Post Office Travel Money Card

[Tilly2]

Any comments about this from anyone who has used one, please?

Off out now, will look for answers later this afternoon.

Thank you.

[theshedman]

I have used the Thomas Cook travel money card which is very similar. I found that TC were giving a much better rate when I had it and if you put a £1000 on it they gave you an extra 50 Euros free. I had no trouble using it either to get cash out or to use them in shops and restaurants. The main advantage I found with the TC one is that they will give you 2 cards for the same account either for 2 of you to use or keep 1 as a spare in case you lose it or it gets stolen. Then you could phone and cancel the one and carry on using the other. There are a few charges for getting money out but it is all there in plain writing to see. If you have any money left on it when you come back from holiday and you wont be using it for a while then just go to a ATM before you come back and take out everything you have left that way you get out of the cash out fee and if you want to change them back to sterling you will get a better rate.

[Tilly2]

Thank you for that, Shedman. That sounds like a useful card. I'm not sure though that I have enough time before we go away to actually apply for one. I'll have a look on the Thomas Cook website.

Anyone used the Post Office one?

[jourdain2]

My sister and daughter have used the PO ones and seem happy with it. I'm going to Italy with them in August and they have bought travel money on one of the PO cards. Mr J2 still retains his French card so I have just sent money to transfer to that account and I'll use his card. I am getting slightly better rates. Certainly better than paying a charge for withdrawing from a cash machine abroad.

[Tilly2]

Thank you, Jourdain. it's good to know that people are happy with it.

[theshedman]

You can just go in store and pick up the TC or Post Office card. No need to order and both the TC card and Post Office one have similar charges which is just really a 2 Euro charge for taking out cash from an ATM. No charge for using in shops. As I said in first post the main advantage of the TC one is the second card for the same account for either your OH to use or as a back up.

[DocHH]

There is also no link back to your main bank account, so all you can lose is what is on the card.

[Tilly2]

Thank you, Doc. Off to the Post Office tomorrow.

We will get a card each, to minimise the cost if one is lost, and take a bit of cash with us for small purchases.

[Islay]

Yes I have used the post office one, found it excellent value and was happy with the exchange rate that we got.
Topping up was easy - an app on our phone and just transferred money in seconds.

[Tilly2]

Islay, when you top up by phone, do you have to have online banking facilities on the phone too? (That might be a really stupid question.)

[Islay]

No you register your debit card to the phone app (the phone app has a couple of security features like pin number) so that when you top up its a straight forward transfer.

[Tilly2]

Thank you for that, Islay.