Pre_Paid Cards

colosborne

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We use "WeSwap" cards and generally find them very good. The only problem we have found when buying petrol in France is that some Supermarket chains deduct 150E then give you a receipt for the fuel you bought and keep the difference for 3 _ 7 days before repaying the Ballance. Our advice is buy where there is a local cash desk ( getting more difficult). We have had no problems with SuperU, but avoid Carrefore!
Another time they took money off my card and then refused to sell petrol, (Pugeot Boxer) there was a woman yelling at us over the CCTV that we should have diesel. We gave up in the end, they would have kept our cash for a week, but having the receipt, WeSwap sorted it the next day.
 
Even mentioned before but we’ve been using Metro bank around Europe. A normal bank account with no European charges and works just fine. However we have just opened starling bank accounts as these are free to use worldwide No hassle with the preloading cards and exchange rates are good.
 
Many pre-paid cards advise not to use them at petrol stations. As you have found they "block" a fairly large amount which is then "refunded" some days later. Better to use a credit card like Halifax Clarity for petrol/diesel.
 
We use monzo - no charges abroad on card payments and £200 monthly cash allowance
Exchange rate is MasterCard prevailing rate at time of transaction.
 
Get a halifax clarity for petrol stations and toll roads and Revolut (or weswap if you prefer) for everything else. Sorted.
 
Clunegapyears said:
£200 monthly cash allowance wouldn’t go far with us!
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Assuming that's not tongue in cheek, you can also use most of these pre-paid cards as debit cards for payments. Revolut has a cash withdrawal allowance of £200 after which you pay a fee; Caxton doesn't, but hasn't such a good exchange rate when loading; Halifax Clarity credit card has an excellent exchange rate and you can also withdraw cash - and if you pay it off more or less immediately you won't be charged interest.

It seems that a lot of cash machines in Spain are charging for withdrawals now, according to other forums, ranging from around €1.50 to quite a bit more. Last year Ibercaja didn't charge us a fee.

We use Revolut, Caxton and Halifax Clarity. Other cards are available.
 
Only slightly tongue in cheek ... but seriously we probably pay for coffees, drinks, food in markets, ice creams, aires sometimes, and the odd lunch etc all with cash.
I believe with the Halifax Clarity you have to pay the whole balance off to avoid charges.
Metro Bank and Starling bank accounts are the way to go IMO.
 
The £200 monzo cash limit is the amount of cash you can withdraw with out a transaction fee. Because you can make any amount of card , contactless or Apple Pay transactions without any fee we use these payment methods on most occasions- much better than the £1.50 fee Santander charge on any foreign transaction. Any over £200 cash withdrawal we just accept the nominal fee. The monzo phone app is also great for tracking your spending.
 
re Halifax, I should have said "you won't be charged much interest" if you pay it all off the same day. I only did this once in 5 years as we had no other option at the time, as the ATM in the small village wouldn't accept the pre-paid cards.

I think there's no single "best buy" as different cards suit different people. Best to have a couple of options that have low or no charges, a decent exchange rate and avoid the debit cards from Hell (Moneysavingexpert).
 
I use a Halifax Clarity card. I have a Halifax bank account as well just to "feed" the card account. If there is money owing on the card, you can overpay from the bank account putting the card in credit, in effect loading the card and therefore avoiding any interest.
 
I hardly ever use cash abroad now, probably only on market., Bars, cafes supermarkets all take cards, most contactless so the 200 euro limit on a revolut card is no problem.
 
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