Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
Post Reply
mnichols
Posts: 1465
Joined: 22 Apr 2013, 4:29pm

Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by mnichols »

I'm thinking of getting a prepaid currency card for a month long tour of Canada and the USA as I don't want to carry more than a few day's worth of money with me at any time. So I would mainly be using it to withdrawn money, my credit card (Post Office) is pretty good for card spending

I like the look of the Caxton FX

Does anyone have experience of this or similar cards? what are the good and bad points?
robing
Posts: 1359
Joined: 7 Sep 2014, 9:11am

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by robing »

I have the Caxton FX Euro card and had no problems. I was getting good exchange rates with no commission, much better than using an ordinary debit card. Simple to set up and you can use the app to top up and check your balance.
whoof
Posts: 2519
Joined: 29 Apr 2014, 2:13pm

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by whoof »

There have been problems with some currency cards where you load it with £400, go abroad spend £300. In six months time you go on holiday again and try to spent the remaining £100 and it's disappeared and any unused balance it kept by the provider after a certain time, check the small print.

As for the card you mentioned this is what comes up if you google reviews. Looking at them they appear to be actual customers as you require a an 'order-id' to make a review.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.caxtonfx.com
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by mjr »

I used a Caxton USD card many years ago because I think card security in the USA is laughably poor. I think I topped up and checked balance by text message. Worked OK. Small fee for getting the remainder out at the end but OK. I think they've changed banking provider since then, so I'd check the pros and cons on www.moneysavingexpert.com before getting another.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
User avatar
honesty
Posts: 2658
Joined: 16 Mar 2012, 3:33pm
Location: Somerset
Contact:

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by honesty »

We used the Thomas Cook one last time we went over to America. It worked ok, as it was visa it got accepted anywhere the credit card would have. Had some problems with petrol stations where you pay at pump, otherwise great.
pal
Posts: 612
Joined: 22 Mar 2008, 11:49am

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by pal »

I use Caxton fx, and have never had any problems. They've recently changed their set-up: cards are now Mastercard rather than Visa, and rather than having separate cards for each currency, you have one card on which you can store multiple currencies (so, e.g., load it up with 100 euro, and 300 US dollars, and 300 Canadian dollars, etc). As part of the change, the option to load cards by text message has been discontinued (which is a bit of a shame, I think); instead, there's a phone app (from which you can check the balance; top-up; move money between different currencies; etc): that works well, but requires a data/wifi connection, which isn't always available when you're on the move. In spite of that, I'd still recommend it overall: it's v. reliable, and the service is good.
robing
Posts: 1359
Joined: 7 Sep 2014, 9:11am

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by robing »

Re Caxton FX - you don't get a statement as such, but you can see all your recent transactions on the app. I did have one issue when I was deducted twice for a withdrawal, but it was soon credited back again. Also a couple of times my account was 'frozen' and i had to email them to 'unfreeze' it. Bit of a nuisance but no big deal. I was getting up to 1.40E to a pound, so great rates.
JJF
Posts: 324
Joined: 17 Feb 2007, 9:14pm

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by JJF »

I use Caxton fx Euro card and have done so in several European countries.
It has worked very well.
One of the earlier posters mentioned that on changing from Visa to MasterCard they have dropped the facility to check your balance and to load the card by text message. At the moment you have to use their App.
That doesn't suit me because I have a basic mobile phone.

Caxton have told me that they are working on restoring the text facility soon.
bluemootwo
Posts: 101
Joined: 21 Aug 2015, 7:14am

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by bluemootwo »

I've been working for a year in a European project and juggling GBP, EUR, NOK, USD and others, and Caxton FX MasterCard is brilliant. You can top up in an instant using the app, and switch to and from any currency (including GBP) easily and instantly at very low cost. Somehow the card always knows what currency to use, wherever you are. Fantastic.
Colgrenfell
Posts: 27
Joined: 13 Aug 2015, 11:17pm

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by Colgrenfell »

Hi
We used Caxton as well (having read about it here last year I think) for a 2 week tour in France. Highly recommend it. Good rates and much less worry about fraud.. and you
save a lot of bank charges.

Worth noting that you can't use it to prebook hotels etc as it doesn't allow pre-authorisation.. but for day to day it was great.
mnichols
Posts: 1465
Joined: 22 Apr 2013, 4:29pm

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by mnichols »

Great. Thanks. I've ordered one
jiberjaber
Posts: 18
Joined: 14 Nov 2014, 11:15pm
Location: Essex

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by jiberjaber »

Colgrenfell wrote:Hi
We used Caxton as well (having read about it here last year I think) for a 2 week tour in France. Highly recommend it. Good rates and much less worry about fraud.. and you
save a lot of bank charges.

Worth noting that you can't use it to prebook hotels etc as it doesn't allow pre-authorisation.. but for day to day it was great.

So to confirm, I can use it to pay for my hotels when I've stayed there? I'm off in a week or so, so it would be useful to avoid the home bank charges :)
Kind Regards,

Jason
robing
Posts: 1359
Joined: 7 Sep 2014, 9:11am

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by robing »

jiberjaber wrote:
Colgrenfell wrote:Hi
We used Caxton as well (having read about it here last year I think) for a 2 week tour in France. Highly recommend it. Good rates and much less worry about fraud.. and you
save a lot of bank charges.

Worth noting that you can't use it to prebook hotels etc as it doesn't allow pre-authorisation.. but for day to day it was great.

So to confirm, I can use it to pay for my hotels when I've stayed there? I'm off in a week or so, so it would be useful to avoid the home bank charges :)


Yes, you can use it to pay for your hotel or anything else provided you have enough balance in your account.
jiberjaber
Posts: 18
Joined: 14 Nov 2014, 11:15pm
Location: Essex

Re: Anyone use a prepaid currency card?

Post by jiberjaber »

Ace thanks, I'll load some more money onto it :)
Kind Regards,

Jason
Post Reply