Best Card For Large Purchase

mariechez · 20 Jan 20, 08:06 PM

I find all the travel cards very confusing.

My son will need to buy a car when he moves to the USA and his bank account may not be up and running. He wont have a CC with enough credit on it so what would be the best pre loaded card to take with him to pay for the car?

TIA

mariechez · 25 Jan 20, 07:08 PM

Anyone?

Caroian · 25 Jan 20, 08:41 PM

FairFx cards can hold a maximum balance of $20000, (which should be more than enough to buy a car!)

It can sometimes prove tricky to buy a car if you do not have a SSN, US bank account or US driving licence - although the process varies by state. I'm assuming he isn't planning on pursuing finance or a lease, or buying anything costing over $10000, as this won't be possible without a SSN. Insurance is also likely to be more expensive on an international licence than on a US licence and to get a US license you need... a SSN! In some states, to get a US licence you also need to take a practical test for which you need to supply your own car - so catch 22! It is common for expats to use a rental car initially to get around some of the potential issues - lots of info on this on various ex-pat and relocation forums. If it's an employee sponsored relocation, there is often provision for this, or it can be negotiated in to the package.

mariechez · 25 Jan 20, 08:51 PM

Thank you for this. He has the post office MasterCard. He thinks he should get his SSN pretty much straight away.

Caroian · 25 Jan 20, 09:05 PM

The maximum balance for a Post Office card is �10000 - so that should be plenty for the car.

I'm assuming that he applied for his SSN during the visa application... it still often takes a couple of weeks for it to be sent out after arriving in the US, so I wouldn't rely on having it straight away. (Not trying to be a downer, just always worth having a plan B in case things don't quite conform to plan A!)

mariechez · 25 Jan 20, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by Caroian

The maximum balance for a Post Office card is �10000 - so that should be plenty for the car.

I'm assuming that he applied for his SSN during the visa application... it still often takes a couple of weeks for it to be sent out after arriving in the US, so I wouldn't rely on having it straight away. (Not trying to be a downer, just always worth having a plan B in case things don't quite conform to plan A!)

Yeah hopefully that will be enough lol. Yeah we are hoping the
Navy have sorted it out.

mariechez · 26 Jan 20, 12:08 PM

Just looking at Starling Bank, do you think this would be a better choice?

Olympiad · 27 Jan 20, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by mariechez

Just looking at Starling Bank, do you think this would be a better choice?

Starling (or similar like Monzo) are a good suggestion I think, especially as they will give more flexibility in moving money around and will also enable your son to use it until he gets a US account sorted. You can separate out spaces for different purposes so could divde the money set aside for the car from other uses.

Loading up the PO credit card is a good option (but not as easy or flexible as use of Starling etc).

Pre-loading a typical currency card is in my opinion the worst option. Exchange rates are generally worse and they are a bit more inflexible (based on experience of travelex, fairfx and couple of others).

Also take a look at Revolut and Curve as options.