Post Office Credit card cash advance

[daisymae]

We are off to Vegas next week and totally forgot that the prepaid travel card we have is a Thomas Cook cash passport so we cannot load any money on to it. Most cards are saying 4 working days minimum to receive a card so they look to be out of the window. Went to Tesco as they do one but unfortunately due to their service being hacked they are not providing these at the moment. We have taken more cash than we normally do and will use our Post Office credit card but should we require more cash we would use this. We know it’s a 3% or £3 transaction fee but would we be best transferring sterling onto the card before we take dollars out to prevent interest or would we still be charged interest or would using a debit card just be the same?

[skalexander]

We went to LA in January 2016, fairly short trip, but for reasons unknown I didn’t pull my finger out and arrange currency, so we went with only a few dollars we had from previous US trips.

Everywhere took card - restaurants, quick service places, food and drinks carts/windows, car parking, shops etc., not just in the parks but everywhere we went. I imagine card use is even more prevalent now.

Don’t withdraw cash on your credit card. There’s absolutely no need.

[Lizzim]

I would agree - we just use our Post Office Credit card and take a little bit of cash for tips and gas.

[daisymae]

Thanks everyone. We have no idea about Vegas, probably panicking a bit as Vegas seems to be very expensive which we are ok about, just the thought of not having enough ready money for tips.

[BevS97]

If you absolutely do need cash and have sterling to transfer wouldn’t you be better just withdrawing sterling directly from your current account ?

[Floridag1rl]

Open a Starling bank account on your phone it’s free to use in the USA husband opened his Thursday morning and his debit card arrived on Saturday. It can also be connected to Apple Pay. Exchange rate is really good and you just transfer Uk £ to your starling account. Daughter and Myself have this account we used it fine in New York with no fees etc and no need to carry lots of cash.

[daisymae]

Originally Posted by BevS97

If you absolutely do need cash and have sterling to transfer wouldn’t you be better just withdrawing sterling directly from your current account ?

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Yes, money isn’t an issue, wasn’t until I had written the post that I realised that I would probably just be as well using debit card should we need to.

[happytraveller]

Last August I had about 200 dollars in cash maximum and used my Post office credit card for absolutely everything in Vegas. So much so, I actually came back with over 100 dollars. I was out there for two weeks with myself DS 11 and DD22 so a lot of spending took place you’ll be fine.