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July 30, 2019   |   Articles

How much will a specialist travel spending card save you?

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Is it really worth using a card from the likes of Tandem or Monzo?

I’ve written before about why getting a specialist travel debit or credit card is the best way to pay overseas, but you might be thinking it’s more hassle than it’s worth.

But with the pound at its lowest level against the dollar in 28 months, and falling against the Euro, it’s more important than ever to reduce the cost of spending overseas when you go away. A good example of the impact is that when I first did this research for Shop Smart Save Money in June, it now costs you £6 more to get €100. That’s 6% more in just two months!

So to show you just how much money you’d actually save I’ve compared some of the different ways to spend on holiday to show just how much money you can save, based on a €1,000 spend.

The cost of €1,000

Before we can get into the different rates, we obviously need to know what we’re comparing it against – and that is the interbank rate. This is the official market rate, the one you’ll see on graphs and in the news when they talk about rates.  At the time of this research, €1,000 would cost £915.

It’s important to also say rates change all day, every day. So it’s incredibly unlikely you’ll get these exact amounts when you change your money. But the principles and the size of the savings are true. 

To make things a little easier I’ll also round up or down the total extra cost you’ll pay for each form of currency exchange.

Getting cash at the airport

Let’s start with what a lot of people do, and that’s getting their money at the airport. Big mistake. You will almost always get the worst rates airside once you’re through security. For example, when I put this together, 1000 euros at Travelex Manchester Airport would cost you an estimated £1,044.57 (based on the TravelMoneyMax tool). That’s less than one Euro to the pound. Awful.

Cost of €1,000 = £1,046

Extra cost = £130

Using your standard debit card

Another popular way – and possibly the most convenient is just to use your everyday debit card in shops, restaurants and bars. But most of these are going to add a fee every time you use your card abroad.

For example, with a standard Natwest account, you’ll get charged 2.75% load fee every time plus an extra 2% if you use an ATM. Santander has the same load fee, and then £1.99 on each ATM withdrawal or £1.25 on each purchase. While TSB has a larger 2.99% fee, then 1.5% extra on cash withdrawals and £1on every spend with your card.

So what does that mean in practice?  Assuming 50% spend on card transactions and 50% is cash withdrawals, and an average €50 transaction would add roughly if you’re using the Santander card., and 1,000 Euros would cost £955.95. Better, but not great.

Cost of €1,000 = £956

Extra cost = £41

Ordering cash in advance

So let’s go back to cash. Rather than a last-minute exchange at the airport, you can order in advance. With Travelex, you get a better rate, and that one thousand euros will cost £940.11.96. That’s still collecting it at the same Manchester Airport.

But you can do better by shopping around. When I looked the best of the high street providers was John Lewis and you’d pay £927.90, closely followed by Debenhams at £929.37. 

In big cities and London in particular, it’s possible to beat this as there are dozens of competing bureau de changes – just check those rates online on sites like Travelmoneymax from MSE. The best rate at the time of my research was £923.79 with ICE.

Cost of €1,000 = £928 (Debenhams)

Extra cost = £13

Using a specialist debit card

But you’ll get a perfect exchange rate with no charges is to get a specialist credit or debit card. There are few of these fee-free cards. For a debit card, the best is Starling Bank. There is no charge, not just for spending but also no charge on cash withdrawals. The cost for 1,000 euros with one of these is the Mastercard exchange rate, which will be pretty much the same as the Interbank rate, so around £915.

Cost of €1,000 = £915

Extra cost = £0

Using a specialist credit card with cashback

Or, if you’re confident you can clear the balance in full every month then you can save a little bit more with Tandem’s credit card. Again there are no fees and you’ll also get 0.5% back on every £1 you spend. But you will get charged interest on any cash withdrawals until you clear the balance. This is probably worth around 25p on our example. But you can avoid this completely by transferring the cash over immediately, which is what I do. So that’s a cost of £910.

Cost of €1,000 = £910

Extra saving = £4.58

How much you save with a specialist travel card

Versus the most expensive option, exchanging at the airport, using a Tandem credit card will save you a huge £135! That’s massive and works out as a 13% saving. And using a Debit card can be pricey too, adding around £40 to the cost.

But, of course, lots of people know to avoid the airport. And they might be using a few different ways to spend, a mix perhaps of high street swaps and spending on their normal debit card. That significantly reduces how much you’ll save with a specialist card. And in that case, you might not think getting a new card is worth it – especially if you’ve already prepaid for accommodation or aren’t likely to spend anywhere close to a grand while you’re away.

Even so, I’d argue it’s still worth getting one of these cards, or the smart Curve card, to cut out the extra fees. Here’s my pick of the best cards right now.

LISTEN: Everything you need to know about your holiday money

WATCH: On an episode of Shop Smart Save Money earlier this year I looked at all the different ways to spend overseas.

July 29, 2019   |   Podcast

Cash Chats #85 – Holiday money

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If you’re going away then you need to listen to this latest episode all about travel cash.

With the pound performing so badly against most currencies since the Brexit referendum, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re getting as much foreign currency for your pounds as possible.

From the best places to get holiday cash through to why you shouldn’t spend on any old credit or debit card, Andy takes you through everything you need to know about travel money.

READ MORE:

All the topics I’ve talked about in this episode are covered in more detail in these articles:

The best travel debit and credit cards to use abroad

How I get the best value travel money

How I get the best value travel money

July 23, 2019   |   Articles

Can you get compensation for PPI?

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Time is running out to claim compensation for mis-sold PPI.

We’ve all seen the adverts, with an Arnold Schwarzenegger head on wheels telling us to put in a claim before it’s too late. And millions of people have – but there are still many who haven’t even checked if they even had PPI.

I was one of those. Now, a huge part of this was that I was confident I’d never had it. I didn’t have many credit products in the time PPI was being mis-sold. But even though I was sure I didn’t agree to having it, there was still the chance that it had been added without me knowing – something that did happen. Plus, I’d got Sentinal Protection compensation back in 2015 so perhaps I had signed up for something else?

Well it turns out I was right, I didn’t have PPI. But it only took a few minutes for me to check. And with just weeks left in order to put in a complaint, it’s well worth you all doing the same – just in case.

So here’s what you need to know in order to find out if you had it and how to put in a complaint.

Listen to the podcast episode on PPI as Andy talks to Naomi Willis from Skint Dad about how to complain

What is PPI?

Payment Protection Insurance, commonly known as PPI, was something often sold to people with some form of credit. That could be loans, credit cards, mortgages, store credit, car finance, catalogue credit, and even overdrafts.

The idea was that in the event you couldn’t repay the money you borrowed, you’d be covered. And that’ might not be a bad thing. I’ve got critical illness cover in case I can’t work. And PPI might have been a good thing for some of those taking it out

Of course you paid for this, like with any protection insurance. And loads of people did. 64 million PPI policies sold! Epic. PPI dates back to the 1970s, but most of the sales happened between 1990 to 2010

What’s the problem with PPI?

It turned out that a huge number of the PPI policies were mis-sold. This could have been that the buyer wouldn’t eligible to ever make a claim as self-employed or retired. Maybe they had a pre-existing medical condition that meant it was worthless. And there were cases where it wasn’t made clear that you’d get charged interest on it if it was added to your loan.

And some people were pressured into taking it out, or told it was compulsory in order to get the credit. While others didn’t even know they had it – it was just added on.

When this came to light in 2005, it started a chain of investigations and court cases that, in 2011, meant people could complain if they felt any of this applied to them – if they were successful they’d get the money they’d paid back.

But you don’t have to have been mis-sold or unaware of a policy to put in a complaint. The people selling PPI also made a huge commission – the typical amount was a massive 67%. If they didn’t tell you about this, then since 2015 you’ve been able to put in a complaint too thanks to what’s called Plevin rules. And essentially, it’s very unlikely they did tell you. So even if you knew you had it and willingly signed-up, you can probably claim for this. Though it’s often a smaller amount than if you had been mis-sold.

With the Plevin rule you can also complain if you had a mis-selling claim rejected previously – but not if you’ve already had a payout. If you’ve complained since late 2017 you probably had both cases assessed at the same time.

Did you have PPI?

So we’ve established you might not have known you had it – and since it goes back a fair while, there’s a good chance you might have forgotten.

In order to complain you have to have had the credit product open on or after 6th April 2007. If it was opened before that date it also needed to still be open by 6th April a year later – 2008.

With both though it doesn’t matter if you still have it and are paying it or not. You can still make a claim. But first you need to know if you ever had it.

One way to find out is to go through your paperwork and look for these extra payments on your credit products. It might not actually be called PPI, so look for anything that indicates some form of insurance to cover repayments if you couldn’t pay.

The FCA website lists these examples:

* accident, sickness and unemployment (ASU) insurance
* account cover
* credit insurance
* credit protection
* loan care
* loan insurance
* loan protection
* loan repayment insurance
* mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI)
* payment cover
* protection plan

If nothing comes up – or you don’t have any paperwork – then your next step is to check your credit report. Doing this will help you see who you’ve had accounts with in the last six years. This won’t tell you if you had PPI, but it will tell you who to get in touch with.

Obviously see some banks and lenders have merged with others, gone out of business or change there names – making it a bit hard to track them down, But the FCA website has a list of providers and who now looks after their PPI cases. For example Egg is with Barclays while Abbey National is now Santander.

Once you’ve got this information, contact the lender. You’ll need your name, recent addresses and date of birth. Some have an easy to complete website form . Though I was confident I’d never had PPI, I still tried for Barclaycard & Nationwide. It took a minute to fill in each one, and a few days latter I got letters confirming I hadn’t had a PPI policy.

How to put in a PPI complaint

First – avoid claim companies. They will take a cut if you did have PPI and win compensation. Instead, do it yourself. It’s free!

If you’ve enquired with a lender about whether you had PPI, many now automatically put forward a complaint on your behalf. Otherwise, you can do it online, by post or over phone. You can go into a branch too if there is one.

The FCA website has a list of where to go, and you can get a template letter places like Resolver and Which .

And don’t forget you can do it for as many products as you had PPI.

You can also complain on behalf of deceased relatives or family members who are too vulnerable to do it themselves. You just need the details of the credit account and why you’re complaining.

The PPI Deadline

There isn’t long left to put in your complaint as the final deadline is 29th August 2019. This is the date in which you need to put in your complaint – it might take longer and further investigation before the payout – if there is one – comes your way.

 

July 22, 2019   |   Articles

The tricks to make sure you can claim for train delays

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Delayed by 30 minutes or more? You’re probably able to get some of your train fare back – and these tricks can help.

Only one in three passengers who face delays actually claim back the compensation they’re entitled to, and the latest figures show a huge £100 million was unclaimed over 12 months.

With train fares often ridiculously expensive, especially if you leave it to the last minute to buy your ticket, I find this really surprising. But many don’t know they can do it, how to do it and even that it can be well worth doing.

I’ve written before about when you can get a refund and how to do it, so this article shares a few more tricks to boost your claim when you’re on the train, when you arrive at the station and when you get home.

On the train

Track the length your delay

With most train operators you’ll only be able to claim a refund (usually 50%) if you’re delayed by more than 30 minutes. So if a delay had been 29 mins, I’d not only have been inconvenienced, I wouldn’t be able to claim!

On some journeys, the conductor actually informed us that we could get a refund, though this often doesn’t happen – so it’s usually down to you to track the length of your delay.

The rules do change – more will refund you if the delay is 15 mins, while some require at least 60 minutes.

If you forget, you can check the real times on the Recent Train Times website.

Ask why you’ve been delayed

The cause of the delay doesn’t matter if the train operator has signed up to the Delay Repay scheme. But if it hasn’t, you might be only to claim if the delay could have been avoided (so bad weather or strike action don’t count).

To help your claim, ask the guard if the company has signed up to Delay Repay, and if not what was the cause of the delay

Take a photo of your ticket

You’ll need proof of your journey to claim a refund, so snap the ticket with your phone just in case you lose it.

At the station

Don’t use the electronic gates

This one has caught me out a few times. Most automatic gates will eat your ticket, and no ticket means it’s harder to claim your compensation. So even if you’ve taken a photo it’s best to find the manual gate with a guard so you can keep hold of your ticket for the claim.

Take a screenshot of live information or the arrivals board

Once you’ve arrived, take a photo of the arrivals board or the live tracking information on an app. You might not need it, but it’s extra proof if your delay time is close to one of the compensation brackets (normally 15, 30, 60 or 120 minutes).

Get a form at the station

If you’ve time, you can pick up a compensation form at the station. Though it’d be nice if these were easy to find, I imagine you’ll need to ask for one at the ticket or information desk.

It’s not the end of the world if you can’t get one as you can usually apply online or print a form from the website.

When you get home

Find the form online

If the train provider allows online claims this is usually quicker. You can upload a picture of your phone, which means it’s often easier to do this from your phone rather than a desktop.

> All the train provider compensation links

Ask for a bank transfer

It’s not always clear but you are legally entitled to a bank transfer or cheque refund. If you don’t ask for this you could be sent an annoying rail voucher than can only be used at ticket desks.

Take a copy of your ticket and form

If you’re posting your compensation claim form and ticket, make sure you have a copy (just take a photo if you don’t have a scanner). If you’re filling it in online you should be able to save a copy.

And make a note of to chase if you haven’t heard back within the time stated on the form.

Put the refund claim in before 28 days pass

You’ve only got four weeks to request your refund, so don’t leave it too late.

July 22, 2019   |   Podcast

Cash Chats #84 – Your last chance for PPI refunds

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Andy is joined by Naomi Willis from Skint Dad to talk about the impending PPI refund deadline.

There are just weeks left before the window to claim for a PPI refund is firmly closed – and for good. Though it won’t apply to everyone, it’s well worth taking a few minutes to find out if you or family members are entitled to get some money back.

In this week’s episode, Andy and Naomi take you through who can claim and how to claim before the 29th August deadline.

You can subscribe over on Apple Podcasts, Podbean and Stitcher (and everywhere else). Please do leave a review and subscribe over on iTunes – it really makes it easier for others to find the podcast. You can also now listen on Spotify!

Enjoyed this? Check out other podcast episodes in the Cash Chats archive.

Further reading on PPI

> Here’s how to check and complain about PPI before the 29 August deadline (Skint Dad)

> Can you get compensation for PPI? (Be Clever With Your Cash)

> The Financial Conduct Authority’s PPI hub (FCA)

About this week’s guest

Naomi Willis runs the Skint Dad blog and communities with her husband Ricky. Naomi is an ambassador for the FCA (the financial services regulator) on the campaign to get more people to check if they had PPI.

Skint Dad website

Skint Dad community (Skint Dad on Facebook)

Reduce Your Supermarket Spend community (Skint Dad on Facebook)

June 19, 2019   |   Articles

Why I didn’t tell you I went on holiday

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I’ve just got back from a week away. But I didn’t post any pics on Facebook or Twitter while I was away. I didn’t mention it anywhere on my blog.

Of course I wanted to. Surely the whole point of holiday snaps on social media is to say “look at me having a lovely time while you’re still at work!”, all posted while cackling a Bond villain laugh. 

And professionally, I wanted to let you lot know why I might not respond as quickly as I could to comments or emails. I scheduled all my new articles in advance and even had the newsletter and social media posts prepared in advance so it would seem like (relatively) normal service.

So why did I go incognito? Why all the effort to make things seem normal?

Well it’s really simple. I didn’t want you to know my house was empty.

I don’t know about you, but any time I get back from a trip away I always approach my house with a little trepidation. Could we have been burgled? Fortunately we never have, but I’ll do what I can to avoid it.

Obviously doors and windows are locked. A neighbour picks up the post and brings the bins back up. We’ve got timers on lights too. Standard stuff.

But not revealing that I’ll be away is equally important.

Advertising your absence

When you check in on Facebook that you’re at Heathrow Terminal 4 ready to jet off somewhere, you’re telling anyone who can see your page that you’re off on hols.

When you tweet a snap of some badly translated t-shirt in Asia, you’re clearly saying you’re not at home.

When you Instagram a photo of your Spanish tapas, again you’re telling people you’re away.

And, sadly, this could mean there’s a higher chance you will be burgled. You’ve been publicly saying you’re home is empty – a fantastic opportunity for any thieves.

“But it’s just my mates on Facebook”, you might be thinking. Yeah maybe. But is your security as tight as you think? All it takes is for a friend to like your post and it could then appear on another wall. And for most people, Twitter and Instagram are open to everyone. Everyone.

It’s a weird test, but next time you see a friend share their holiday online, head over to their house and take a look. I’d imagine you could find a lapse or two in security. And you’re not even a professional burglar (at least I hope not).

If the movie Home Alone was to be remade now, all The Wet Bandits would have to do is quickly check the McCallister’s Insta feed to see the family was away (except for Kevin of course).

> Are you following me on Twitter? Click to see my updates (except for holidays..)

Social media could even stop an insurance claim

Still, there’s always the hope it won’t happen, and hopefully if your home is broken to while you’re away, you’ve got insurance to cover any loses.

But it’s not that easy. You’re insurer might check back on your social media posts to see if you’ve advertised your absence to thieves. In the same way your claim would be rejected if you left a window open, social media posts about an empty property could be seen as neglectful on your part. That would mean no compensation for everything stolen. No repairs to broken doors or windows. You’d have to find the cash yourself.

So when you head off on your hols, maybe you should do as I do and take a break from social media. It might just stop your home being burgled.

> I hate buying insurance, but it’s a necessary evil – here’s how to save

 

 

May 29, 2019   |   Articles

How to save on music streaming 

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Unless you’re a vinyl aficionado, the smart money when listening to music is to stream it online. Use the different sites and services cleverly and you can listen for free for 12 months.

A few years ago I sold half my CD collection. Now I wish I’d sold it all.

Bit by bit my music listening has moved online, and now much of it is via a streaming service. As technology keeps improving it’s far easier to stream a playlist to a Bluetooth speaker using my phone as a remote control than use an old hi-fi.

The biggest player is Spotify, followed by services from Google, Amazon and Apple. Napster is amazingly still going, and Deezer has been around for a bit. Jay-Z’s Tidal promises high quality and exclusives. 

So lots of choice, and the one you use is probably the one you first signed up to and have saved playlists etc. But with each of these coming in at around £10 a mark for versions where you can download tunes and skip adverts, it means we’re easily slashing out £120 a year.

But you can bring the price down. Here are my six top tips and tricks to help you save money when streaming music.
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Some articles on the blog contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund the blog. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or the blog’s independence. Read more here.

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1. Get a year of free music streaming with free trials

You can get a year and a half of advert-less music streaming for nothing!

Most of the music services offer a free trial. As standard you can get 30 days with Spotify, Google Play, Tidal, Deezer, Napster, Groove Music or Amazon Prime Music, and 90 days with Apple Music. But most of them offer extended deals, such as Spotify at the time of writing which is offering 90-days.

So do each of these and you won’t pay at all in your first year. Just remember to cancel before the free trial is up. Most of the free trials are one time only.

Latest music streaming free trials

> Start a 30-day Spotify free trial

> Start a 30-day Amazon Prime trial and get Amazon Prime Music for free

> Start a 30-day Amazon Music Unlimited free trial

> Start a 30-day Google Play Music free trial

> Start a 90-day Apple Music free trial

> Start a 30-day Tidal free trial

> Start a 30-day Deezer free trial

> Start a 30-day Napster free trial

 

Pros: You can get 12 months of advert free music

Cons: Not all the services let you import playlists. Not all the services have the same artists – Amazon Prime Music in particular is far smaller, though there is still plenty of choice. It can be hassle to keep switching.

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2. Get a family plan

If there’s more than one of you in your household using a streaming service then a family plan will save you cash. They tend to cost £15 a month, so for two people you’re saving £5 a month, but since many allow up to five or six users it can be a lot lower per person.

This is what Becky and I have with Spotify and it’s easy for us to share playlists between us.

Pros: You save money. You can all listen to different songs at the same time.

Cons: The bills all go to the main user, so you’ll need to make sure friends and family pay you back if that’s the agreement. Otherwise you’ll be paying £5 more every month than having your own subscription.

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3. Take advantage of music streaming special offers

From time to time you can get cheaper subscriptions. Recently I’ve seen 90 days of Spotify or Deezer for £1, and 20% off a year of Spotify Premium. I generally share the best offers over on my music deals page.

Amazon Music Unlimited trick – get it for £6.58 a month

Amazon Prime members can take advantage of a special discount. Rather than pay £9.99 a month, you can get Amazon Music Unlimited for £7.99 a month.

Or, even better, you can pick up an annual plan for an extra £79 a year saving an extra £16.88 year. That works out as £6.58 a month – far cheaper than any of the other options.

And if you’re not interested in paying for Amazon Prime then you can still get this offer. All you need to do is sign up for the 30-day free Prime trial. Then select the annual plan for Music Unlimited, before cancelling your Prime membership.

There’s a similar discount on the annual Family Plan, and you until mid-June you can pick up an Echo Dot speaker for 99p if you pay for a month of this plan.

> Is Amazon Prime worth the money? Here’s my review

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4. Watch for auto-renewals

As with any subscription, you’ll keep paying whether you use the service or not. So if you’re on a free trial or are just a casual listener, it’s best to cancel as soon as you start the free trial or pay for a month.

It will only take a few minutes to do it, and if you want to carry on the next month, a couple of minutes again.

Pros: You don’t pay £10 a month for a service you don’t use.

Cons: You need to remember to do it!

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5. Put up with the adverts

I’m pretty happy to have the odd advert play when I’m streaming music. They don’t get played too often and are far less annoying than the ones you get on commercial radio.

The main way to get ad-supported free music streaming is Spotify, but Deezer also has an option.

Pros: Completely free music streaming.

Cons: You can’t take the music offline. Mobile and tablet functions are limited. The adverts get repetitive!

 

6. Tune into internet radio stations

Another free option is streaming internet radio. You can listen to your normal radio station or you can let clever programmes decide the songs played based upon your previous listening choices.

Even though I’ve got Spotify Premium I do tend to listen to BBC6 Music during the day – and there are hundreds of stations to suit your musical tastes.

Pros: It doesn’t cost anything. You’ll discover new music. You can time shift and download your favourite shows.

Cons: You can’t choose the songs you’ll listen to.

May 22, 2019   |   Articles

How to save money on car parking

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My tips to help you pay less for parking your car.

As someone who generally gets around on foot or public transport, I rarely have to deal with car parks, but when I do, it’s usually more hassle than they need to be.

For instance, last year on a weekend trip to central London we had a nightmare where the car park’s automatic number plate recognition thought I was still on one pre-booked visit rather than another. So it forced me to pay again in order to exit. Of course, me being me I complained and got my £25 back.

I’ve been to car parks that refuse coins, and others than only accept coins. And increasingly I’ve had to phone up, download apps and browse webpages – which usually come with confusing options or even complete lack of instructions!

So getting parking isn’t as simple as it used to be – and it’s also not as cheap. So here are a few ways to bring down the cost.
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Some articles on the blog contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund the blog. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or the blog’s independence. Read more here.

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Use free parking

Obvious I know, but side roads are often free, even if there are yellow lines – though watch out for restrictions. I’ve got the app AppyParking, also a website, which shows where you can park for free and how long. 

Find the cheapest car parks

Similar to AppyParking is Parktopia. Simply type in the area or postcode you want to park and it’ll display all the local car parks, prices and other conditions. I tend to use both of these.

Rent someone’s drive

You can use Just Park to hire someone’s drive (or even rent out your own). Again, enter a postcode and it’ll throw up options.

Book in advance

There’s often a discount for booking in advance, especially with airport parking. HolidayExtras has a good comparison site for airports.

Look for cashback

Cashback is a must for airport parking, but you can also get around 4% or so back on advance NCP bookings.

> Not already signed up? See the latest new member offers at Quidco and TopCashback

Have the exact change

Though more and more won’t take coins, the small print for those that do often say you won’t get any change. So if you can keep a few 50p and 20ps in your glove compartment (never on show), then it’ll help if you are paying cash.

Buy a season ticket

If you’re commuting to work by car most days then hunt around for a car park which offers a season ticket reduction.

Park further away from your destination

If you have the time and are able to walk, then you should be able to get cheaper parking a little further away from prime locations such as train stations or shopping centers. This is especially true if you’re in a big city centre – and if you’re on a trip down to somewhere like London there’s no reason why you can’t park out in Zone 4 or 5, and get the tube into the centre.

Use Park & Ride

Taking the last point to an extreme, many towns will offer Park & Ride where you get a bus the last part of your journey. Again, parking here will be a lot cheaper than heading into town, where space might be limited.

Watch more of my tips on cheap Airport parking from Shop Smart Save Money (May 2019)

May 21, 2019   |   Articles

Travel money: my top ways to spend on holiday

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With peak holiday season almost here, it’s a good time to talk about travel money – and the cheapest ways to spend abroad.

It’s possible to save hundreds of pounds just by choosing the best way to pay when abroad. Of course, this all depends on where you go, the type of holiday you have and how many of you are going. But these are the principles I follow, and you should be able to pick and mix to fit your holiday.

I’ve first taken a look at using credit and debit cards abroad, the further down I’ve shared my tips on travel cash.
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Some articles on the blog contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund the blog. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or the blog’s independence. Read more here.

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Travel credit and debit cards

I use specialist cards for overseas spending

Normal bank cards are usually really expensive to use outside the UK. Most credit and debit cards companies add a 3%-or-so markup to the exchange rate. This is often called a “load fee”. There’s also often a charge per transaction, usually another quid or so, and another charge for using a cash machine.

The cards I use don’t charge these extras. In fact they give an almost perfect exchange rate, so they’re better than using a bureau de change. Savings are potentially worth around £30 to 40 per £1,000 when compared to changing your money at the airport.

The Halifax Clarity card has been the main card I’ve used for the last five or six years. It’s saved me a fortune, with the only charges coming in interest on cash machine withdrawals – though these can be avoided by paying off the balance straight away. 

However my top card to use is now the Tandem credit card, which gives 0.5% cashback as well as fee-free spending. As with the Clarity, I obviously clear the balance in full each month to make sure there’s no interest charged.

I always pay in the local currency

This is an easy trick to get caught out by. You’re often asked if you want to pay in pounds or whatever the local currency is. If you chose pounds, the exchange rate will be far worse. So always choose euros, dollars or whatever it is. Just not pounds.

I take a backup card

You never know what could happen. A few years ago we traveled around South and Central America for six months. Not long into the trip I was pickpocketed, losing some cash and my essential Halifax Clarity card.

Luckily I had another card – and some cash – locked in the hostel safe, so we weren’t completely screwed. And when our friend joined us a month later, she bought over our replacement cards.

Right now, as a back up I use either my Starling or my Monzo current account. Starling has the edge over Monzo as it doesn’t have any limit on cash machine withdrawals abroad.

Also not everywhere takes Mastercard, so if it’s a long trip I’ll always have a Visa at hand just in case. This is my Nationwide Select credit card which is available to people with a Nationwide bank account. It doesn’t charge fees on purchases abroad either – though it does add on a fair whack for cash machine use. 

Travel cash

Though I use cards most of the time, it’s always handy to have cash – and there are plenty of places I’ve been where cards aren’t accepted.

I don’t take too much cash with me

It’s always difficult to know how much cash to take. I don’t want too much that I’m worried about having it on me, and I don’t want any left over at the end that’d I’d need to change back. But at the same time I don’t want to get stuck in a place where my cards aren’t accepted.

It depends too where you go. When I went to Cuba (this was in 2010 so things are likely to have changed) I took a lot more cash with me than I would if I went to France.

As a general rule I’ll always make sure I’ve enough to cover the essentials when I arrive such as transport from the airport, and then perhaps just £100 extra.

I order travel money in advance

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to leave exchanging cash until the airport. Do this and you’ll get the worst exchange rates.

Instead, order your money in advance. I use Money Saving Expert’s brilliant Travel Money Max comparison tool to find the cheapest option near me.

When I lived in London, this was often at one of three or four different bureaux de changes. I would generally pre-order and then collect it the next working day. It’s cheaper to exchange cash rather than pay with a credit or debit card.

Other options on Travel Money Max are to have the cash delivered by post, or to collect from an airport – still cheaper than walking up on the day you travel.

If you won’t want to shop around then John Lewis Finance price matches the other high street prices, and it’s possible to order to click and collect from Waitrose if you change more than £500.

I’ll rarely use cash machines overseas

Most debit and credit cards are an absolute nightmare for added fees. Most UK banks will not only charge a fee between 2% and 3% for each transaction, there’s often an extra fee for using a cash machine. This can easily be a couple of quid. Some charge a percentage which can work out as high as £4 per withdrawal.

These are on top of any charges you get from the local bank. We’re very lucky in the UK that we can take money out of most ATMs for free. In most countries I’ve been to that isn’t the case.

If I do need to withdraw any extra cash when abroad, I generally use one of the specialist cards mentioned above.

It’s worth noting with most specialist credit cards you do get charged interest on cash withdrawals, though this isn’t much if you pay the balance off quickly. There’s also a slight risk to your credit rating by using a credit card for cash withdrawals, though I’ve never had a problem myself.

Plus even though all these cards are “fee-free”, you might still get charged a cash machine fee by the local bank.

I pay upfront if I can

Whenever possible, I’ll pay in advance. And if I can, I choose the local currency and use my Halifax Clarity card.

This not only helps me budget as I’ll know what I’ve already spent, but it reduces the risks of cards or cash machines not working – a nightmare we faced in Uruguay and Bolivia a few years ago.

Watch more tips from me on getting the best rate when spending abroad on Shop Smart Save Money (May 2019)