[Closed] Buying Travel Money

For the amount you will be looking at any high street place will be close

With Revolut (a prepaid card) I just get it out of an ATM at the airport when I arrive.

Yep, as above. Unless you're buying huge amounts, high street.

I either use the village post office, who can order in lesser used currencies overnight (They've got used to me now!) or M&S. Latter tends to have good stocks of most major currencies and good rates.

As a Co-Op Bank customer I used to get preferential rates from Co-Op Travel even on small amounts but that seems to have stopped. Debenhams and M&S offer the best cash rates on the high street IMHO.

A few months ago I found the Post Office to be offering a pretty poor rate (even the Postmaster agreed...), so I preordered cash for collection at the airport through Travelex.

We all know Travelex is usually a rip off but the online rate was quite good. Topcashback were offering a couple of % back at the time too.

Some ASDAs have a bureau, the rates are very competitive.

i find travelex the best value /convienance / useful .

post office gave me 1000 dollars in 20 dollar notes and refused to cancel the transaction when i said this was no good(i work in a country where they only exchanget unmarked 100 dollar bills - i even noted it under the notes section on the order) . they will never be used again - they eventually took them back but only after complaint emails.

travelex i order online use quidco and collect on my way through the airport - i get to ask for the size of note i want - i explain what im doing and the cashier picks out the best unmarked/unfolded notes for me.

even if it is 0.01% more expensive the service is worth it.

I stick my debit card into the ATM and withdraw money.

Am I missing something? Has something changed? I've done this inside and out of Europe.

I usually go to Asda. There are some countries where the currency is weak or not widely traded and the exchange rates outside that country are poor. I found it was cheaper to use an ATM in Iceland and pay the 3% than it was to get Icelandic Krona in the UK.

What happens if you lose a prepaid card?

I stick my debit card into the ATM and withdraw money.

Yup, this, at the airport.

My wife once attempted to use the machine for paying for the car park, rather than an ATM, ho ho 🙂

Last time I bought euros, I pre-ordered, and collected from Sainsburys. Everywhere was about the same, but I could collect easily.

What happens if you lose a prepaid card?

I cancel it in about 5 seconds using the app on my phone.  And then reactivate it in the same way when it turns out I'd put it somewhere 'safe' rather than losing it.

What happens if you lose cash?

use debit card, pay in local currency. For cash; Travelex online, collect at the airport. Trouble with prepaid cards is (in no particular order) 1. lots of petrol stations won't take them and you often can't use them for hire cars either, may or may not be a problem, 2. Loads of fees, I've even seen "Inactivity fees". 3. Fixed rate cards, if the currency moves, you may suddenly not have have as much money as you thought.

Ordered on line at the post office if you at getting more than £200 of anything as the rate is much better. You can collect from your local branch later in the day.

I previously used the first direct service, through travels, and then realised I was getting rubbish rates.

In Italy I've avoided ATMs as we came across a lot of readers being used.  Greece was ok though.

What I mean about losing the card is do they send you a new one or are you stuffed?

What I mean about losing the card is do they send you a new one or are you stuffed?

You'd be stuffed unless you were away for a while, but that's why I alway take backup a payment method.   (Also re nickc's comments - 1) yes they don't work as pre-auth, so pay at pump won't work but normal payments do/have for me.  For hotels/cars you effectively pay and then get reimbursed rather than just having the payment authorised and held, so are out of pocket for a day or 2 but can then win/lose on the rate change between the dates.  2) Never had any fees, what cards do that?  3) Same risk if you;'re carrying cash, but Monzo/Revolut etc offer latest rate rather than fixed)

Thanks folks

Ramsdens on the high street

weswap as a pre-paid card

Halifax Clarity credit card for best rate but pay off straight away. (Pure rate but a bit of interest)

Revolut I load up over a while before  hedge the rate whilst it's good, as much as you can pre load.

Debit cards are often the worst way to do it but there are some new ones (starling) that are good.

Have seen folk with prepaid cards having difficulty finding a ATM that they work in. I use debit card, but use it as infrequently as possible to minimise fees. oh and tell your bank where youre going, and make sure you have their phone number for when they block your card. If travelling to several countries will also take a wad of US dollars for backup

Halifax clarity here too, just use an ATM when you arrive and no fees.

Careful with prepaid cards with anywhere that puts a reserve on the card. Petrol stations reserve the max they will allow you to fill, hire car places and hotels reserve the deposit. These often aren't cleared for a month and the balance you can withdraw is reduced until it is.

And as said, hidden fees including non use and very high costs of cashing out to sterling, or you pay an up front high fee to avoid that.

Had a number of restaurants refuse a prepay despite visa/mastercard.

May have no transaction fee but compared with a Barclays Travel Visa card, the rates are poor (fees loaded on the rate). The Barclays card is at interbank rate or near enough, no fee and interest free period on foreign cash withdrawals as well as purchases. Contactless also.

Nationwide Visa has also been good for purchases.

To be honest, I've barely been using cash abroad last few years  but depends how backwards the country is

If your anywhere near London Victoria - ChangeLink.

Excellent rates if you have cash to change.

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> http://www.change-link.co.uk/</span>

Ask on Facebook if anyone has any leftover to move on, that way you both get a better rate.

I used WeSwap.

Good rate and I also got one their master cards in Australian and Euro dollars.