For ALL Pre-loaded cards / debit cards / credit cards - What is best for travel?

Thomas Cook card is the same it is accepted almost everywhere except unmanned 24hr petrol stations (that said my Barclaycard wasn't accepted at them in Italy last year)
 
I recently returned from a trip to France & took a post Office pre-loaded travel card, this worked well for cafes/bars & manned fuel stops. but was rejected by toll peages, & unmanned 24 hr petrol stations, can anyone recommend a similar style card that works, I am doing the Route Napoleon in a few weeks time & don't want a debit or credit card ?

I would not advocate a prepaid card for use in unmanned fuel stations - the fuel retailer will pre-authorise 100 euros or more of fuel, whatever the max transaction required. It will be a day or two before that amount is reconciled back into the account. For that very reason I use a post Office Mastercard CREDIT card as this has a credit limit that is not significantly affected by the pre-authorised amount
 
I recently returned from a trip to France & took a post Office pre-loaded travel card, this worked well for cafes/bars & manned fuel stops. but was rejected by toll peages, & unmanned 24 hr petrol stations, can anyone recommend a similar style card that works, I am doing the Route Napoleon in a few weeks time & don't want a debit or credit card ?

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer to a similiar question above/below/nearby.

I think you may have to bite the bullet and get a proper credit card that carries no foreign currency transaction fees...PO, Halifax or SAGA. Prepaid ones generally seem to fail at unmanned petrol and peage stations.

'Credit card peage' into the search box reveals a multitude of solutions, questions, and even some answers.
 
......& don't want a debit or credit card ?

And there's your problem.

As Wessie's post explains, pre-charged cash cards - where you load money onto a piece of plastic before you spend it - are great but have their faults, as you've discovered.

To fill the gap you need an alternative which could be:

(A) More pre-charged cash cards, so that you can rotate them on a daily basis

(B) Cash, itself.

(C) A debit card, for instance your regular bank card that you'd use in the UK

(D) A credit card, that you'd use in the UK - preferably one that doesn't charge you for non-sterling transactions

As regards the charges:

(i) These are never going to run into hundreds of pounds.

(ii) Some cards that appear to be charge free do levy a charge which they hide in a slightly disadvantageous exchange rate.

(iii) Your PO pre-loaded charge card is charge free when you use it to purchase goods or services. But it levies a charge when you withdraw cash out of an ATM. A Caxton card (which is broadly the same thing) doesn't.

Why are you opposed to a credit card? The only difference between it and a pre-charged card is that you load it up (ie pay it off) after the event, rather than before. The money spent will be the same, either way.
 
And there's your problem.

As Wessie's post explains, pre-charged cash cards - where you load money onto a piece of plastic before you spend it - are great but have their faults, as you've discovered.

To fill the gap you need an alternative which could be:

(A) More pre-charged cash cards, so that you can rotate them on a daily basis

(B) Cash, itself.

(C) A debit card, for instance your regular bank card that you'd use in the UK

(D) A credit card, that you'd use in the UK - preferably one that doesn't charge you for non-sterling transactions

As regards the charges:

(i) These are never going to run into hundreds of pounds.

(ii) Some cards that appear to be charge free do levy a charge which they hide in a slightly disadvantageous exchange rate.

(iii) Your PO pre-loaded charge card is charge free when you use it to purchase goods or services. But it levies a charge when you withdraw cash out of an ATM. A Caxton card (which is broadly the same thing) doesn't.

Why are you opposed to a credit card? The only difference between it and a pre-charged card is that you load it up (ie pay it off) after the event, rather than before. The money spent will be the same, either way.
I kinda feel more secure with a pre-loaded card, i know if it goes tits up, i.e I lose it or its used in some fraudulent way. there is less of a risk to me and less faff, as I mentioned the post office card is great but I cannot use it a the cheaper automatic petrol outlets.
 
As said before, I too use Credit Cards on my travels (hell, I use them in the UK as well - cashback and/or tesco clubcard points), but abroad I use I tend to use Nationwide Gold Visa around Europe (no transaction fees and good rates) and when I am outside of Europe I use the Santander Zero card which - as has been said before - you can take money out of ATMs with no fees.

Having said that, I still take a wad of cash in case of problems. If I was doing a trip where I was stopping in small B&Bs or the ilk then a cash payment is often easier.
 
If you put 'credit card peage' into the weeny search box at the top of the page above, you get a gazillion results, one of which is this,,

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...ne-Used-Using-One?highlight=credit+card+peage

I use a SAGA credit card. Works all the time.

Thanks for that, I should have carried out more research on this site before applying for a Caxton fc card, which I realise now will have the same restrictions as my Post Office travel card, maybe I am being a bit paranoid about security, but its frustrating when trying to feed a limp wet euro note into a peage machine, which the mechanism then chews up as few of these toll peages are manned, always funny after the event, when you have had a few beers i know. Plus you cannot take advantage of the cheaper fuel at the Auto petrol outlets or 24 hr stations.
 
Bobsnew, do you lose cards regularly in the UK? If no, why are you suddenly going to start in France?

The really easy answer is to have two pre-loaded cards (kept separate) that you can probably alternate - and it's extra insurance in case you somehow lose one - a regular credit card (one that doesn't levy too many charges) with a reasonable limit, kept separate again for use in-extremis and a modest handful of local cash (yup, keep it kinda separate) for when plastic just won't do.

It's only a jaunt to France. Thousands go every year and have done for at least the last 200 years, well before the single currency, credit / debit / loadable bits of plastic. They all manage (or managed, at least in 1815) without all these problems and concerns.

It seems the easier banks and governments have tried to make it and the more choice consumers have demanded, the harder and harder some folk find it. Bring back multiple currencies, exchange control regulations, fuel coupons, green cards, travellers cheques, customs declarations, yellow headlights and limited hours banking. That'll sort it out. I blame Mrs Thatcher (she blazed de-regulation) and Money Box on Radio 4.


:beerjug:
 
Do you lose it regularly in the UK? If no, why are you suddenly going to start in France?

No, never lose one, mislay one, yes almost hourly, with so many pockets in my bike gear. I hear what you are saying & you are probably right, but as I am going for 3 weeks. if I lose a card in the UK I know its much simpler to cancel & get a replacement etc. May have to bite the bullet & just do as everyone else appears to do. :)
 
Do you lose it regularly in the UK? If no, why are you suddenly going to start in France?

No, never lose one, mislay one, yes almost hourly, with so many pockets in my bike gear. I hear what you are saying & you are probably right, but as I am going for 3 weeks. if I lose a card in the UK I know its much simpler to cancel & get a replacement etc. May have to bite the bullet & just do as everyone else appears to do. :)
Pocket discipline is your friend here ! the same things go in the same pockets every trip and it becomes second nature.
 
Pocket discipline is your friend here ! the same things go in the same pockets every trip and it becomes second nature.

I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, but that would deprive my traveling companions of their entertainment, & P taking in the evening, I have newly purchased a wallet from a camping outlet with a neck cord, to be trialed.
 
This popped up this morning via money saving expert....................... Looks as though further investigation is warranted, it might be another tool in the armoury for foreign travels

https://supercard.io/?c=MSE_Newsletter_ios&pid=MSE

:thumb2

After you posted that I checked into it, and it is a great deal according to the MSE website. Apparently they are only going to issue 25k cards and have been struggling all day to meet demand...as at 504 pm they'd issued 10k odd...I'm only telling you this as I got one, but you should apply ASAP. Check out Money Saving Expert and see what Martin Lewis says.
 
After you posted that I checked into it, and it is a great deal according to the MSE website. Apparently they are only going to issue 25k cards and have been struggling all day to meet demand...as at 504 pm they'd issued 10k odd...I'm only telling you this as I got one, but you should apply ASAP. Check out Money Saving Expert and see what Martin Lewis says.

I looked at it also and thought what's to loose - it looked a very useful addition. But I kept trying intermittently all day and kept getting failed messages, propabably due to server overload issues. So I wasn't lucky like you - I have only managed to be registered for after the pilot. :blast
 
I think they underestimated the demand and the pilot was sold out in the day... it certainly looks a good deal so far, and as you say..what's to lose..
 
I have merged two parallel posts and threads together, not least as they embrace the same subject.

I've stickied it too, so everyone will know in future.

Phew, it's exhausting this Adventure biking lark.

Richard
 
Got my supercard today, linked it through the app to my debit card, so I can now spend abroad without foreign currency transaction charges....it's not a credit card, it's essentially a prepaid card, but rather than loading it with cash, you load it with your domestic debit card.

Seems very good....its free, and a useful extra weapon in the fight against johnny foreigner and his financial wiles. Be interesting to see if it works in Peages, thus preventing dements from blind old wifey trying to insert florins and half-crowns.....

I'll let you know...not that you can get one, the pilot was limited, oversubscribed in hours and is now closed.
 
I got one and am looking forward to using it in Spain in September. I got on the pilot but the delivery delay meant it arrived whilst I was out of the country earlier this month.
 


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