Money.. Which card?

[DisneyKatie]

First time taking my own spending money (usually rely on the bank of mom & dad!)

I know there are cards out there that you can put money onto and effectively use as a debit card. Which ones do people recommend?

Thanks.

[Toria]

I have used Monzo in the past and that was good. A lot of peeps on here rave about Revolt card but I've not looked into that.

[itsmeGAV]

We used WeSwap.. very good exchange rate and it's great because you can split your money into different currency wallets meaning when in the US and you use your WeSwap card it will only take funds from the $ currency wallet.

[scojos]

We have fairfx.
Get a discount on aiirport lounge too lol

[wanye]

i used fairfx without issue every year between 2008-2016. after that, i moved to monzo, and liked it so much it is now my main spending account in the uk...

[KevinCosmos]

Originally Posted by DisneyKatie

First time taking my own spending money (usually rely on the bank of mom & dad!)

I know there are cards out there that you can put money onto and effectively use as a debit card. Which ones do people recommend?

Thanks.

See more...

It's really down to personal preference

I use Revolut as it allows me to convert currency ahead of time (I don't believe Starling or Monzo do this - it exchanges the currency at the point of sale) so I can "save" my dollars up ahead of time at rates I am happy with.

On their free tier you can withdraw £200 a month and then I believe it's a 1-2% fee for any additional withdrawals (ATM only - any in-store or online transaction is fee free). Currency conversion is free and you get the MasterCard rate.

Revolut also lets me have "backup" money in other currencies. So if I have $1000 and £1000, and try to spend $1200 it will automatically covert the extra $200 from my £ balance. Top-ups are instant through your bank and you can disable/enable numerous payment options as and when you please (disable online transactions, enable swipe payments, disable contactless etc) and you can "freeze" your card to stop all payments at any time and "unfreeze" too.

You can also set up payments so that if your Revolut card falls below "X" amount, it'll automatically top-up from your bank account so that you're never left with 0.

I believe that Revolut doesn't have the same financial protection as some others (FSCS protection I think) but I am happy to take the slight risk.

I would also recommend having a back up method (i.e. Monzo, Starling, Cash) in case there is planned maintenance from your chosen provider.

Hope this helps Feel free to ask questions if you have any as I'm an avid Revolut user (I paid for their Metal card and I use it to get a free Netflix trial each month to offset most of the cost)

[IndianaMac]

Following with interest...

We usually take all cash and have credit cards as back-ups, but were thinking of doing it differently in our 2020 trip.

I'd never heard of WeSwap, but will add to the list to compare between FairFX, Lyk etc...

[nursetina]

I use starling... very much like monzo but with no limit on the cash point withdrawal. Monzo you can only take just over £200 out of atm in a month.
It's a bank and the card is a debit card, you don't pre load a currency... only in sterling, when you spend you get that days MasterCard exchange rate which is usually really good. You keep track via a really easy to use app and as soon as you spend you get a message saying where you've used it, how much you've spent in currency and sterling. I use it as my holiday spends and transfer money every month onto it. You can use it in this country too. Best thing is no fees... no foreign transaction fees, no set up fees..i love it.

[toonarmani]

Does it need to be a pre-pay card?

I've read a number of threads on people having issues with pre-pay cards (+ a lot of positive feedback to be fair), but rarely/if at all see any issues with credit cards.

We always use Halifax Clarity with no problems at all (no fees and can pay off as soon as it hits your account) and take minimal cash.

[kieron606]

Has to be Revolut for me, bank rate exchange rates, lightning fast top ups & exchanges, just pull out your phone, open the app & top up.