Best way to take spending money.

[Ann B]

Hi
Looking for some advice on the best way to take my spending money to WDW. I have a Post Office zero card which I use to pay for all our meals and any shopping that we do. In the past I have taken a mixture of dollars and travellers cheques which I then cash to get dollars for small bits and pieces and also for the childrens spending money. Are travellers cheques still the best way to do this? What are the alternatives? I have heard people on here talking about the fairfx card but I don't really know what it is - any advice? We go in a month so I guess I had better get myself organised!!
Thanks in advance
Ann

 

[orangetiggs]

we take a fairfx CARD AND WONT TAKE OUR CURRENCY ANY OTHER WAY NOW, soory left caps on

its normally a better rate than travel agents etc and we have nver had any problems with it

 

[Ann B]

Can you use it at a cash machine as well as in shops?

 

[orangetiggs]

yes you charged $2 per cash machine transaction but we found it still better than other ways

I used to take cash and travellers cheques but dont know

we ev en paid for our disney wedding with it, used it on honeymoon in mexico and had no problems

 

[Ann B]

Thanks orangetiggs that sounds good. If we just take cash out a few times in larger amounts then it won't cost much. How do you put money onto the card?
p.s. your girls are beautiful!

 

[orangetiggs]

thanks

www.fairfx.com

you load it on via a debit card well we do anyway from the website, you log into your account and do it from there, we have even loaded it in disney as we take our laptop

 

[Marks281172]

This sounds good, can i just clarify something.

Say i put £1000 on it today and got $1400 say.. have i bought and secured the $1400 or is it subject to change depending on the exchange rate.

Also.. is it possible to get a copy of the card for my girlfriend?

ta

 

[orangetiggs]

you secure the rate at what the rate is when you pay for it so yes if you buy today you get todays rate and it moves during the day so whatever you get when you pay for it

so at the moment its 1.45 and i just got some on mine and i got that rate, if it drops or rises it doesnt matter

no you would have to get a seperate card i beleive as you cant get a second card on the same account

 

[Marks281172]

Had a read up, looks really good, only thing that concerns me is I do see any talk about getting a card to you while on holiday if you did lose it.

Cancelling it wouldnt be a problem i guess if it were lost, but having to switch to using money from my bank account or a credit card would be a bit of a pain and could spoil the holiday a little.

 

[Pegasus928]

I do remember seeing a trip report in here where someone had all their money on the fairfx card. All was going well until someone in a shop put the wrong figure into the card reader (added a nought I believe) and took that amount. It effectively emptied their account and it would take 28 days to refund.
I accept that this is a potential problem with any card but what we tend to do is split our money between mine and DWs normal bank accounts, alternating which account we take it out of so they stay reasonably even. That way if we have a problem with one of them we always have a back up. We also take enough cash for the first few days, maybe even the first week depending on how mad we go.
We have never really been bothered by exchange rates and withdrawal charges whilst on holiday as we tend to just accept it as part of the holiday (plus all that 'working out' makes my head hurt).

 

[EPCOTFANROD]

Pegasus, that sounds like a top idea and one that I might adopt for next month. Is there any particular ATM machine you go to? i.e. belonging to a particular bank.

 

[BethEJo]

Hey.

We took the Thomas Cook currency card last year. We just loaded it with British cash before we went away at a Thomas Cook travel agents. It's a Visa Electron card, and you can use it anywhere. We used it in restaurants, in shops, at cash machines... I think it's basically the same thing as the FairFX.

We also took a small amount of cash too, just to have for when we first arrived.

I think taking the currency card is the easiest way to go - will allow you to avoid taking large amounts of cash around with you, and is easier than traveller cheques in my opinion.

Ooo, just remembered we took the Santander credit card too - we applied for it specifically to go on holiday to Orlando. 0% on transactions.

Hope this helps!
B

 

[2Tiggies]

We took the Thomas Cook currency card last year. We just loaded it with British cash before we went away at a Thomas Cook travel agents. It's a Visa Electron card, and you can use it anywhere. We used it in restaurants, in shops, at cash machines... I think it's basically the same thing as the FairFX.

Did you have no hassles using the card? I didn't know it was an electron card, that's why I ask. Electron isn't nearly as widely accepted as the regular Visa and Mastercard (Fair FX is a Mastercard).

 

[BethEJo]

Did you have no hassles using the card? I didn't know it was an electron card, that's why I ask. Electron isn't nearly as widely accepted as the regular Visa and Mastercard (Fair FX is a Mastercard).

ah right.
Well, we didn't have one single issue using the electron card. We were told by the travel agent that it would be accepted wherever it was advertised that visa would be accepted (pretty much everywhere you'll agree!). And that was true!

Maybe it's more popular in America. Like you said, I'm aware that electron is not accepted everywhere in the Uk.

I'd 100% recommend it.

it's easy to get your money back off it when you return too. The only thing I'd add is to remember to cancel it when you come back because there is some £2ish charge after a year if you don't use the card when you come back. But that's no hassle, you just pop into Thomas Cook.

Hope that helps!

 

[BethEJo]

I've just come across this thread about the Thomas Cook cash passport that I have been referring to: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2245631

not sure if you've come across it already.

 

[virginatlantic]

I do remember seeing a trip report in here where someone had all their money on the fairfx card. All was going well until someone in a shop put the wrong figure into the card reader (added a nought I believe) and took that amount. It effectively emptied their account and it would take 28 days to refund.
I accept that this is a potential problem with any card but what we tend to do is split our money between mine and DWs normal bank accounts, alternating which account we take it out of so they stay reasonably even. That way if we have a problem with one of them we always have a back up. We also take enough cash for the first few days, maybe even the first week depending on how mad we go.
We have never really been bothered by exchange rates and withdrawal charges whilst on holiday as we tend to just accept it as part of the holiday (plus all that 'working out' makes my head hurt).

This does happen!! last year used fairfx for the 1st time, and we had some fool in a shop put $774 on a transaction that was $74, they spotted it, we spotted it, but that amount was blocked when we looked on the internet saying pending, and that was for week
Then my sons girl friend had the same happen to her for $400 with that amount blocked for a week
So for it to happen to 2 of us in our party we see the fairfx as a problem and will never use it again.
Have been using travellers cheques and cash since we first went in 1992 and never had a problem go travellers cheques and cash

 

[Disneymad]

We usually take a couple of hundred $$ cash to tide us over initially.

We link the credit card to our reservation and use room charge for everything (and just pay off when we get home) and then the CC can stay in the safe the whole time unless we go off site.

We also have our debit card which is with a different bank which we'll use occassionally but mainly that's there for back up and when we want to make cash withdrawals (rare as onsite it's not a big deal to room charge even small items).