Am going to France on June for about 2 months (maiden voyage!!) and trying to work out how to take enough money with me in safety, with minimal hassle and without paying too many fees. Will have some cash and my Tesco credit card and thought a prepaid card seems better as a third choice rather than taking travellers cheques.
Can anyone point me in the right direction as to which prepaid cards are the more easily accepted in France - looking on moneyexpert.com the FairFx and CaxtonFx are mentioned but financial jargon is a foreign language to me. The Camping & Caravanning Club also have a prepaid MasterCard and the site seems to give a reasonable amount of information about it.
Apart from getting cash out of ATM machines in France (once I work out what and where they are!) can you use the card in supermarkets or paying campsite fees as you would if using a credit/debit card?
Any help gratefully accepted as planning this trip has been exciting but also a mountain of learning things the hard way!!
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We never take cash to France, the cash points are readily available and i never seem to pay huge charges, although im sure other people will know more about that. All the shops, resteraunts etc all have chip and pin like we do. I wouldnt have thought there was any need to take cash with you.
We never take cash either, except the odd amount I've got left in my wallet when we come home. We withdraw cash from bank machines just like at home, and will pay bills in supermarkets, fuel stations, etc., with our credit card which will be paid off by direct debit even whilst we're away.
ATM's in France look just as they do at home, and generally 'speak' to you in English. They are outside branches of all the large banks, and also in the foyers of many of the bigger supermarkets. There is usually a sign in the supermarket entrance indicating that there's a cash machine available somewhere.
We just use our Nationwide Debit card (which was transaction and commission free until last November) - the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society are also offering a transaction/commission free debit card for use in Europe at the moment. As far as the pre-paid cards are concerned, I've never used one personally, but I understand that all the pre-paid cards are accepted in France, except in petrol stations.
Don't take Travellers' Cheques - they are a waste of time and money. You'll find it difficult to find a bank which will cash them, and you'll pay an awful lot of commission.
Last year we used Thomas Cook, pre paid card. Had no problems using it until oh decided this machine was going to have his card one way or another And the machine swallowed it, rang the help line and within 24 hours had another card.
------------- 2013.
Time to say goodbye
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I use caxton fx card which has a mastercard logo and we are in france at the moimet and have paid for everything with it, we just take out cash at the atm to pay for stuff like coffee and the occassional baker that turns up at camp sites with their wonderful baquettes and croissonts.
The caxton card doesnt have a fee and I have the knowledge that if it does happen to get stolen I can ring them up and have the card stopped and I dont have my usual bank cards compromised with ID fraud and the like.
I do have the santander credit card as well which I could use in an emergency but as I use wi fi to get on the net , that is not safe enough to access my banking details so didnt want to have to worry about paying them when we are still out here for 2 months.
Many of you say thare are no fees with pre paid cards like Caxton FX - but in fact there are several.
If you use one of their Euro cards in the UK (such as for fuel on the way to the Channel) there's a fee, if you use it on the ferry for anything priced in sterling (for a meal perhaps, or to buy in things the shop ) there's a fee, if you go outside the Euro zone (to Switzerland perhaps) there's a fee, if you put too much money on the card and want to refund it when you get home there's a fee, and of course if you draw out your savings from a building society to load the card in advance you lose interest on your money for all that time.
And if people are right when they tell me these cards won't work in certain situations like automatic petrol stations then I won't bother - I'll stick to a credit card which has no fees at all for purchases, and then pay weeks later when I get back rather than pay in advance.
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Your input has been very helpful. I will use the prepaid card only in France, and it sounds ideal rather than worrying about losing cash in my travels. I will use my credit card only when necessary. Since I will be using my laptop in France, I had already decided not to log in to any banking accounts due to security issues with Wi-Fi. So my son will be left with a cheque to pay my Tesco credit card bill if needed (he tells me that he is more trustworthy than a bank!!?).
The C&C site gives a lot of information about their prepaid card, so will phone them up to double check that I've understood everything and then take a deep breath and commit myself!!
Why would you want to use a euro card in this country? Thats what your bank account debit card is for. I have had a Caxton FX card for 4 years and it has been totally fee free with an excellent rate of exchange and on the very rare occasion I have needed an automatic petrol station the I just resort to my debit card. Losing interest on your savings is hardly something to worry about either with the mickey mouse interest rates in this country. Euro cards are the modern day equivelent of the travellers cheque and a safe easy way to take your holiday money to europe.
We have always used a mixture of cash and credit card. We take some euros with us from the UK for small purchases and campsites, and use the credit card for supermarkets, petrol, tolls. We took out a separate credit card so the bank can track the purchases as France, and in case of card retention we both have a card. We don't have any extra charges, apart from the normal exchange rate, which isn't much different from the daily rate.
Sure there are lots of ATM cash points overseas - but the question is which is the best card to use to get your money out. Use the wrong one and you'll pay about 4.5% in charges every time.That's what readers have been concerned about.
We used to use Nationwide (debit and credit) for all cash and spending abroad. Even with the extra charges on debit cards it's still not a bad deal.
As we're on a longer trip this year I've taken the trouble to take out a Halifax Clarity credit card....which we'll just use for withdrawing euros. No foreign fees or cash loading charge normally associated with credit cards. We will pay interest from the day it is withdrawn until it is settled but the rate is low and it works out very cheap).
If we're organised we'll pay off cash withdrawals via online transfer within a day or so. Failing that I've set it up for each statement to be settled in full by direct debit. You can't put money on in advance (i.e. have a credit balance).
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Topic: Taking Money to France
And the machine swallowed it, rang the help line and within 24 hours had another card.
