Travel money (where best to get)

[DaveR]

My bank did not make a charge, I guess because it was a straightforward sterling transaction on a debit card. Having said that, Lloyds are known for being particularly bad in respect of charges for currency transactions - see here:

money saving expert

[Loz]

ianr Wrote:

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> > Nationwide are great - you take your money out

> without charge anywhere in the world

>

> They've recently announced a change in policy wef

> 1 November:

> http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/flexac

> count-changes.htm

Yep, sadly the party has come to an end. Apparently, according to the Money Saving Expert, the Halifax Clarity credit card is now top of the heap. So, application for that one is in and I'm closing the Nationwide flexaccount. Will keep the nationwide CC for a while, but that will probably go soon as well.

[Izodia]

Yep Lloyds are definitely one of the worst. I really should change.

[Loz]

aps1 Wrote:

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> Have you considered using a pre paid mastercard ?

> You can just store money on it and use it abroad

> without transaction charges

Not according to their T&C's of the card you linked to (http://www.mycashplus.co.uk/). You will pay 2.99% transaction charge for non-Sterling purchases and up to ?3 charge for using a foreign ATM (and then the 2.99% on top of that).

There are much cheaper way to get currency abroad.

[huncamunca]

Ace FX at London Bridge station. very tight spreads and no comm. Shits on the rapacious FX outlets & banks everywhere else

[mazza7103]

aps1

where did you see that there are no charges? i've just looked on their website and cant find anything about travel charges. i'm going to tokyo, oz and san francisco in 6 weeks. really need to sort out how i'm going to purchase money

[Huguenot]

The runaway best choice for overseas spending I believe is currently the Halifax Clarity card.

With no loading and no fx charge it'll only cost you about ?1 for every ?100 you spend overseas. Typical credit or debit cards can cost you as much as ?7 to ?10 which is shocking.

To get those results you need to pay it off in full every month.

[Loz]

Mazza,

See this page for lots and lots of info, but suffice to say the right piece of plastic is your best bet.