7 Reasons Why You Need A Travel Money Card For Your Next Trip Abroad

Travel money cards are a relatively new way of spending money when you’re abroad. But what exactly are they and why are they so useful?

Travel money cards work like prepaid debit cards. This means that you load cash onto them – and can only spend as much money as you have loaded onto the card. However, there’s one significant difference between a travel money card and a normal prepaid debit card – a travel money card is loaded with foreign currency.

In other words, if you’re a UK resident, you can buy a travel money card which is denominated in another currency apart from pounds sterling – for example euros or dollars. And there are several reasons why this may be of benefit to you.

Here are the 7 Reasons Why You Need a Travel Money Card for your Next Trip Abroad:

1)Much better exchange rates than exchanging cash at the airport

Many airports have foreign currency exchange booths that offer terrible exchange rates. It’s not uncommon to get exchange rates at airport travel money booths which are over 10% worse that rates offers by leading travel money cards.

2)Better exchange rates than the majority of credit or debit cards

Credit or debit cards will commonly charge you 2.75% on foreign currency transactions, and a further ATM fee for cash withdrawals. This means that leading travel money cards can beat your existing debit or credit card by up to 4%.

3)Zero point-of-sale usage fees

Unlike your existing debit or credit card which will commonly charge you a 2.75% foreign exchange fee on all transactions, most travel money cards are completely free-of-charge to use at point-of-sale. This means that you will not be charged for using your travel money card in restaurants, shops, hotels etc.

4)Low ATM fees

Instead of charging you percentage fees like many debit and credit cards, ATM fees for travel money cards tend to be fixed. Some travel money ATM fees are as low as €1.50 or $2, which means that you’ll be saving plenty of money as long as if you don’t consistently withdraw small amounts of cash.

5)Load and manage your travel money card online

Although most travel money cards don’t display your latest balance in ATM machines, you can usually check your current balance and recent transaction history online. Some travel money cards even offer you the facility to check your current balance and top-up your cash using SMS messaging from your mobile phone.

6)More secure and convenient than cash

Most travel money cards offer you the facility to have multiple cards on the same account. Although you should check with your travel money card issuer first, if you’re able to take a spare card with you and keep it safe and away from your main card, then your card issuer should be able to cancel your main card and transfer any existing funds to your spare card without too much hassle.

7)Lock-in exchange rates when they are high

Another great thing about travel money cards is that when you top them up, you lock-in the currency exchange rate which you get on the day that you load the card. That means that you can hold-off exchanging your travel cash if you think that the rate’s going to get better before you travel. You can also buy now if you think that the rate’s going to go down.