Holiday spending... best way?

Holiday spending... best way?

Author
Discussion

Scarletpimpofnel

Original Poster:

737 posts

20 months

Thursday 9th May
quotequote all
I've not travelled abroad for many years but will be doing so several times a year from now on.

I've heard that certain cards are more advantageous to use when paying for meals, trips, cars etc abroad as they have lower exchange rate costs or some such. I've heard Revolut or Monzo are good.

Have I got the wrong end of the stick here and I should just use my usual MasterCard overseas?

Many thanks.

Scarletpimpofnel

Original Poster:

737 posts

20 months

Friday 10th May
quotequote all
C69 said:
That very much depends on which bank your Mastercard is with.

First Direct recently scrapped foreign currency payment fees for its Mastercard debit card, for example. Furthermore, the exchange rate is calculated without any additional charges.

However, if your bank imposes high fees, then you could consider something like the Currensea Mastercard debit card. It's linked to your existing current account via Open Banking.
I do have a FD debit and credit card. I see the debit card is all free but the credit isn't and I prefer to use a credit card abroad. Shame as using my existing FD credit would have been perfect.

Scarletpimpofnel

Original Poster:

737 posts

20 months

Friday 10th May
quotequote all
mikeiow said:
Am I the only person here who would check at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/tra... for the best travel cards?...
Good point. I just tried it and it looks like my existing Creation credit card is all free so have queried that with them to be sure. OS this might be my easiest answer.

Scarletpimpofnel

Original Poster:

737 posts

20 months

Friday 10th May
quotequote all
Many thanks for all the advice; I can see there are a few options. Really helpful.