Hi everyone, hope you're all well!
I'm sorting out my first French holiday with my caravan and although we are still 49 days. 6 hours and 6 minutes away from setting off, (not that I'm counting...), I'm trying to get everything in place.
I took the advice of the camping and caravan club and purchased a Tuxedo pre-paid card to use instead of travellers cheques. The C&CC site states that the benefits are that I can top up by text or debit card etc. when we need more money on it. Ideal! I thought. However, I have just been informed that this is not the case and I can only top it up by either Bank transfer or by internet, using a registered debit card. Their site clearly states that it can be topped up by SMS but they are now saying that this is only to purchase the card in the first place?? What if we can't get internet? do we then have to find a bank and arrange a transfer? Do I just forget the £10 we paid and use the card as an ice scraper in the winter? Do we need this or can we just use our normal Nat West debit card to get money out and pay for stuff?
As I said, this is our first trip to France so I'm sorry if these questions seem a bit mundane but any advice would, as always, be gratefully received,
Cheers all,
Andy
------------- "Where ever you go, there you are!"
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
You can use your ordinary debit cards to pay for almost everything in France, campsite fees, supermarkets, fuel whatever & draw cash from atm's. France is as card friendly as UK. It is a slightly expensive way of doing it tho as a fee is charged for every transaction & withdrawal over & above whatever exchange rate you get. Check your bank's website for debit card charges for foreign transactions.
If you have a credit card you can use that as well. Many UK cards charge a 2.75% loading per transaction but you can apply for a fee free credit card, Post office or Halifax Clarity & there are a few more. A fee free credit card is cheapest/easiest way to go imho.
Most important nowadays is to inform your bank you will be using your cards abroad & give them dates or card could be refused & blocked.
I have just ordered my first FairFX card, the card is free and I loaded it with £50 worth of € at the time of ordering so got me €61.22, very good rate at £ = € 1.2245 on Tuesday last.
FairFX also give you £5 bonus when loading with £500 or more.
As for loading, so long as you can get on the interweb, there is not a problem, we will just pre-load the card before we go in anycase, as will only use the FairFX card for drawing cash out at ATM's.
All other purchases will be made with a Halifax Clarity Credit MasterCard, so no commision/exchange charges.
The FairFX card seems to be the best of the bunch at the moment, as is the Halifax Clarity Credit card.
There have been many forums on this subject and at the end of the day it comes down to choice.
Personally I do not own a Credit Card, so I have therefore opted to use a Caxton FX perpaid card, you can load 3 ways Internet,phone and SMS with a rate today of over 1.24 to the £
The only problem with using a Debit card is that each transaction will cost you in excess of £1.50.
The Caxton card is free you do not by it, you pay a one off payment of £10 and this is added to your account when you first load the card. so loading £100 will actually give you £110 in euro's
Sound advice palaceboy. With the volatile markets etc. at the moment I will stick with my Nationwide Debit card for cash and Nationwide Credit card which does not charge commission etc. when abroad. I would rather pay a small fee than lose everything. Hard times have made us all edgy.
Aparantly your money is safe with a pre-loaded FairFX card as it is held in a ringfenced account with a UK building society which is regulated by the FSA.
Whether that means you could still draw cash out with your FairFX card whilst on holiday, should they go bump remains to be seen!.
My take is to just load it with cash for incidentals, and use a none comm credit card for all other none cash purchases.
So if the worst did happen, you could resort to using a regular debit card for getting cash out.
What you have to ask youself is which is the bigger risk, walking around with a wadd of cash large enough to choke a donkey in your pocket, or the chances of FairFX loosing your money for you?.
Why would you walk around with a wad of cash in your pocket . Loads of places to secrete your money . There was a currency card that went bust in 2009 . All i.m saying is dont put all your eggs in one basket
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Oh, don't forget the little issue of the 'shadowed funds' which could affect use of the pre-paid cards... we fell foul of this. When buying fuel or paying a deposit, some banks will 'shadow' the amount you owe, effectively doubling the ££ of what you've just bought and taking that off your card... OK for credit cards, in theory but, with a pre-paid without a limit, except what you've loaded. this could mean that next time you go to use it, you find that you don't have enough 'free' money on your card to pay ... (I think I've explained this right ). So, we now use our credit card for fuel but use the pre-paid for shops and meals etc and for withdrawing cash.
------------- Camping - emotional resilience in action, a triumph of hope over adversity and antidote to virtual reality.
Quote: Originally posted by bridgeywidge on 21/5/2012
Oh, don't forget the little issue of the 'shadowed funds' which could affect use of the pre-paid cards... we fell foul of this. When buying fuel or paying a deposit, some banks will 'shadow' the amount you owe, effectively doubling the ££ of what you've just bought and taking that off your card... OK for credit cards, in theory but, with a pre-paid without a limit, except what you've loaded. this could mean that next time you go to use it, you find that you don't have enough 'free' money on your card to pay ... (I think I've explained this right ). So, we now use our credit card for fuel but use the pre-paid for shops and meals etc and for withdrawing cash.
I think Caxton FX cards are not acceptable for this type of transaction eg. hotel deposits , car hire deposits , some fuel stations etc etc not sure about other card suppliers
A mix of credit card for any larger transactions, currency ordered before you go and withdrawing cash using debit car has always worked for us for regular holidays. Obviously the longer you go away for the more of an issue it can become i guess, balancing safety with convenience.
Whilst funds are ring fenced it doesn't mean you will necessarily be able to get hold of them instantly if a curency exchange company went under so as someone quite rightly says above - don't put all your eggs in one basket. Even if you don;t want a credit card at home - having one for foreign travel just makes so much sense. Just set up a direct debit to pay off balance in full each month and its the same as using cash but much safer for carrying around
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Topic: pre loaded euro cards
). So, we now use our credit card for fuel but use the pre-paid for shops and meals etc and for withdrawing cash. 
