- It is recommended that you use a "mixed wallet", i.
e.
a mixture of cash (often you will require some local currency to pay for the taxi from the airport etc), cards made up of pre-paid currency cards as well as your usual credit/debit cards.
This enables you to make sure that if you are unfortunate enough to either lose items or have things stolen you will still have cash available.
- Ensure that if you are taking a variety of cards abroad with you that they all have different pin numbers.
If you are unfortunate and do have any items stolen, or are the target of pickpockets, this way you are protecting at least some of your cash.
- Shop around - There is such a wide variety of travel money providers, credit card offers, and pre-paid card options that as with any financial product it is extremely important to shop around to make sure that you get the best deal.
- Do not use your bank or building society to purchase travel money! For those that have researched the market this may seem obvious, but for many consumers the high street has been the first port of call.
There are a huge variety of online providers, some of which provide free delivery for foreign currency.
Often these providers do not charge any commission and the spread that they put over the exchange rate will be significantly less than a high street provider as they will not have the overheads and are looking to increase market share.
- Pre-paid cards are a relatively new entrant to the travel money market, and go some way towards replacing travellers cheques which are becoming increasingly rare.
One of the main advantages to using a pre-paid card, is that if you are to lose the card or have it stolen, some providers will provide a replacement with the same amount of funds on the card for free! This means that you have the same security you would get with a bank card (i.
e.
Pin protected), but you are also benefiting from the potential replacement of lost funds.
- Check out the potential charges before you go away: If you are planning on only spending on your debit/credit card it is important that you understand what the charges may be.
There has been lots of research into this, and it can make a significant difference to your spending money.
- Last of all, do not take all of your money to the beach with you!!! - As obvious as it may seem, after a night of indulgence in a foreign country sometimes people leave their common sense at home! Enjoy the holiday and hopefully these tips will mean that you are able to do one extra activity due to the savings that they may have encouraged! Please visit www.
cheaptravelmoney.
com for more information.