Pre-paid euro cards

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Nanjo

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I'm trying to find out the best/cheapest way to transfer my UK monthly paid pension into euros. I will be cruising full time around Greece from April. The pre paid euro cards, the ones which don't charge for withdrawls seem the best option to me. Any advice on which cards work best or other options to consider would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jim
 
We've used the Caxton fx card for the past three years travelling from Portugal to Malta. It can be used as a debit card in restaurants and shops and to get free withdrawals from cash-points. All transactions and balance can be viewed on-line and in an ap for the phone.
 
We've been using the CaxtonFX cards almost since their inception. It's very easy to see what exchange rate they will charge you when you load the card and they make no charge for using it in ATMs (and I've not come across any bank ATM that does make a charge either). Very easy to use, very controllable and their cut (on the exchange rate) is not that excessive.
 
There are a number of prepaid cards available: we also use Caxton. None of them offer the best exchange rates, they usually are slightly off the best but they do not make any other charges for the card. Top up is simple online: we use an iPad app which makes things very simple.

There are some banks which offer cards with no charge for overseas use, you can find them by doing an Internet search. You will need to open an account with them to get a card and often they require a certain minimum monthly amount paying in: fine if you're happy with that, not so good if you want to keep your present banking arrangements.

You could also set up a € account in say Greece, transfer money to it on a monthly basis and use the card issued by the local bank. This is not something I'd do at the moment with the uncertainty about the Greek economy.
 
concentrik said:
+1 for Caxton, not least because they answer their UK customer services number quickly and are very helpful
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Yes, I'd forgotten that. We lost a card once, a quick (like about two minutes) call to them and it was stopped and a replacment on the way. Not only that, but the guy on the other end of the phone was very friendly and knew his stuff.
 
+1 . Charged our Euro Caxton card yesterday (Sun 25th) with £500 and got 130.8 exchange rate so our card received E654 which we can spend without any further transaction fees. The card can be used as a debit card at a cash point or eg restaurant bill but we find it cannot be used at French motorway auto tolls or auto fuel pumps .
 
We have used FairFX for years and have found them excellent very good email support andcompetitive rates. Their direct transfer service can be good for payingbig bills and has even better rates.
 
Take a look at a Nationwide Select credit card - no fees for foreign use and as its Visa its accepted everywhere - the main advantage is Nationwide give you the interbank exchange rate on the day so right now I am getting 1.34 Euros to £1 whilst my friends with a pre-pay card topped up a week ago at 1.26

I just them pay off the card in full each month and of course have fraud and purchase protection because its a Visa card
 
I am a little confused here...why don't you have your pension paid in to a Halifax account and use a Halifax clarity card. No charge for using ATM to withdraw Euro's and you get the perfect exchange rate at the time of withdrawal.. so long as you pay off the amount each month you have no interest charges. I don't see how this can be beaten in all honestly. Pay the monthly amount off online or by simple phone call. Where else can you get perfect exchange rate.
 
Garry & June 'Friendship' said:
I am a little confused here...why don't you have your pension paid in to a Halifax account and use a Halifax clarity card. No charge for using ATM to withdraw Euro's and you get the perfect exchange rate at the time of withdrawal.. so long as you pay off the amount each month you have no interest charges. I don't see how this can be beaten in all honestly. Pay the monthly amount off online or by simple phone call. Where else can you get perfect exchange rate.
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Not actually sure you can still get the Nationwide as a new customer (I may be wrong) so I still stand by the Halifax Clarity being the best out there for use abroad. Like Trident states above, why pay a percentage to load a prepay card when the Clarity gives you the perfect rate.
 
I used to use a Caxton card but then I opened a Nationwide Flex Plus account with both credit & debit cards. I use both when in the Eurozone. I only use the Debit card for cash withdrawals as no fee is attached. I only use the credit card for purchases as again no fees involved as long as it is paid off each month. Just back from recent visits to both Netherlands and France and I was getting in excess of 1.3€ to the pound with no charges.

Since opening this account, I have not used the Caxton once.

Natiowide account is a normal current account so pension etc can be paid directly into it.
 
davewarburton said:
I used to use a Caxton card but then I opened a Nationwide Flex Plus account with both credit & debit cards. I use both when in the Eurozone. I only use the Debit card for cash withdrawals as no fee is attached. I only use the credit card for purchases as again no fees involved as long as it is paid off each month. Just back from recent visits to both Netherlands and France and I was getting in excess of 1.3€ to the pound with no charges.

Since opening this account, I have not used the Caxton once.

Natiowide account is a normal current account so pension etc can be paid directly into it.
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Nationwide FlexPlus has a £10/month fee so while the euro exchange is currently changing favourably to the pound it might be advantageous to exchange as required. In more normal times, when the exchange rate is fairly stable and fluctuates around a central point, the advantage of exchanging at market rate vs a monthly fee becomes a much closer call. It then depends how much you spend, my experience has been that FairFX charge about a 2% premium on exchange for any given day (and it can take them 1/2 a day to react to market changes) so the break even is at around £500/month exchanged - not enough for a months spend I'd admit but... for a permanent liveaboard that may be worth it, however if you travel to and fro its not so clear cut when the account fee is payable every month.

I have used a Saga credit card combined with a FairFX euro card for the last few years and found that works. I quite like the certainty of knowing how much is in the euro account and that it isnt at the vagary of the daily market, the downside of FairFX is that its quite hard to get at that last few euros in the account when its time to stop. Usefull thread though as its made me reconsider, already have a Flex account so going to Plus is a click of a mouse away :)

All that said we're talking pennies rather than pounds I think, but remember the old adage.....
 
Trident said:
Take a look at a Nationwide Select credit card - no fees for foreign use and as its Visa its accepted everywhere - the main advantage is Nationwide give you the interbank exchange rate on the day so right now I am getting 1.34 Euros to £1 whilst my friends with a pre-pay card topped up a week ago at 1.26

I just them pay off the card in full each month and of course have fraud and purchase protection because its a Visa card
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Though I too have one of those they are, of course, a credit card and NOT free of charges if you use them to withdraw cash.
The Nationwide FlexPlus does offer FOC withdrawals in the € area, but charges £120/pa. I find the Nationwide Flex Direct the most advantageous overall.
It gives better rates than any of the FX cards, pays me 6% on the credit balance, charging about 2.25% commission. With my annual withdrawals it's cheaper than the FlexPlus.
A couple of local building societies (Norwich & Peterborough is one) offer no-commission overseas withdrawals but no internet service and 18% overdraft charges.
The Nationwide accounts offer various additional benefits - free travel insurance, vehicle recovery, interest on credit balances. The prepay cards with their bid-offer costs make them fairly poor value for money - but simple, especially if you have no internet or are travelling continuously and extensively.
Another FOC debit card is issued by Santander with their 123 account - their credit card is also FOC. However I would advise looking at the small print on their current account.
What ever one does, avoid cards issued by any of the big 5 banks, they're all extortionate.

One point, both Visa and Mastercard run their own exchange rates, usually worse than the median bid-offer rate for foreign currency, Mastercard seems to be less grasping than Visa which "charges" about 0.8%.
 
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Can I ask what the charges are for, are they for using an ATM in Greece, or are they currency conversation charges? We have Euro and USD accounts with Citi Bank and we hoping to use them (as appropriate) without incurring charges. There are no charges to us from Citi Bank, though I'm in the US at the moment and being charged USD3 for ATM withdrawals but that seems to be a local thing. thanks, Malc
 
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