Hi all,

Heading to Europe on Thursday for a month-long roadtrip with a mate. Don’t have a plan for where we are heading, but know we want to spend about a week in the Croatia area.

Not too sure how to take money etc. Will be spending a lot on petrol, and then bits on food/drink, tourist stuff, camp sites/hostels etc.

I’ve got a Natwest Visa debit card, and credit card.

For the debit card, for cash withdrawals there is a 2% fee to a max of £5, and also a 2.75% fee (no max).
For purchases, there is a 2.75% fee.

The credit card has a 2.75% fee for purchases.

Obviously this could all get pretty expensive. I don’t want to take out £1.5kish in Euros incase it gets lost or stolen – I’ll probably just take £200 worth out with me. Plan will be to pay for most stuff with the debit card, and have some cash on me all the time for smaller purchases.

Is there a better option than just using the debit card? Or just swallow it up and pay the fees?

Ta, Duane.

If you’d done this earlier you should of applied for a Halifax Clarity credit card. No fees on purchases or cash withdrawals so you just pay the Visa rate of the day.

Cheapest way to travel.

How long does it take to get a credit card? Might pop into Halifax later today.

It’ll take more than 3 days to apply, verify your application and get your card and pin posted out to you.

As dooosuk has said – you’ve left it too late to get a CC.
I applied online for a Capital one world CC that is the same as the Halifax one – approved in a few mins but it took 3 days for the Pin to come through and the card 2 days after that.

Best bet might be a preloaded cash card (TravelEx do them) and then add more to it it online when it gets low. You can get decent rates, not have to carry cash and no fees

I wouldn’t use a debit/credit cared to get cash overseas – not when there is a cheaper alternative.

Get a Travelex pre-paid credit card.

It’s a Mastercard that you affectively top-up with the required currency, for example Euro’s. There are no commission charges on the card, you use it like a normal credit card so can withdraw cash at ATM, pay for a meal at restaurant etc. They’ll send you a new one out ASAP if it is lost or stolen and you can top it up when your running low via there website.

Best thing is, you’ll be able to get it over the counter at a Travelex.

Or…. I have a Santander Zero Credit Card that i use purely for holidays as it has no transaction or commission charges abroad. You usually get the best rate aswell

Use a credit card, never a debit card (unless you are getting cash from a bank machine).

If your credit card is scammed, a few phone calls will sort it and it’s not your money anyway :-), if your debit card is scammed…

Halifax Clarity Card is your best bet if you can apply for one in time. No fee/charges for using the card abroad

RBS royalties gold was a good deal for overseas cash, dunno if it still is. The £6 per month offset the transfer fees etc as long as you remember to cancel on return, oh and there was various insurance things with it.

biscuits….Does your LBS accept payments in biscuits

Thanks for all the replies.

Looks like some kind of prepaid cash passport card is the way to go.

People have mentioned TravelEx which looks good, although would have to pick it up from Dover – not really an issue, but something else to worry about if we are late etc.

Any thoughts on the Thomas Cook alternative? Exchange rate is marginally worse, and there is a 2euro charge for ATM withdrawals, but it means I can go to the local branch and pick one up today.

Also, if I transfer money to the card from my Natwest account while I’m abroad, will I get charges from Natwest for the foreign currency transaction?

Any thoughts? Thomas Cook vs TravelEx? If the only difference is TC charge 2euros for ATM transactions, that’s not too bad, as long as you take out a reasonable amount each time..

I’m taking a pocket full of euros, because it’s hard enough dealing with furriners without all this credit card hijinks. Just throw a 20 euro note at them and accept whatever change is forthcoming with a mercy bucket.

(I keep meaning to learn the french for “I’m sorry, I didn’t learn french at school, I blame margaret thatcher”)

Haha, that is an option, but I’d rather not 😛