Money abroad

"You could have simply went to an atm made a cash withdrawal then took the cash and bought your euros. You would then have only been charged roughly 1% of the total in interest if you paid in full the following month. I used a debit card years ago to buy £1000 in US dollars I was charged £30 for using money in my own account. "

had i known this Fisherman i would have done what you suggest. I was assured by 3/4 different Halifax staff when i got the clarity card that there would be no charges for using the card. None of them said "unless you use it to buy cash". i did set up a monthly payment from my current account to pay my clarity in full every month.
 
spigot said:
I always take loads of cash, I have a customer in Germany who likes to unload readdies & I also try to buy a load when the exchange rate is high.
I have no worry of theft as the dosh is hidden under trim, the only way to access this is to open a door & every door has a professionally fitted deadbolt, if they got in through a window they might find up to 200euros.
This year we took 4000euros which lasted us 5 months, I reckon they worked at 1.30e to the £1.
Another reason for taking cash is Mucho Descuentos, it's amazing the deals that can be done when you offer the folding & don't ask for a bill!
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So what happens if the van is nicked or goes up in smoke. :unsure:
 
We have a Santander zero card which has good rates and no fees. Use that for supermarket pumps. Otherwise take a prepaid card which charges no fees for cash withdrawals or purchases in euros. Always have a backup credit card just in case, but never used it. Change prepaid card when booking each year if there are betterdeals. Look at moneysupermarket.com for suggestions.
 
As well as the Halifax Clarity I have a caxton card which I load with euros from my UK online bank. Only put as much on as I need at the time and then withdraw it from a fee free ATM. Be careful as some try to give you their exchange rate when they clock it as a UK card. Make sure you say NO to their exchange calculation.
 
Hide money in your boot soles.
 

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***** said:
We know a French Caravaning couple who stuff their money inside the cassette.
Obviously they don't use it for body functions, as they use the site toilets and a night potty
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Thats one i would not mind being tippet through my letter box. ;)
 
trevskoda said:
So what happens if the van is nicked or goes up in smoke. :unsure:
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The van is well & truly immobilised, can’t think why anyone would want my old van anyway.
The Gyppos usually go for the bigger jobs.
Going up in 🔥 when I’m not there is something I’ll have to take a chance on.
 
***** said:
We know a French Caravaning couple who stuff their money inside the cassette.
Obviously they don't use it for body functions, as they use the site toilets and a night potty
Click to expand...

What happens if they’re taken short whilst travelling?!!.
 
TeamRienza said:
You need to look at the Starling bank online current account. It has all of capabilities of a standard account but includes the following features (in no particular order)
1. Preload the card with sterling at no cost.
2. Lock the card when not in use.
3. no fees for atm or purchases here or abroad. Instant notification to phone or tablet of transaction.
4. Perfect exchange rate ( I moved some from my sterling account to the euro account at 1.166 today. Cost 40p per £100)
5. same rate applies to atm and purchases.
6. No limit to withdrawals, Max£300 per go. Same as home.
7. Interest paid on credit balance.
8. Euro account using Same card and pin. Select on your phone which account to pay from, so load euros when rate is good.
9. No issues at fuel stations etc as a proper debit account.
10. Has all the features of a proper current account, so direct debits etc can be set up.
12. Lodge cash at post offices
Click to expand...

I’m a great fan of Starling for all the reasons you quote

BUT..
I used my Starling to get some cash from a Santander ATM in Spain.
Starling didn’t charge me … Santander did!

The next day I used my Santander Debit card at the same ATM .... no charge.

Also I think it is limited to £300 per day, not "per go".
 
You are of course correct. £300 per day. My error. The atm charges could of course happen with any Uk card I suppose, however now my Starling card serves a Euro account also, I am hoping that this makes atm dynamic rate exchange a thing of the past.

Davy
 
If your coming over with euros that you got from your bank make sure they are the new one's we have changed out 50.and 100 notes and soon the 5 .and 10 will be changing some places will not except the old notes and tell you to take them to a bank to try and change them over .
 
We use Nationwide credit cards for most spending. Set it up so it is repaid IN FULL, each month, it's so easy to forget when you are in a different routine.
Also prepaid master card for withdrawing cash. You need so much when buying from markets, antique shops, bakery and small shops who don't want cards. I top this up when it is a good price. Make sure you always have some spare cash for places that don't accept our credit cards, there are some in Germany and Belgium.
 
We use CaxtonFX (Mastercard) card which you load up via web or phone app with the currency you wish. We have 2 cards each (each has its own pin) just in case we loose one or more and they're all to the one account. And we have at times misplaced or thought we had lost a card in which case we just blocked the card until it found then reactivated it. Theres no charges for transactions, no charges for cash withdrawal at banks or ATM's (except if you use or withdraw in UK). Theres a currency buy back option but we never bother. You can block or activate cards instantly via web or app. You can view all your transactions on web or app. As Jann said there are places in Germany and Belgium that won't take Mastercard but will take Visa so we always carry some cash for where you cant use cards. Would hate to have to carry a big wad of cash.
 
The problem I had with loading up a card as I used to do before using the clarity card, was we had to guess how much we needed and sometimes we got that wrong. Plus we had to keep tabs on what we had withdrawn, and we erred there also once forgetting about a 100e withdrawal I had made. :eek:
With the clarity card no pre loading is required. You can go to an atm make your withdrawal then you have two choices. Pay at end of month and pay about 1%, or transfer the money into your clarity card right away and pay nothing. Also as I stated already for normal credit card transactions there is no charge.
 
CAXTON FX
Just opened an account, 2 options, one free (our choice), the other was £5/mth for more services.
During the application had other choices of what card type - Visa / Visa Electron / Mastercard / Maestro ? No explanation of which was preferred or why offered.
At same time had to preload minimum of £10 of a currency (we chose £25 of euro) - oddity was that the greater amount loaded ie 400 the rate worsened.
Whole process took 10 mins even with me testing exchange rates (1.1530 euro = £1 today).
Went to Belgium yesterday exchange rate was 1.17 so i guess we took a Brexit hit.
 
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