter: no fees - €1.75
  • CaixaBank: no fees - €7.00
  • Abanca: €0.75 - €0.80
  • Bankia: €1.75 - €5.00
  • Sabadell: €1.80 - €5.00
  • Cajamar: €1.85 - €2.00
  • BBVA: €1.87 - €7.00
  • Santander: €2.00 - €8.00
 
stever1 said:
I use a Nationwide visa card. There are no charges when used in Europe, and you get that days bulk rate thingy so its a win/win situation.
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+ another

zero charges and beats any exchange rates I have seen anywhere else

Nationwide flex account and you also get full European breakdown cover (thats covers your motorbike) and full world wide travel insurance

Also I have a Chase account as that is also fee free and you get a bit of money back on what you purchase
 
me too, love the bloody thing and it let's me do bank transfers to third parties in local currency (main ones) for next to nothing. I lent mine to my son for a school trip he went on and he handed it back to me a couple of hours later: he'd put it on his Apple pay, the cheeky get
 
With Barclays, I created a Euro e-wallet through their App. Transferred money from my current account to it where it is converted to €. So, as soon as I need to spend money for whatever in euros abroad say, duty free or fuel, I can use my normal debit card.
This time, it is deducted from the e-wallet.

Sent from my MI 9 using Tapatalk
 
Lots of mainstream (and not so mainstream) banks are now offering all sorts of accounts, apps and cards to deal with foreign currencies.

It is probably worthwhile checking with your own bank, before shooting off to open another account at another bank. Not least, the deals, pitfalls and benefits change from time to time.
 
As mentioned before hand .. a simple Nationwide Flex account gives me easy to use no charges in Europe .. just like being at home in Blighty.
 
Just had a mail from my bank with some interesting info

Instead of having a travel card they are offering a travel account

It links euros to your account,and allows you to use you card abroad, with no fee's

from what i can work out, you preload the travel account with euro's and then when you spend abroad it comes out of the travel account as euros (so no fees)

From what i can see its exsisting customers only

Spending abroad | Using your card on holiday | NatWest

Discover ways to spend abroad with your card, and minimise fees and charges whilst away.
www.natwest.com www.natwest.com
 
HSBC has a similar thing.

I keep preferring using Wise separately.

Same scenario, if you have multiple balances in different currencies, they will draw what you spend on the card from the correct balance.
Failing that (I think) they will get it from the GBP (or main) balance.
For every other operation is just incredibly faster and better designed that most main banks. I'm just waiting to see which one of said banks buys them at some point. :D
 
Santa-2512 said:
Just had a mail from my bank with some interesting info

Instead of having a travel card they are offering a travel account

It links euros to your account,and allows you to use you card abroad, with no fee's

from what i can work out, you preload the travel account with euro's and then when you spend abroad it comes out of the travel account as euros (so no fees)

From what i can see its exsisting customers only

Spending abroad | Using your card on holiday | NatWest

Discover ways to spend abroad with your card, and minimise fees and charges whilst away.
www.natwest.com www.natwest.com
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I’ve had the same as I’m with NatWest also. I probably won’t use it as the rate they offer isn’t the actual exchange rate so I’ll probably still use my Monzo for general spends.
 
I’m still using Curve since it ‘fronts’ my existing accounts/cards and I don’t need to open any other accounts to spend abroad. The money I spend is converted at best rate with no fee, then processed to my chosen account as GBP. If t even allows you to ‘go back in time’ and have a payment processed to a different account if needed.

As a back up, I have a Wise account as this helps with the direct debit for paying my toll tag bills but I never use it for anything else these days
 
Not sure if anything has changed with Caxton cards, but I didn't incur any pre authorisation transactions for fuel at automated filling stations during my recent two week Euro trip. If you have the Caxton app on your phone, it also notifies you immediately for successful transactions.
 
Not sure if this has been posted in the 11 pages so far (search within thread seems to have gone)

Natwest have a credit card with zero currency fees that looks a good option as it gives 1% cashback on travel bills such as flights, package holidays, ferries & hotels.

Compare Credit Cards | Apply for a Credit Card | NatWest

Compare our credit cards and apply online. Our credit card range includes low rate, travel, rewards and 0% balance transfer credit cards.
www.natwest.com www.natwest.com
You can do an eligibility check that does not appear on your credit file.
 
wessie said:
Not sure if this has been posted in the 11 pages so far (search within thread seems to have gone)

Natwest have a credit card with zero currency fees that looks a good option as it gives 1% cashback on travel bills such as flights, package holidays, ferries & hotels.

Compare Credit Cards | Apply for a Credit Card | NatWest

Compare our credit cards and apply online. Our credit card range includes low rate, travel, rewards and 0% balance transfer credit cards.
www.natwest.com www.natwest.com
You can do an eligibility check that does not appear on your credit file.
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It is very good. I got one for my mother, who is 89 and her jaunt to Madeira. As she and my sister went business class return and are both staying at Reid’s hotel, the 1% travel rebate was worthwhile. Me? I am in the rain in Scotland. Happy days.
 
As an update to this thread,

I used the Natwest travel acc. i set up prior to my trip to Sids

made sure the dates of my trip were in the up coming trip section of my acc. and went for it

i preloded the travel acc. with 200€

Every fuel stop i just paid with chip & pin, with the euros being taken from the travel acc

i topped it up with €100 once it dropped below € 100

When i got back i had €77 left in the acc, i waited a week for any laggy transactions to be collected, and then transferred the balance back to £

All in all painless, simple and how it should be tbh

No need for separate cards etc
 
Santa-2512 said:
No need for separate cards etc
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The value of having separate cards, kept separately from each other, comes into its own when you lose your single card or, for some unknown reason, it simply fails to function.

It might well be argued that, having a no-charge credit card or two, saves all the faffing about, loading and then unloading cash cards. But hey, each to their own.

:beerjug:
 
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Used to use various currency cards, Caxton, WeSwap etc, but with the advent of new challenger banks, Kroo, Chase, Starling etc find there is no need to use pre-loaded cards anymore. Used a Nationwide Credit card for many years as they are fee free with good rate, back up is my NatWest CC which now also is fee free with a good exchange rate. Just a shame it took so long and new competition to make the ‘Big Four’ up their game, still playing catch up though, they aren’t leaders.
 
Wapping said:
The value of having separate cards, kept separately from each other, comes into its own when you lose your single card or, for some unknown reason, it simply fails to function.

It might well be argued that, having a no-charge credit card or two, saves all the faffing about, loading and then unloading cash cards. But hey, each to their own.

:beerjug:
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I always have a back up, cash card etc, but compared to last time its was 1000% better than bartering cash for fuel
 
In turkey at the minute and I’m using Starling for everything and my wife is using a Halifax no fee credit card. When I’m not on holiday I leave the Starling card switched off in the app and everything is easy. Wouldn’t mind some cashback though!
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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