You can get them from major banks, travel agents, the post office and even from online foreign exchange specialists. But not all prepaid travel cards are created equal and depending on where you’re travelling to, they could be the most expensive way to spend your holiday dollars.
What are prepaid travel cards?
Prepaid cards are basically an updated version of the travellers cheque. Just as you would pre-buy your foreign currency travellers cheques, with a prepaid card you purchase foreign currency at a set rate before you travel and instead of paper cheques you’ll get issued with a prepaid Visa, MasterCard or American Express card. You can purchase single currency cards or multicurrency cards which allow you to preload multiple currencies on the one card.
One of the best advantages of a prepaid card is that you can lock in your exchange rate so that when you are travelling you’ll know exactly just how much things are costing you. You can use prepaid cards in ATMS or pay for things like restaurant bills, hotels or shopping wherever you use MasterCard, Visa or Amex.
There are a number of great tips and comparisons on the MOZO.com.au Blog HERE that I recommend reading.
In this site are discussions and tips on:
- Prepaid card tips
- Variable purchase fees
- Using Mozo to compare exchange rates.
- Reloads.
- Spending habits.
- Watch default currency order on multicurrency cards.And,
- Holiday budgeting.
Have a great Holiday :-)
