Cheapest way to spend in England Sterling Zone?

vicwatson

Credit Card Company charge 2.65% commission per purchase plus I'm sure a favourable Rate of Exchange to them STG/EUR

Is it cheaper just to take STG cash, I guess it is, An Post have no commission

I assume there is charges involved in using Visa Debit card too to get cash out of ATM's?

Any help/advice appreciated

Vic_08

vicwatson wrote: »

Credit Card Company charge 2.65% commission per purchase plus I'm sure a favourable Rate of Exchange to them STG/EUR

Is it cheaper just to take STG cash, I guess it is, An Post have no commission

I assume there is charges involved in using Visa Debit card too to get cash out of ATM's?

Any help/advice appreciated

You need to take into account the exchange rate as well as transaction charges, commission free is fine but if the rate is crap you can end up paying more overall.

Debit/credit card rates depend on the issuing bank, some can be crap others not so bad.

AFAIR Ulster bank debit cards have a good rate + no commission on £ withdrawals at any RBS group ATM.

Best for purchases would be Revolut card which gives interbank rates + no commission.

Fabio

If you are with Ulster Bank they're Visa Debit cards will give you free cash withdrawals from RBS ATMs which is great. They charge the usual fees at other ATMs though. The An Post pre-loaded MasterCard might be good too if the rate is decent.

Great question, I've always wondered what is the best way to save on spending money in a foreign currency.

vicwatson

Fabio wrote: »

If you are with Ulster Bank they're Visa Debit cards will give you free cash withdrawals from RBS ATMs which is great. They charge the usual fees at other ATMs though. The An Post pre-loaded MasterCard might be good too if the rate is decent.

Great question, I've always wondered what is the best way to save on spending money in a foreign currency.

I was looking at this An Post FX Mastercard alright, anyone know if there are charges associated with it, or is it a case of literally putting on say Stg 200.00 (at crappy rates) and spending it away like a regular visa/master card??, what if there is money left on it when you come home?

I assume An Post buy it back off you (at crappy rates of course) but without commission???

Is it accepted anywhere a regular visa/master card is?

shrapnel222

get a revolut card and app. cheapest option.

Fabio

It'd be accepted anywhere where a normal MasterCard is yeah and I think they give you back whatever balance is on the card if you want when you come home.

I'm going to check out this Revolut card though as I'm off to the US in a few days...

GeneralSherman

After much investigation we used the US Dollar An Post FX Mastercard last Summer and it worked out really well for us. I can't remember the full details but it was cheaper than using a credit card. The exchange rate was slightly worse than the bank rate but not extortionate. My husband and I each had a card on the same account and we check the balance once we registered the cards online (registering was a bit of a pain). We cashed in the leftovers when we came home.
One other thing which was very useful was that the An Post card was accepted by the bus company to pre-purchase 6 bus tickets from NY to DC. My BOI credit card was not accepted.
So overall a very positive experience here.

razorblunt

I use FairFx for when I travel home as they offer a EUR and USD card.
Not sure if they offer a GBP card but worth checking out, their margins are very good and they often offer you special rates better than the market so you can store cash on there as and when the market rate suits.