Travel Money Card
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Travel Money Card
This may interest people like myself who are UK resident but travel frequently to our base in France. To make day-to-day spending in France easier, I took out a Monarch Travel Money card in euros. The advert says no annual charge. This has worked fine until now. The card expiry date came and as I did not cancel the card and have my balance returned to my UK bank, a new Monarch card was issued. When I looked at my Monarch account statement I noted that I had been charged £6 for the new continuation card, so there is an annual charge! In retrospect I should have let the first account "die" and made a freshh application for a euro card either with Monarch or someone else. Monarch has now returned my £6 but made no comment re above. Beware!
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There are online accounts which offer free cards, but maybe not easily accessible to non-French residents. Otherwise you do pay an annual fee: I have always resented it, but not to the point of doing without. If you spend more than, say, £1-2000 a year here, you are likely to cover the fee by the savings you can make on transaction fees and foreign-exchange loadings, as compared with a UK-based card.
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The card I have gives 3c per pound less than the actual exchange rate and no charge for spending with the card or withdrawing mone from a cash point when in France (or any other European country).
I have now upgraded my Nationwide Flex Plus account. For a fee of £10 per month I have worldwide travel insurance, car breakdown cover in Europe (and UK) so have dropped my RAC membership(£70.95 p.a.). Also I can now withdraw from ATMs in Europe without charge. This may be a good account for other UK based "travellers"to consider.
My French account at the moment is used mainly for direct debits in France and a cheque book for occasional use.
I have now upgraded my Nationwide Flex Plus account. For a fee of £10 per month I have worldwide travel insurance, car breakdown cover in Europe (and UK) so have dropped my RAC membership(£70.95 p.a.). Also I can now withdraw from ATMs in Europe without charge. This may be a good account for other UK based "travellers"to consider.
My French account at the moment is used mainly for direct debits in France and a cheque book for occasional use.
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The FX dealer I use gives "actual exchange rates" and charges 0.5% fee (half a centime per €) for transactions over £200. Compared to a 3% load, and reckoning €30 for the card fee, a French bank card breaks even after about €1,200 a year (or €2,400 for you and your spouse). And that is disregarding the fact that you pay up-front with pre-pay cards: your money is earning interest (little enough) for them not you.Lanark Lass wrote:The card I have gives 3c per pound less than the actual exchange rate and no charge for spending with the card or withdrawing mone from a cash point when in France (or any other European country).
I have now upgraded my Nationwide Flex Plus account. For a fee of £10 per month I have worldwide travel insurance, car breakdown cover in Europe (and UK) so have dropped my RAC membership(£70.95 p.a.). Also I can now withdraw from ATMs in Europe without charge. This may be a good account for other UK based "travellers"to consider.
My French account at the moment is used mainly for direct debits in France and a cheque book for occasional use.
Your Nationwide deal sounds better than most "packaged" accounts, but unfortunately not available to us French residents. In theory, I am not entitled to any account with them at all (at least if I were a new customer). But they seem content, so far, to live with my change to a French account address: has any one here had grief with them?
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Bringing your dosh in folding money is about the most expensive and insecure way you can do it - and illegal if done in large enough amounts without declaration. But I guess it depends on how you got it.....Geoman wrote:I know they charge monthly fee,s but a French current account is easiest way, get cash in UK from Ramsdens, Cheque Centre etc then bring it out & deposit it in French account then you have use of French card.
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Ramsdens are currently quoting €1.1734 to a pound: my best-buy FX dealer is quoting €1.195458 (slightly worse for transactions under £200). And no need to go to their branch to pick it up, nor to your French bank to pay it in. Rates at UK banks are bad, and Ramsdens do a pretty good rate if you need cash, but there are better alternatives to top up your bank account.Geoman wrote:The rates we get for cash are miles better than bank rates,no commission & no transfer fee.
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Who do you use? Sometimes what Ramsdens,s etc quote online isn't what you get in store. Where I go there is 3 different money shops & also travel agents all fighting for buisness & we seem to get good rates compared to others I have spoken too. Last week I got just over 1.20 which is best I have seen for a long time.
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I use transferwise.com. I doubt whether you will find a better rate elsewhere unless the shop has forgotten to update their rate. They take 50p in £100 off the middle-market rate: they are quoting 1.192 currently (which is exactly 0.005 off the middle-market rate given by xe currency) but rates have slipped a bit since last week. You get the rate at the time they complete the transaction: sometimes a bit worse than the one first quoted, and sometimes a bit better. But absolutely the cheapest, in my recent experience.Geoman wrote:Who do you use? Sometimes what Ramsdens,s etc quote online isn't what you get in store. Where I go there is 3 different money shops & also travel agents all fighting for buisness & we seem to get good rates compared to others I have spoken too. Last week I got just over 1.20 which is best I have seen for a long time.