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

Another vote for Revolut here. Easy to manage, easy to use, multiple currencies are no problem either.
 
Another Halifax clarity Credit Card, no overseas fees.
 
Thanks for all the replies lads. Lots to choose from.
 
As above, I have Chase & Revolut cards, plus have both on my mobile.

Another vote for Revolut here. Easy to manage, easy to use, multiple currencies are no problem either.

So with the Revolut you spend what you have paid into the card and don't have a bill to pay at the end of the month ?
This one sounds quite a popular one. I couldn't get on the website as my Internet is a bit hit and miss here.
 
Correct, Revolut is a card that you charge up with money, just like your Post Office cash card. Caxton is the same.

I still think that it would be a good idea for you to have:

A. A credit card. For travel, I have two which I keep separately from each other. One is from JaJa (the former Post Office offering) the other from Halifax. Each of them has a credit limit big enough to get me home quickly from anywhere in the world, which is all you really care about if the chips are down. I use these predominantly for buying fuel and paying hotel bills. I pay them off in full each month.

B. A card that you load up with cash. I have three, which again I keep separately. One from the Post Office, one from Caxton and one from Revolut. You already have the Post Office card. I use these for small purchases (Europe is rapidly becoming a cashless society) and occasionally for drawing a bit of cash from an atm.

I leave my UK bank cheque card and credit card at home, for the simple reasons outlined in a post above.

These have served me well over the years.
 
Correct, Revolut is a card that you charge up with money, just like your Post Office cash card. Caxton is the same.

I still think that it would be a good idea for you to have:

A. A credit card. For travel, I have two which I keep separately from each other. One is from JaJa (the former Post Office offering) the other from Halifax. Each of them has a credit limit big enough to get me home quickly from anywhere in the world, which is all you really care about if the chips are down. I use these predominantly for buying fuel and paying hotel bills. I pay them off in full each month.

B. A card that you load up with cash. I have three, which again I keep separately. One from the Post Office, one from Caxton and one from Revolut. You already have the Post Office card. I use these for small purchases (Europe is rapidly becoming a cashless society) and occasionally for drawing a bit of cash from an atm.

I leave my UK bank cheque card and credit card at home, for the simple reasons outlined in a post above.

These have served me well over the years.

Ok thanks. I will get a Revolut card and probably go with the Halifax card.
Thanks
 
I have a Halifax Mastercard purely for travel purposes, no commissions on transactions and I believe it came out well on Martin Lewis MSE website. Never had any problems with it at any outlet.

The Halifax Clarity is the card that is recommended for overseas travel, we use it along with Revolut and have done for many years.
 
Revolut charge a transaction fee on currency exchanges at weekends but they don’t charge for using your money abroad. Free cash withdrawals are also limited and you don’t have the protection from the FSCS that you’d get from a bank.

I keep a Revolut card live and then top it up by a maximum of £100 if I think I’ll need it but it’s only laziness that makes me keep it and if I was looking for a ‘holiday card’ right now I’d choose Monzo above Revolut.
 
Revolut charge a transaction fee on currency exchanges at weekends but they don’t charge for using your money abroad. Free cash withdrawals are also limited and you don’t have the protection from the FSCS that you’d get from a bank.

I keep a Revolut card live and then top it up by a maximum of £100 if I think I’ll need it but it’s only laziness that makes me keep it and if I was looking for a ‘holiday card’ right now I’d choose Monzo above Revolut.

Which Monzo Andy as there are a few.
 
Revolut - you don’t have the protection from the FSCS that you’d get from a bank.
Has that not changed now that Revolut are a fully fledged bank ? I haven't read all their bumf yet :blush

I use Revolut at home & abroad but use the phone more than the card to pay for fuel, hotels, etc & the App for sending to family & friends plus online purchases
It's all so easy even I can manage it ;)
 
All of the cards (or app versions on a phone) have their advantages, disadvantages and foibles, just like UK bank accounts.

The truth is, on most motorcycle jaunts into Europe (where I guess most here will be using them) you are not dealing with transactions of thousands upon thousands of pounds. Chasing every last penny on each transaction will end up with a spreadsheet, almost as dull and anal as bods who record their miles per gallon and know the cost of fuel in litres of every petrol pump between Penzance and Inverness.

Keep it simple:

A. Use a suitable credit card for larger transactions or even the small ones. Most will now tell you how much you have spent, declared in pounds and now, even the location it was used. Pay it off (or not) when you come home, using the money you would otherwise have charged onto your cash card.

B. Use a cash card to get cash from an atm. If the card / atm charges for removals, don’t use it or - if you must - withdraw an amount whereby the charge is a very low percentage of the overall sum. There again, if you need EUR 20 then and there for a new tube of haemorrhoid cream from the pharmacia, you’ll not care that it cost you 2% extra….. or just get some local currency from a nice friendly exchange shop in your home town before you leave and keep it in your purse, tucked in your bra or stuffed into your knickers.
 
What other card should I look at getting please that's more widely accepted.

Any normal Visa/Mastercard credit or charge card?

Which Monzo Andy as there are a few.

The standard (free) will do.


Hint: there is a reason why they charge for the currency fees :D
 
Being in Barclays Bank, I created a euro e-wallet within the banks app on my phone. Then transferred money online from my current account to the wallet through the phone.

Say I put in €1,000 to that e-wallet. When I travelled to Europe and started paying with my Barclays debit card for fuel, food or camping fees, money was directly debited from the € wallet and not my sterling current account.

When abroad, you can always check your euro balance through the Barclays app and transfer more to the wallet as funds are reduced.

When the holiday is over, you can either leave any residual euros in the wallet or close it and transfer euros back to sterling.

The only problem I had was having my card declined at automatic petrol stations a couple of times. When filling twice in a day, the card is debited each time of €120. I just did not check my balance, even though only €40 spent in fuel.



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Has that not changed now that Revolut are a fully fledged bank ? I haven't read all their bumf yet :blush

I use Revolut at home & abroad but use the phone more than the card to pay for fuel, hotels, etc & the App for sending to family & friends plus online purchases
It's all so easy even I can manage it ;)

I’m not sure to be honest. My new one arrived about 30 minutes ago and the most obvious change is from Mastercard to Visa.

I never leave enough on it to really worry if it goes but Revolut did annoy me when I got a message telling me someone had made two attempts to use mine to withdraw cash in Jakarta so I phoned them, they said I’d obviously let someone clone my card so had to pay for a replacement. I argued that I never let anyone else touch the card, never use it for phone or internet purchases so the chances of it being me being careless were very remote to say the least. They fucked me off and told me to pay, wouldn’t let me carry on using the card and were very unhelpful to put it mildly.

If I could be arsed to change cards I’d do it but as I said earlier, I’m lazy :D
 
First card sorted. Gone with Revolut.
 
:thumb2 Well done

Next the JaJa and / or Halifax credit card. As they are free, you might as well have both, keeping them separate.
 
For all purchases abroad I use my Nationwide Visa Credit Card - fuel/hotels/food etc and all transactions are fee free, together with good exchange rates at conversion

I take a small amount of cash and if running low I get a few hundred Euro out on my Nationwide debit card from a bank cash point and the fee is only £2

Couldn’t be simpler and have done the same for the last 25 years

What is any benefit of a card you preload with cash ?

I just take some/if any cash out of a bank atm with my Debit card, as you would in uk ?
 
I guess the answer might be that some foreign ATM machines make a charge if you use a UK debit card.

My answer, is that I leave my UK bank debit and credit cards at home, just in case I lose my wallet abroad. That way, I at least don’t have to feck about getting new UK cards when I get back. As I have them both included in my iPhone wallet, in a sense I have them with me abroad anyway, just in a virtual state.
 
I guess the answer might be that some foreign ATM machines make a charge if you use a UK debit card.

My answer, is that I leave my UK bank debit and credit cards at home, just in case I lose my wallet abroad. That way, I at least don’t have to feck about getting new UK cards when I get back. As I have them both included in my iPhone wallet, in a sense I have them with me abroad anyway, just in a virtual state.

Ok
Understood
Maybe I am old fashioned then, just use my Debit card abroad for any cash atm withdrawal and pay a couple of quid for the pleasure
Most purchases are with my fee free credit card nowadays anyway
I do find it works for me
 
As I have them both included in my iPhone wallet, in a sense I have them with me abroad anyway, just in a virtual state.

Yup, credit card, debit card, Revolute card, boarding passes, covid travel pass, tickets for X-Y-Z all in my Apple wallet. I thought that I would never use it but it's the handiest of handy things.

I always travel with my old iPhone thrown in the bag. Both phones are on the same Apple ID and backed up via the iCloud. Whatever is in the wallet on phone A is also on phone B. This SHOULD stop anyone asking 'What happens if you lose your phone'?
 


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