Hi Guys,
Sparked by the new Citibank 'bargain', this has gotten me thinking that I have not organised a way to use my money overseas. I will be going to Europe for around 7 months. Any recommendations on the best plan of action??
Thanks for your help!
That seems to be more geared toward credit cards. I have saved up money, and want to know the best way to take it with me.
Ta
You can take your money with you with the 28 Degrees card. You put money into the card before you leave, then withdraw foreign currency from overseas ATM. You should check this, but I think there will be no ATM fee (as long as you use certain ATMs). The other advantage is that exchange rate is quite good with that card.
Again, I think you should read those threads for more discussion. Good luck.
I have been travelling overseas for 9 months a year for years - on a tight budget. Like Snail, I've been using 28Degrees - has not cost a cent. I hate paying fees to banks & Passport cards, just to use my own money. Used it in ATMs throughout Asia & Europe. You arrive at an airport & withdraw cash - easy. No need to bother buying foreign currency before leaving. I set up a weekly automatic funds transfer from a high interest account to the 28Degrees MasterCard. That way I don't even lose interest. Can top up or adjust that transfer online as I need. Very simple & best of all FREE!
But discussed in the earlier thread. Citibank deal seems similar to 28Degrees.
+1 for the 28 degrees card . It really is that good .
Another option, what i used just going NZ..is a Commonwealth Travel money card. You load money onto it with your desired currency, no conversion fee you just get the rate at that time. there are fees for using ATMs, but obviously EFTPOS is free and you can withdraw money out from EFTPOS aswell. The advantage of this way, is that you lock in the currency coversion as your money is in o/s currency..so you don't have to worry about currency fluctuations.
Don't all the providers for these sorts of cards charge like 2.5% at the time the card is loaded? I have always avoided them & used NAB Gold and 28 Degrees for this reason.
You might want to try looking into a Travelex Cash Passport Card. Reasonable costs, good benefits, easy $$ access, choice of Mastercard or Visa.
I like the fact that you don't have to have a specific bank account, the card can be an ATM or debit card and now you can choose a card that is reloadable (online, via sms, in store) in a single currency or up to 7 currencies at once. Would be handy in many of your Europeaan destinations I'm sure.
My husband and I have travelled o/s using this money system a few times (with a credit card in tow for emergency situations) and we wouldn't hesitate to choose this option again in the future.
See this link for what Travelex offer -
http://www.cashpassport.com/1/en/au1/
Good luck with your travels.
If you have saved enough money to travel overseas with, look into a NAB Gold Banking account.
You can withdraw from any ATM where Visa is accepted and there will be no international transaction fee, currency conversion fee or ATM fee (from both NAB and the Banks ATM). I did come across an ATM that advised they would charge a fee for the transaction, so I just went to the next one and incurred no fee.
You'll also get a better conversion rate as the card utlises Visa's exchange rate, instead of the banks rate, which in most cases is crap.
Account service fee is $10 a month, not applicable if you deposit $5k per month. An easy way to circumnavigate this is to open a linked iSaver account, interest bearing account, and keep your cash there and accrue interest. Once a month transfer $5k across and then transfer it back. Money just needs to enter the account, it doesn't need to stay there.
I've used the account every time I have traveled overseas and I have saved myself a fortune in fees and charges as I don't like to carry around lots of cash with me, so free withdrawls from ATMs helps alot.
There are already some threads devoted to this precise topic. To begin, see http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/61621