Spending money in the usa

[Guest]

Going to Florida in a couple of weeks.

Have only been to Europe for a few years and usually just take a bit of cash and use debit card.

I don't think we have a safe in our villa so don't want to take loads of cash.

What do most people do for money? Card with a bit of cash or do the money exchange places still do those pre-loaded cards? Are there charges when using debit cards?


Many thanks.

[Butterbeer]

Look in to getting a Caxton card, its a currency card that you can use just like a debit card, so you can pay with it and use it to take cash out with no charges, which shouldn't have changed since I last used it. They usually have decent exchange rates too and you can use their app or website to add money on to it whenever you want. You can use it for different currencies too, so its useful if you go to somewhere in Europe for example in the future.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by marsh33

Going to Florida in a couple of weeks.

Have only been to Europe for a few years and usually just take a bit of cash and use debit card.

I don't think we have a safe in our villa so don't want to take loads of cash.

What do most people do for money? Card with a bit of cash or do the money exchange places still do those pre-loaded cards? Are there charges when using debit cards?


Many thanks.

See more...

If you can get a credit card go with a Halifax and/ or Post Office.
No need to faff around loading up with currencies etc.
You get proper MasterCard exchange rate (usually same as proper non tourist exchange rate which is about 3 cents to the £ higher than you'll get changing cash).
No currency exchange fees.
You need very little cash in US, virtually everything can be put on credit card, even vending machines.
I always have 2 cards (and in fact a further Amex as well) in case something went wrong with one or lost one. My wife also has the cards as second cardholder, so we are totally covered. Never had any issues.
We usually take $500 or so cash for family of 4 for 2 weeks.

[Guest]

Thanks - will check both of those out!

[Guest]

A few bad reviews on the Caxton card - I have a Halifax credit card with nothing on it so might use that...it's better to pay in local currency - is that right?

[stockport1965]

Originally Posted by marsh33

A few bad reviews on the Caxton card - I have a Halifax credit card with nothing on it so might use that...it's better to pay in local currency - is that right?

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Caxton Card is brilliant, even when I had a query, I tweeted and they respond very quick

[Burgmeister]

We have just returned from New York and I used our Revolut card. Worked flawlessly. I had changed some £ into $ on it a few weeks back at $1.33=£1 and when I paid with the card it automatically used those. If you run out of cash just top up from your debit card.

It also has some switchable security measures that you can turn on if you are more security concious. These include being able to freeze your card from the app when you aren't wanting to use it and also ensuring that the card doesn't work if your mobile phone is not in the vicinity. You also get immediate alerts to your phone every time a transaction occurs.

I also have a Halifax Clarity card but found that I didn't need it on this trip as Revolut worked so well

[400ixl]

Check the exchange rates, used to used the pre-load currency cards like Caxton, but now use the Halifax Clarity credit card as the rate is far superior to Caxton / FairFX etc who have slowly got worse over the years.

Most pre-paid cards now do a hold of funds when used in restaurants now for tips to be added, so it gets more difficult to track what is available and not worth the hassle when on holiday. Also, never use one when checking into a hotel as again a hold will be placed on a deposit locking out that value.

I only use the Caxton card for pre-loading money to turn into cash these days, but do most things on the Halifax card.

Pay in local currency to get the best exchange rate.