Credit Card for travelling?

[FlipFlopGriff]

MrMoonyMan said:

Top tip! Thanks, had always wondered that.

The shops bank set the rate and its generally worse than you could get by changing cash when you are there so agreed ALWAYS pay in the local currency.

[bad company]

I used to use the Halifax Clarity card but surely for £24 a year this is better:-

https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...

[FlipFlopGriff]

bad company said:

I used to use the Halifax Clarity card but surely for £24 a year this is better:-

https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...

Why? Poorer exchange rate and you get some Avios points if you get more than £24 worth of Avois and use them.
FFG

[bad company]

FlipFlopGriff said:

bad company said:

I used to use the Halifax Clarity card but surely for £24 a year this is better:-

https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...

Why? Poorer exchange rate and you get some Avios points if you get more than £24 worth of Avois and use them.
FFG

Where does it say the exchange rate is poorer please?

[pushthebutton]

audidoody said:

Clarity for credit card
Revolut for currency card

And you're good to gol

This is the answer now.

If you need credit then take the Clarity, but if you're paying all from your current account then Revolut is all you need.

[bad company]

Well these seem to answer the Clarity v Lloyds Avios debate. I spend c£5-6,000 monthly on cc so Lloyds looks best for me:-

http://www.headforpoints.com/2014/07/06/lloyds-avi...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php...

[FlipFlopGriff]

bad company said:

Where does it say the exchange rate is poorer please?

Click the Lloyds Avios card in section 1:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/travel-cre...
I can see it doesn't charge an exchange rate fee but can't see what rate you would get on conversion. I guess if Martin says its not good for spending the rate won't be the perfect exchange rate, although it does appear in his best of the rest section.
FFG

[ecs]

Does it need to be a credit card? I have Monzo and Revolut cards which I use while travelling - both are pre-paid MasterCards which are accompanied by apps which let you top them up and otherwise control the cards. Revolut is more geared towards travelling and Monzo is more of a bank account replacement (or at least it will be when they start offering accounts).

Both are totally free to use and they offer interbank forex rates.

[bad company]

FlipFlopGriff said:

Click the Lloyds Avios card in section 1:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/travel-cre...
I can see it doesn't charge an exchange rate fee but can't see what rate you would get on conversion. I guess if Martin says its not good for spending the rate won't be the perfect exchange rate, although it does appear in his best of the rest section.
FFG

Both Lloyds and Halifax say the following on their websites:-


Our exchange rates for card transactions are determined by the payment scheme provider for the card. For further information and other exchange rates and currencies see MasterCard or Visa.

So they both use this:-

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-supp...

It then comes down to whether it's worth the £24 annual fee for the Lloyds cards to get the Avios points. For me with a high monthly spend it's well worth it especially as I can combine the Avios with my BA Exec club points.

[SimonTheSailor]

Recently got a Halifax Clarity and just started using it. Cash withdrawals appear very quickly as pending transactions then you just transfer some money to cover it.

Saved me a few quid already on only a couple of transactions.