The continued plunge of £/€

[maxi77]

This card sounds as though it's just what I need. Looking at their website, it appears the maximum credit I can hold on the Fairfx card is the Dollar equivalent of £2400. Is that correct? I can't though, identify what the maximum amount I can withdraw from an ATM in one transaction is? Do you know?

I'm refitting my new (old) boat in Titusville, Florida and occasionally have cash transactions to settle for significant amounts of $1000+. I assume I can use the Fairfx card just like any other Mastercard in a normal retail outlet but for cash settlements, can I draw out those sort of sums instantly, via an ATM? (obviously provided the card is topped up beforehand so the balance is good for the amount).

Cheers, Brian.

No experience of the dollar version but I use the euro version for paying bills with no problems. The only problem I have had loading the larger ammounts is that my bank limits the ammoun t I can upload each day though Mrs Maxi's bank is not so restricted.

The ammount of cash you can draw each day the same as any other card which for us in Portugal is 400 euros in 2 batches

 

[charles_reed]

Hi Charles from moneysaving expert.com

"The Cheapest Overall: FairFx.
No spending or 'load' fees, plus free £5 bonus

The FairFX* prepaid card, which must be applied for online, charges no spending or foreign 'loading' fees, and can be topped up for free by debit card or bank transfer.

Apply via its own website and there's a £9.95 application fee, but the link above takes you through comparison site Moneysupermarket, meaning the fee is waived provided you load more than €10/$20.

To get the fee structure described here, you must select either Euros or Dollars - so obviously no good if you need a more exotic currency. If you go for the third option - the Anywhere card - you'll be hit with a 1.5% charge for every transaction.

However, with FairFx it's the rate on each day you load up (not spend) that counts. So if the pound strengthens after you load the card, you will lose out. Though conversely if it weakens you'd gain. You get a different rate each time you load the card.

The only cost is €1.50/$2 to withdraw cash from an ATM, less than most credit or debit cards. You get FairFx's own exchange rate, which changes daily but generally beats the other prepaid cards and cash rates (compare it with TravelMoneyMax.com's best)."

Having tried other cards (Halifax Clarity and Nationwide Credit) which were both recommended as giving good rates have found the Fairfx card better. Best feature is being able to fix the exchange rate when most favourable.
Would be very interested in the card you are looking at now

Suggest that, rather than relying on a website which is out-of-date and by its own admission directs you to "contributing" companies, you do your own research. Fairfax have just announced new charges

I think you'll find the advice is misleading, though I will accept that you can take advantage of swings in the £/€, you most definitely have to pay quite considerable premiums to enjoy that privelege.

 

[charles_reed]

Hi Brian, as above think you can take out up to 5000 euros a day but I have only taken out 500 euros at any one time as I do not want to leave too much money laying about. With my flex card was only allowed to take out 300 euros at one time - best wishes J.B.

From memory the Flex limit was £300, slightly more than €300, but still potentially a problem.

I found, especially with Italian banks, each bank had its own ATMS limit - in one case as low as €100.

Accept that the Mastercard prepaid attracts no surcharge from Ryanair - but I do try to avoid dealing with O'Leary, despite it being a challenge of the first order to outwit him and worthwhile for the intellectual exercise.

It reminds me of the Dutch saying - he's the sort of man you count your fingers after shaking on a deal with him.

 

[jordanbasset]

Suggest that, rather than relying on a website which is out-of-date and by its own admission directs you to "contributing" companies, you do your own research. Fairfax have just announced new charges

I think you'll find the advice is misleading, though I will accept that you can take advantage of swings in the £/€, you most definitely have to pay quite considerable premiums to enjoy that privelege.

Have to say Charles from experiencing this in real life situations have not found the considerable premiums you mention, don't get me wrong there are obviously premiums but they compare very favourably with other cards, if not the best they are certainly up there. Certainly and perhaps not surprisingly it is about 3% better in returns than my old Flex card and 2% better than the Halifax clarity card when you take into account all charges. Decided to take your advice and having checked their site it is confirmed on the below comparison with other providers(their figures)

"FairFX Currency Card Compared To Travel Cash Providers
Euro Dollar $
FairFX Currency Card 1.1425 1.5575
Marks & Spencer 1.1112 1.5394
HSBC 1.0882 1.4918
Post Office 1.1266 1.5439
Travelex (Airport) 1.0528 1.4374
Rates updated 28 Jan 2011 05:11 PM"

Do not think they are lying with this comparison. Only post it to give people info so they can make their own minds up a nd would still be very interested in that other card you mentioned, best wishes J.B.

 

[macd]

I was wryly amused to read the heading for this thread, 'The continued plunge of the £'.

I daresay Charles Reed is old enough to remember the crash way back in '08. If what the £ has been doing lately is a plunge (it's dropped around 4% in three weeks, but much of that from a transient peak), I'd urge Charles not to take up sky-diving. He'd starve to death before he reached the ground.

That said , the thread's thrown up lots of good info.

 

[charles_reed]

Unfortunately the one you left out was the baseline - mid-market rate at €1.16592 to £1. That's the mean price at which banks are trading the currency amongst themselves.

You are, of course, proving how we are robbed by the majority of card providers.
I'm surprised they (FairFX) didn't quote LloydsTSB or Barclays to get a really flattering comparison.

Like most I'm infuriated by the enormous bankers' screw.
I fear, whilst the authorities permit fractional reserve banking, we'll not be able to change the grasp they have on the Economy's testicles.
Meanwhile, using I'll use every opportunity to minimise their profits and, where possible, avoid using them.

In practice the only way to really check is to make a number of withdrawals through the various networks.
You'll note I'm concentrating on the € not the $US, the mid-market rate for that was $1.58693.

One aggravating factor, left out by all of us, is the charge made by the foreign ATMS provider - that makes the exercise infinitely more complex.

My search is driven by real-life experiences - I've been in and out of the UK in various countries for the last 12 years - and I'm fed up with being taken for a sucker.
I've been galvanised into activity by the changes made by Nationwide to their Flex and Visa accounts.

 

[jordanbasset]

Unfortunately the one you left out was the baseline - mid-market rate at €1.16592 to £1. That's the mean price at which banks are trading the currency amongst themselves.

You are, of course, proving how we are robbed by the majority of card providers.
I'm surprised they (FairFX) didn't quote LloydsTSB or Barclays to get a really flattering comparison.

Like most I'm infuriated by the enormous bankers' screw.
I fear, whilst the authorities permit fractional reserve banking, we'll not be able to change the grasp they have on the Economy's testicles.
Meanwhile, using I'll use every opportunity to minimise their profits and, where possible, avoid using them.

In practice the only way to really check is to make a number of withdrawals through the various networks.
You'll note I'm concentrating on the € not the $US, the mid-market rate for that was $1.58693.

One aggravating factor, left out by all of us, is the charge made by the foreign ATMS provider - that makes the exercise infinitely more complex.

My search is driven by real-life experiences - I've been in and out of the UK in various countries for the last 12 years - and I'm fed up with being taken for a sucker.
I've been galvanised into activity by the changes made by Nationwide to their Flex and Visa accounts.

Charles agree with you 100%, the banks are not our friends and they reward loyalty by making you pay more for less. I was rather stupidly a 'loyal customer' of Lloyds for 20 years until I woke up to the fact that I was getting nil in return. Now shop around and change whenever a better deal comes along. Probably not the thread for this rant but like you it does 'p**s' me off.

 

[maxi77]

The FairFX rate is typically 1.75 cents less than the headline rate, sometimes when the rate is changing a little faster than normal it can be 1.5 or 2 cents less.

You can also use them to transfer money from your £ account to a Euro accont at the same rates which is far better than getting your own bank to do it. At the end of the day the better rates they offer for the actual money changing more than compensates for the ATYM withdrawl charges here in the Algarve.

 

[Cariadco]

08????

I was wryly amused to read the heading for this thread, 'The continued plunge of the £'.

I daresay Charles Reed is old enough to remember the crash way back in '08. If what the £ has been doing lately is a plunge (it's dropped around 4% in three weeks, but much of that from a transient peak), I'd urge Charles not to take up sky-diving. He'd starve to death before he reached the ground.

That said , the thread's thrown up lots of good info.

...and which "08' would that be then? 1908, 1808??? hehehe

 

[charles_reed]

The FairFX rate is typically 1.75 cents less than the headline rate, sometimes when the rate is changing a little faster than normal it can be 1.5 or 2 cents less.

You can also use them to transfer money from your £ account to a Euro accont at the same rates which is far better than getting your own bank to do it. At the end of the day the better rates they offer for the actual money changing more than compensates for the ATYM withdrawl charges here in the Algarve.

I'm afraid I don't understand the "headline rate" as used in this context.

All I do know - by checking their site and the mid-market table - is that they charge a 5.4% premium for changing your £ into € as well as additional charges wef 01 March 2011.

I would agree that asking a UK bank to do anything is likely to result in a crippling charge.
However when I had a Credit Agricole account in France, I used to write a cheque on Lloyds, in my favour, and, 5 days later it would turn up as FF in my account with no charge at all - and CA paid me on the balance (about 0.5%).

I do not think either of the prepay cards is a good deal for anyone with a reasonable credit rating.

With regard to the crashes - I remember the '73-'75, '80-82, '90-92 and the 2008-10 ones, vividly. But in none of the previous ones did the banks behave in such an arrogant, venial and rapacious manner as they are on this occasion.

 

[maxi77]

I'm afraid I don't understand the "headline rate" as used in this context.

All I do know - by checking their site and the mid-market table - is that they charge a 5.4% premium for changing your £ into € as well as additional charges wef 01 March 2011.

I would agree that asking a UK bank to do anything is likely to result in a crippling charge.
However when I had a Credit Agricole account in France, I used to write a cheque on Lloyds, in my favour, and, 5 days later it would turn up as FF in my account with no charge at all - and CA paid me on the balance (about 0.5%).

I do not think either of the prepay cards is a good deal for anyone with a reasonable credit rating.

With regard to the crashes - I remember the '73-'75, '80-82, '90-92 and the 2008-10 ones, vividly. But in none of the previous ones did the banks behave in such an arrogant, venial and rapacious manner as they are on this occasion.

I do not see quite how the 1.75 cents less than the rate quoted as The rate in the press and other sources equates to 5.4%. Last night when I checked the rated quoted in the news media was 1.17 and FairFX were willing to change my pounds at 1.1525 with no other charges. That was not 5.4% when I did O Grade Arithmetic.

 

[jordanbasset]

I do not see quite how the 1.75 cents less than the rate quoted as The rate in the press and other sources equates to 5.4%. Last night when I checked the rated quoted in the news media was 1.17 and FairFX were willing to change my pounds at 1.1525 with no other charges. That was not 5.4% when I did O Grade Arithmetic.

Peter, with you on this, just tried a trial purchase, current commercial sterling exchange rate is 1.17, tourist rate is 1.14 (Post office and BBC as sources of information.)
Current rate I can get as of 2 minutes ago with Fairfx is 1.15 euros. In addition there is a fee of 1.50 - 2 euros for each time I withdraw money. However if you withdraw, for example 400 euros, this becomes less than 1/2 %. There are no other fees.

 

[charles_reed]

I do not see quite how the 1.75 cents less than the rate quoted as The rate in the press and other sources equates to 5.4%. Last night when I checked the rated quoted in the news media was 1.17 and FairFX were willing to change my pounds at 1.1525 with no other charges. That was not 5.4% when I did O Grade Arithmetic.

18:10 today

Fairfax quoted rate €1.1475 / £1

Median rate €1.16772 / £1

I'll leave you to work out the % "take" by Fairfax.

If you wish to continue in denial, don't let the facts put you off!

PS "Tourist" rate is for suckers

 

[jordanbasset]

18:10 today

Fairfax quoted rate €1.1475 / £1

Median rate €1.16772 / £1

I'll leave you to work out the % "take" by Fairfax.

If you wish to continue in denial, don't let the facts put you off!

PS "Tourist" rate is for suckers

Charles, I agree with your figures, similar to the ones I posted above and Maxi's. So the "take" by Fairfx is approximately 1.8%.(similar to the 1.75% maxi quoted) In addition you have the 1.50 - 2 euros for each time you use the card for withdrawal, cheaper than the 2% plus on other cards. The difference between us is I believe this makes the Fairfx a good value way of getting money abroad, but as already said if some one can show me a cheaper way of getting money I would jump at it.
Having a spanish or French bank account would not be of great help as we intend moving on and will be passing through several countries this year.

but probably boring others with this now so will leave it for others to look at it and make their decision

Best wishes J.B.

 

[charles_reed]

The median rate goes up and down (it's updated about every 6' on xe.com), so it's very difficult to "freeze" disparities.

If you're intending to stay a long time in any one country It's worth looking at opening a local account, otherwise a debit card from either Cumberland or Peterborough BS look to be pretty good on conversion prices, as is the Metro Bank.

Best of all, in theory and if you qualify, is the Santander Zero card.
In fact it's so good, on paper, that I have no intention of saying more about it till I've actually drawn some money through it.

All the others expect you to put money into them before you take it out - Santander Zero gives you up to 54 days credit.

Seems too good to be true...

 

[charles_reed]

The median rate goes up and down (it's updated about every 6' on xe.com), so it's very difficult to "freeze" disparities.

If you're intending to stay a long time in any one country It's worth looking at opening a local account, otherwise a debit card from either Cumberland or Peterborough BS look to be pretty good on conversion prices, as is the Metro Bank.

Best of all, in theory and if you qualify, is the Santander Zero card.
In fact it's so good, on paper, that I have no intention of saying more about it till I've actually drawn some money through it.

All the others expect you to put money into them before you take it out - Santander Zero gives you up to 54 days credit.

Seems too good to be true...