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Started by MagicalPen, August 03, 2012, 03:31:02 PM

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MagicalPen

So I am at a dilemma. Well, just not quite sure what to do.

I have a Debit Card and a Credit Card. I am in the USA. I will be spending a month overseas - in the UK (stirling) and Ireland (Euro). I am trying to figure out the best way to handle money.

I believe my CC has a 3% fee for international charges. I think it allows me to withdraw cash (will call them in a few to confirm) but I was planning on mostly using the CC for buying things (aka Food, Ferry, Train Tickets, etc). 

Going to go into my bank tomorrow and figure out the debit card fees etc and see if there is a better option. I will need a fair bit of local-cash (Wales and Ireland and N.Ireland) for paying for campsites that only accept cash.

Does anyone have any recommendations or better ideas?

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Lilias

You might want to look into a prepaid credit card. Most have low limits, so it's not a disaster if it's lost or stolen, and you can choose to withdraw cash from your balance, probably at a per-case interest.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

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Callie Del Noire

Not to mention if you get a prepaid, you MIGHT be able to get one that you can refill online and avoid the international charges. Something to look into, as if varies by card service.

Trieste

You can use a prepaid credit card as mentioned. Carrying a small amount of cash on you is generally a good idea (I personally carry no more than $40 on me when traveling, and usually I stick to $20). You can look into travelers cheques and see if those would suit your needs. Often your bank can guide you on ways to pay for things abroad while still protecting your money and your person.

Beguile's Mistress

Working with you bank is good and make sure they notate your account with the information of which cities you will be in and when so that if you do use your credit or debit cards you won't run into problems with a purchase or cash withdrawal not being approved.

Oniya

Traveler's checks were the way to go when I was traveling abroad.  Using the bank card can rack up fees.
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MagicalPen

Draw a line from the SW of England to the NE of Scotland, then another along length of Wales, and then draw a circle around Ireland - those are all the cities :P

I've notified by CC that I will be in the UK + Ireland for 40 odd days - with start and end dates of my trip. So they're aware. Have not notified my Debit Card bank yet.

Part of my...issue is that half my trip will use the Stirling Pound and the other half will use the Euro (my last tour, we only had 3 days on Swiss Franks during an entire month, rest of time was on the Euro) so wasn't so much an issue.

I'm going to have to carry more cash then that - each campsite is around 5 - 12 MONEY (either Euro or Stirling) plus i'll need said coins for laundry and some showers (some sites have free hot showers). Its also nice to have some cash when buying some candy (instead of using a card) and some places don't/won't accept cards of any sort. I will be in some pretty rural places for 3 of 4 days in Wales, and majority of time in Ireland. Heck, some of the places I will be in don't speak English as their common tongue!

Googling Prepaid Cards UK takes me here mostly: http://www.money.co.uk/prepaid-cards.htm

Is that the right sort of thing I am looking for?


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Lilias

Quote from: MagicalPen on August 03, 2012, 05:17:51 PM
Googling Prepaid Cards UK takes me here mostly: http://www.money.co.uk/prepaid-cards.htm

Is that the right sort of thing I am looking for?

I've had a Virgin for three years and I'm very happy with it, but it looks like you can get even better deals now.

Keep in mind that you will need a postal address in the UK where you can receive your card (2-3 days after application).
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

MagicalPen

My Uncles house is smack in the middle of the UK, so I would use that address. So complicated all this stuff >.<

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Cecilia

We got a chip and pin prepaid card from http://www.cashpassport.com/ --one in euros and one in sterling at our local travelex office.  You get the card right on the spot,and you an add money from your bank as you go.  We used it as our ATM when our regular ATM had reached its daily maximum or when only a chip and pin card would work.  Like at gas stations and convenience stores in the UK.  We found only cash worked well in most places in Ireland outside the cities and had to drive thirty minutes to get to an ATM to pay for a bed and breakfast that only took cash or PayPal.  PayPal refused our payment because we were accessing our account away from our regular IP.  That was reallllly annoying.


MagicalPen

Yes, that looks like the best way to get cash - using that card as an ATM card. I will be pretty rural in Ireland, but not planning on spending much per day. The exchange rate certainly sucks and I'd love to avoid paying bank fees, so I think I might go with that Travelex option. Gonna dig around on it a bit first - other then delivery, they must make money on such a card (aka whats the catch)...

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Cecilia

At the travelex store they just charge a fee of some sort.  It works just like a credit card, but some places don't take our straight horizontal swipy things.  I use a small credit union, so I talked to the guy at the counter and he understood that I might make transfers from our checking to the travelex account while abroad, and that the IP might or might not match the countries in which we were traveling as well.  He made a note in my account to accept the transfers to the Cashpassport.com.  I suspect if I had told PayPal I was going to be in ireland, they would have accepted the transaction.  As it was the only option they had for accepting it was to call my home phone to confirm the purchase.  Which was sort of like---uh...excuse me?  And they wouldn't let me change my phone number after that to my cell phone. 

Anyway, this last trip we used our chip and pin a number of times because it was our only choice in some places, but almost every place took our regular visa/debit card. 

Also--I highly suggest you take copies and keep them somewhere on the cloud in case you lose everything.  I use Evernote, but drop box would work.  Same for your passport.  But be leery of Internet cafes when retrieving such information as they are notorious for stealing passwords.

MagicalPen

I went ahead and got  Euro and Stirling card from that site you linked. I am bringing my own laptop at this point as most of the campsites have WiFi these days, or during the day I will be able to find some open WiFi spots. When in a major town (like Dublin or Cardiff) I will take out cash from the ATM and will be able to do that again 10 days into my Ireland segment when I make it to Galway/my Aunts house.

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