pre-paid cards

[gaye]

An article on Radio 4 today reported on a card which you could put an amount of money on and then use at any ATM in Europe thus foregoing lots of service charges etc....does anyone know anything about these? x

[Eileen]

Hi Gaye,

I use FairFx who are recommended by Martin Lewis as being the cheapest prepaid debit card providers.

Scroll half way down this page to read what Martin says....
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

I use my euro card as a form of saving for holiday spends.  The sterling card is for purchasing Ryanair flights as there is no credit card charge when using prepaid mastercard.

Here is the link to FairFx... http://www.fairfx.com/

Eileen.

[justphil]

We have used these before. American Express ran the ones we had. We didn't get a better rate, but for deposits over £1,000 you were given 50 euros extra. There was a daily limit of 200 euros withdrawal if I remember. However they actually charged for every use, and guess what? The charges added up to nearly 50 euros! They gave us convenience, but our Nationwide card is just as convenient and a better deal with low charges (used to be none.)

Our Vietnam lady pointed the Nationwide out to us on the forum (thanks Sandy luvver!) and it works just fine for us. But a bitter-sweet fact, now there is no ATM in Arillas.

Phil

[Well done Eileen. Will follow up. We posted at the same time... lol Phil]

Phil

[Lisa and Steve]

The post office do a travel money card.Cant remember details but you can look online or in branch.Hope this helps.

[gaye]

Is the no ATM any longer in Arillas then???

[Geoffrey with a "G"]

Phil - Because of upcoming discontinuance of the cheque guarantee card system, Nationwide are changing my Flexaccount to a Cash Card Account which no longer allows for overseas cash withdrawals. Hope this doesn´t apply to all Nationwide users.

[justphil]

Thanks Geoffrey. Knew it couldn't last. Oh well, it won't stop us enjoying Arillas.

Phil

[Geoffrey with a "G"]

Quite right Phil! It would take a lot more than this slight inconvenience to stop us getting to Arillas.

[wetty]

Hi Gaye,

See post below 'Some Good News Some Bad News' to read about the saga of the ATM.

Wetty

[Maggie]

Sounds like a good idea, BUT, WE NEED AN ATM!!!!!!!





Sorry, but it's really bugging me!!!

[Ang]

Well all I can add  is if the banks dont want to place an ATM in Arillas then maybe one of the supermarkets or hotels will instal a cash machine just like some of our local shop keepers here in blighty Im sure the same is available in corfu, its a way of de cashing the business cheaper bank charges as all banks charge to deposit money/cash from business, or what about a consortium to get an ATM
Ang

[Maggie]

Ang, I spoke to someone with a business here, and he asked one of the anks if they would put an ATM in his property, but they said it costs too much, and it would not be used often enough to be worth their while.
I'ts just such a nuisance when we have to drive somewhere to withdraw cash, and if there's a bill to pay, maybe we have to go 2 or 3 days ina row, because of the limit on the withdrawal amount.
We need an ATM in Arillas.


(if I keep saying it often enough, maybe someone will listen, and supply one!) lol....

[Geoffrey with a "G"]

its a way of de cashing the business cheaper bank charges

What does that mean Angie?

[riggers]

These are a good idea...........but we (maggie included) want an ATM....

[Ang]

That's a shame Maggie, you would have thought the bank would have least tried it for the season.

Geoffrey with a G, banks charge business users for banking and the more you bank the more they charge so, if you have an ATM in your business, you fill it with the cash from the business, de cashing in effect means that you are not  physically holding cash until you bank as its in the ATM, or a bit like its in a safe  more security and the charges are for this way of banking I think less, I could be wrong, but it was something which we used to encourage pubs to do, when they had plenty of cash in the business sadly something that is not the case today.

Anyway its still a shame that the long awaited ATM service was only given 2-3yrs, but everything has a cost I suppose maybe they over targeted their return based on the first season
Ang