Travel money cards

[Emjem]

We are going to Florida in November and normally we would take a combination of us dollars and travellers cheques. This year we have been advised to take an preloaded travel card, we have never used this type of card before and are a little unsure how they work. Are they safe? Can you use them in most places? Do people generally take cards and cash for smaller purchases, for example ice-creams/drinks etc? We have the Disney dining plan so how would we go about leaving tips? Which travel card would people recommend? (I have just read the fairfx thread)
Sorry for all the questions but any advice would be appreciated

 

[queendisney]

this question comes up a lot on here...but basically its all down to personal choice.

We still take t/chqs and cash. We tried the pre paid card but just didn't like it. Found it a pain to keep track of the balance. T/chqs are still taken as cash and the 'advised to take' advise is just a selling thing that agents tend to use. They are not doing away with t/chqs.

 

[chmurf]

First of all, how is your bank doing with fees for foreign currencies ?
Is it worth it getting a prepaid money card ?

I'll tell you of my own experience.

I get cash money from Travelex. Last february I went to their office and they ripped me off with fees for cash.
Now I've discovered that if I order the money through the internet, I can pick it up at their office without the fees ... (that's in France, maybe the UK travelex has other terms)

Then I saw that they have a prepaid mastercard that works like a mastercard.
The catch is that they have a £10 opening fee. And a 6.5% loading fee.

We have 2 gold mastercards from our bank (ING/Orange) and they only charge 2% fee ( exchange rate calculated at time of transaction)

So in the end, the only reason why I should choose the travelex mastercard is if I bet that the USD will strengthen by 5 or so % before october. (Not gonna happen, and even if it did, there are other fees and inactivity clauses, and whatnot)

In the end, it's cheaper to withdraw your cash in the US. (Some ATMs will charge you, for example the Chase ATMs at WDW will charge you $2 per transaction, wether you withdraw $20 or $500)
But it still comes much cheaper than any exchange fee back home (at least those I've been offered)

For the rest, I used to use travellers cheques, but I've come to like my mastercard.
I withdraw enough cash to last me a few days. And I pay any purchase that's below $25 in cash.
Reason for that is that there is a 2% fee on purchases made in $ on my mastercard. But there is also a minimum of 0.5€ fee on such operations.
So any purchase under $25 with my card would have me pay higher a fee than the 2% i'm willing to pay.


So, see, there are many things to consider. Sometimes you're already well equipped enough and using travellers cheques might only be adding weight in your luggage.
Once you know how much it would cost you to use your own bank, you'll be able to know if a prepaid card or travellers cheques are worth it for you

 

[T1gger]

I used a Fairfx card last time - had a link from MSE so didn't have to pay any fees to set up and don't have any fees to use it as a c/c - there is a per transaction fee for w/d cash but we would w/d max amount ($300 I think) at a time

I am going to use it again this time as I checked around other options and checked our cards and it is still much cheaper to use the Fairfx card for cash w/d and their rate is still among the best - I also like that when I pay to it then the transaction is done at the current rate - no checking for where to get the best rate to change travellers cheques when we get there

Last time I kept a record of what we had spent and just tallied it at the end of the day - this time I am planning on taking my netbook so will be able to check my balance online

 

[queendisney]

- no checking for where to get the best rate to change travellers cheques when we get there

but you shouldn't be having to check rates...you should be buying them in US$ in the first instance. They are treated exactly like cash, so if you hand over a $50 t/ch for something costing $20 you will receive $30 in US dollar notes..

 

[T1gger]

See - that's how long it has been since I used travellers cheques - I have no idea how they work now

 

[queendisney]

See - that's how long it has been since I used travellers cheques - I have no idea how they work now

thats why I don't like the cards because I am too set in my ways and don't take any technology with me to check balances! I like to see what I have, be able to count it out on the bed!

 

[T1gger]

lol

 

[chmurf]

See - that's how long it has been since I used travellers cheques - I have no idea how they work now

Must have been a reaaaaaally long time
I used them over 20 years ago, and they already were in the local currency ($) and could be used as cash almost anywhere in the US (even in some remote indian outpost in new mexico you'd have sworn came straight from the 19th century)

 

[T1gger]

Must have been a reaaaaaally long time
I used them over 20 years ago, and they already were in the local currency ($) and could be used as cash almost anywhere in the US (even in some remote indian outpost in new mexico you'd have sworn came straight from the 19th century)

Probably about 20 years and it would have been Cyprus and before that Spain and I am pretty sure we took Sterling TC's though you now both have me doubting my memory - cant think why else we would compare rates though?

 

[Duck In Blue]

We had always taken traveller cheques but on our trip before last (2010) we had a lot of trouble getting Travellers Cheques from Thomas Cook. We had pre-ordered them for collection at the airport to get a better rate but when we turned up they didn't have enough (so what the point of pre-ordering them was I really don't know ). They kept on trying to get us to take the money card but we resisted and in the end they got the cheques for us from another branch in the terminal.

On that trip though we didn't find them quite as easy to use as we had before. Disney was fine but other shops, such at the outlet malls, would want additional ID, would quite often go and get a manager to process the transaction and a few wouldn't take cheques over $50 due to forgeries. We wished that we had taken the card after all. So on our last trip (2011) this is what we did and it was so much easier for us that it's what we're doing again this year. We also now take travel money cards to whatever destination we go.

As a PP has already said though, it is all down to personal choice and I do appreciate that is easier (if you don't have internet access) to keep track of your finances with the cheques. For us though, the card was just so much quicker to use that's what we're sticking with from now on.

 

[queendisney]

We had always taken traveller cheques but on our trip before last (2010) we had a lot of trouble getting Travellers Cheques from Thomas Cook. We had pre-ordered them for collection at the airport to get a better rate but when we turned up they didn't have enough (so what the point of pre-ordering them was I really don't know ). They kept on trying to get us to take the money card but we resisted and in the end they got the cheques for us from another branch in the terminal.

On that trip though we didn't find them quite as easy to use as we had before. Disney was fine but other shops, such at the outlet malls, would want additional ID, would quite often go and get a manager to process the transaction and a few wouldn't take cheques over $50 due to forgeries. We wished that we had taken the card after all. So on our last trip (2011) this is what we did and it was so much easier for us that it's what we're doing again this year. We also now take travel money cards to whatever destination we go.

As a PP has already said though, it is all down to personal choice and I do appreciate that is easier (if you don't have internet access) to keep track of your finances with the cheques. For us though, the card was just so much quicker to use that's what we're sticking with from now on.

We have never had a problem anywhere in Orlando, malls, outlets, wdw, universal etc using them. Never been turned down anywhere in USA either. We do always take ID with us but most of the time they don't ask for that either. Its always been as quick as using any form of payment. We ended up with a few dollars on our cash card but had a sheet of paper which we carried round with us to write down each time we used it or we had to keep/ask for receipts so we knew what we had left on it. If we had or took ipads etc with us then it would have been no probs but we just don't bother.
I hate the way the agents try and get you to take cards, its just cheaper for them to do it...they would rather you took it and therefore push it..but honestly t/chq are totally fine.
One day I might try the cash cards again..

 

[GirlDreamer]

I'm trying the Post Office's money card this trip. They don't charge any commission, and there's only any fees if you withdraw money from a cash machine. I'm taking about $150 in cash to deal with smaller purchases and to have some cash for the toll for the rental car. I figure it's easier with a money card as I've got the option to top it up with no fees if I need more money. I've no idea how much I'll need, so I like the idea of being able to just transfer a bit more if I need it.

 

[Chris and Pooh]

Please be aware from someone who has suffered from a major failing with these cards.

I made a large purchase with a caxtonfx card at Macys when it was realised that a mistake had been made with the transaction so Macys refunded the card and then repeated the transaction correctly however we found to our horror that the refund was not instant and took nearly a week to return to my account - the day after we returned home! This meant that a lot of our holiday money had temporarily disappeared leaving us short for the rest of the holiday. So if you decide to get one please ensure that you split your holiday money into cash and or travellers cheques as well

 

[Emjem]

Thanks for all the info, we have never had a problem with t/chqs in the past and like to keep track of what we have spent however I guess this would be just as easy going to cash machines and withdrawing money. I am a little concerned about mistakes made during transactions and how long it takes to get refunds, but we always have a backup plan just is case anything unexpected happens. I'll let yous know what we decide.

 

[daveymc]

We allways take a mixture of cash and travellers cheques, you know exactly how much you have left with those.

Everytime we have purchased currency they have tried to steer us to a prepaid money card and we have declined, its easier for them as they don't have to carry the physical currency and probably get commision for someone taking the card out.

Its down to personal choice, we like the ability to split the cash and travellers cheques to a daily ammount to help us budget.