O/T - Prepaid Credit Cards for abroad

I'd have a look an money saving expert and see what that man off GMTV has to say - apparently some credit cards should never be used abroad as they are massively expensive but others as beneficial as the pre-paid ones.

If you could get a 0% no abroad fee card it must be worth it to save interest on your current balance.

I'd say your best of trying to get a credit card that has no fees for using your card abroad ... more protection if anything goes wrong! x

I thought all credit cards were ok abroad, I thought it was just debit cards that were a problem?

Not sure what protection you get on prepaid ones though x

Now I am all confused and don't know what to do! I just called Virgin and they are going to charge a 2.99% transaction fee.

What do other people do?

Im stupid and used my debit and credit cards eeek - got charged! Grrr - don't do that,

If i were you i'd:

* Research 0% APR, 0% trnsaction fee cards and apply and if you can find one apply

* Once you have it and have read terms and conditions and know you won't be charged, then pay off the card/

Most pre paid and debit cards are a no no... they are expensive, look at your general credit card terms. also look at your debit card terms, places like the nationwide building society tend to be the best, hsbc paid accounts are ok, abbey is a no no unless you have a business or paid, barcleys, rbs and others youll have to look at the terms,

general credit cards tend to be ok as they are a world wide recognised brand you just have to find the right one.

last time i looked at pre paid ones, you still pay a percentage when using it but they wanted to charge us a few percent to put money on to it. i think it was 1.5% -

Post office are generally ok... as well, there always trying to sell me there card.

I saw a similar card abroad thing on "the thing with ann robinson and rogue traders... cant remember the name"

I always load up my hsbc debit card as its free.

The trouble is I am maxed out on my virgin card and I don't think I would be accepted for another card!

Give it a try... they will generally let you have one or two searching credit check failed a month before it causes any problems on your score, just depends on what you already have, what country are you going too?

*** as long as you can pay it off straight after ***

We are going to the US. I have just been accepted for a post office credit card, but I don't know what limit i have been given yet. I am also hoping it comes soon as it says it takes up to 6 working days which takes us right up to the day before the wedding. Guess I should have thought of this earlier!

Zippy - could you ask OH to apply?

Me and H2B both have a selection of card from each other!

OH didn't want to as he already has 2 as well!

Post Office hae accepted me and that's supposed to be the best abroad credit card, so just have to wait and see if a)it comes in time & b)what limit I get!

Fingers crossed!

Travelex do a pre paid card, I work for the company

It is full protected inn case u use it, is accepted in many locations, cash machines and restaurants around europe. Its also commission free and u can top it up whenever u like

These are the future. There are no charges when u use and u know the balance u have so cant overspend

hth x

We got a fairfx one as reccommended on moneysaving expert.com we are going to america too and have loaded it up with us dollars

Thanks I will have a look at that one, date twinnie ? Where in US are you going?

I can reccommend the travelex pre paid cash passport card, it's fantastic. We took an Aussie $ with us when we went to Perth earlier this year and it was absolutely fantastic.

We arranged it at our local Sainsburys and it didn't cost us a penny, we just loaded the cash onto it there and then, and off we went. The one thing I will say, is make sure you put enough credit on it before you go (and take a credit card as emergency spends too). We were bit daft and put a couple of very major spends on it that should really have been put on the credit card, which meant we needed to top it up while we were out there. Whilst that was the easiest and quickest thing in the world - one call to the centre here in the UK and it was on in about 5mins!! - there is a limit of how much extra you can put on in a given time frame (£750 in a month, I think?), so we did spend the last few days of our hol watching what we were spending. Other than that, just listen to the advice you're given when you take it out, and read the info that comes with it. They tell you not to charge hotel rooms to the cash passport card because of the way that hotels handle their transactions, and car hire is the same. They also tell you that the main card holder is the only person that can 're-fuel' the card - so don't do what our friends did and phone the secondary card holders UK bank to transfer the cash as it'll go missing, like theirs did (if only they'd listened to me!?) and if you do want to re-fuel, phone the cash passport people and do it that way rather than transfering the cash from your UK account - it's loads quicker (by about 2 days!)

HTH