Travel money cards

[meggie]

Hi folks I’m sorry if this has been asked before but I have never used a pre-loaded currency card of this type. I’ve been looking at various cards on the internet, it would seem that some only do certain currencies and as I’m going to India, obviously requiring rupees. The card that seemed to be most suitable for my needs was the Caxton FX card. Apparently you can upload Sterling to it and spend it as locals currency’s where ever you are. Also draw local currency from ATMs. Has anybody had any good or bad experience of these cards. Would be grateful for any comments. Thanks Chris

[meggie]

Thanks for your reply Sam, one reason why l chose Caxton above Revolut was because on the web it said ATM withdrawals was only free up to £200 per month, above this amount came with a charge.

[Spitfire58]

Revolut. You can't hold INR in it any more but you can load it with GBP, spend in India on it and the app will automatically convert and deduct from your GBP account balance to pay for it. Great for spending in Europe too. I have the free account and even sending money to our EURO bank account in Fuerteventura is excellent with the best exchange rate I can find anywhere else.

I agree with Sam. I never use anything else. Best getting the actual card as not sure how many places out here take “Apple pay” type transactions. It’s all internet based so the phone app can load £’s direct from your bank & transfer to €’s instantly & at the best rate I have seen.

You've got to check out Revolut - it's saved me a fortune in hidden Banking fees! https://revolut.com/r/ronslqj

[Ducks]

Thirding Revolut— and will also add that you can top them up from your credit card while out and about, and the transfer, unlike from bank, is instantaneous. 

Need to use your card somewhere, but don't trust the machine to put your real credit card into? Transfer Money to Revolut with the credit card down the back of the shop, then use the Revolut at the till. It is that easy. Yes, there's a fee for ATM withdrawals, but it's not very big, and most places will be able to take the card itself. I've had very good experiences with it so far.

[Spitfire58]

Thanks for your reply Sam, one reason why l chose Caxton above Revolut was because on the web it said ATM withdrawals was only free up to £200 per month, above this amount came with a charge.

It is a 2% charge above £200 per month if you are on the basic account. If you upgrade to premium (6.oo per month) it is £400 per month not sure what the fee is but probably the same. The metal card (next step up) gives you either 6 or 800 but there is a higher monthly fee for the card

[beachlife]

When in Fuerte I use CaxtonFX for getting cash from ATM`s (free) and for big shops at Mercadona. However, I also have a FairFX euro card which I use for supermarket shopping or any other large purchase as I have found that FairFX gives a slightly better exchange rate, however the FairFX card is not suitable for taking Money from ATM`s.

Outside of Europe I use the FairFX anywhere card but always gives a really good exchange rate but you do pay a small commission on each purchase. However the FairFX anywhere card is not really the card for withdrawing Money from an ATM due the costs involved. I do also use the FairFX anywhere card in Fuerte usually at the end of a visit to Fuerte especially when the exchange rate is low at the time on the CaxtonFX card as I tend to load it up when there is a good pound to euro rate.