Barclays Bank

[kissofdeath]

So, I'm on holiday in Croatia and have lost my wallet. Froze my cards and reported them all as lost. I then realised how little cash we have so contacted them via the app and after a little messing about with the autobot I got through to a real person. they offered to sort out cash via Western Union and ordered a new bank card, the details of which where automaticaly changed in google wallet so contacless can be used as well via my Phone until new card arrives.

All in all 10 out of 10 for Barclays  and -1 for me 

[mr_diver]

I bet you'll find the wallet the day to get home.

The mrs more or less uses her phone now for all payments.

[The Doctor 46]

 kissofdeath. Your on site name seems to be fitting  . Well done you though for sorting it out and well done Barclays bank.

I opened an account with Barclays when I joined the army back in 1973. They bounced my first cheque which caused me so much embarrassment that I closed the account the same month then went with Lloyds and I've been with them ever since.  Silly to hold a grudge for so long really and also silly to show loyalty to a bank.

 I went into Nationwide last week to make an inquiry and was offered £200 if I moved my account to them. I was asking about charges to use my debit card abroad as I am charged every time by Lloyds so usually just take loads of euro's to Spain with me which is not really a good idea.

Anyway, well done Barclays. 

[Rixington43]

I trust Nationwide promptly suggested their commission free credit card?
Nice to hear of a bank providing a service, I guess they can afford to with all that base rate interest they're not passing on to their savers 

[Rusty Nuts]

My Halifax Clarity credit card makes no charge for foreign transactions. Unless grabbing dosh from an atm, they all do that. But I also take a substantial stash of Euros, because my mrs. comes with me.

[Barbel Mick]

For our trips overseas, for the last couple of years, we have used a 'travel money card', in our case, the one the Post Office issue. https://www.postoffice.co.uk/travel-money/card
We have found it great & only had one issue with it. (more later) You can load it very quickly with with any currency you wish & either take it off if not required (very good if lost or stolen), or this last time, we converted it back to £'s & used the remainder over here.
You use it exactly the same way you would a credit/debit card.
The issue we had was when we went to France earlier this year & the first time we went to fill the bike up we were debited 80euro 'pre-authorisation' along with the cost of the fuel. We didn't get that 80euro back for 8 days!! From then on we used a credit card, that way the pre-authorised money was back into the account before we had to pay the card balance. 

[mr_diver]

I second the Post Office travel money card. 

We preloaded it with the relevant currency before we went to abroad a few times in recent years and you can use the app to add extra if needed.

Leave the UK bank cards in the safe in the room as a backup and just take a small bit of cash and travel money card.

Last time we went, we both took a card each.

[Ianmc]

     +1 for the post office Travel card,I have recently got back from Spain where I used my Post Office card for all my hotels,rail fares,food and drink etc.
  Changed what was left on the card back into pounds and then went to the local post office to send a parcel to my cousin in Oz and they tried to charge me £2:50 for the privilege of using the card,I soon stopped that and used my debit card to pay for the postage.Several weeks have gone by and there is 37 pence left on it.This is my second card as the original ran out of time and I had to get a new one to go away last year,plus this new one is contactless.Biggest plus for me is if you lose or get the card nicked,they can only get off it what you have loaded onto it and there is no link whatsoever to your private bank account details.

[kwackboy]

I have a clarity card with the Halifax,  which is good but this past year I've been using a barclaycard rewards credit card.

Free to use anywhere in the world plus free cash withdrawals from ATMs again, anywhere in the world .

No need to carry any cash plus you get better exchange rates from VISA .

[purplebikeunicorn]

Prepaid travel cards are fine when they work, but some terminals can decline them for seemingly no reason as other members of my party to the USA found out!

I've travelled to the USA and Spain in the past couple of years, for the USA I had a Chase UK debit card (with free cash withdrawals at any Chase ATM), and a Monzo debit card. Where the Monzo card didn't work, the Chase card did, and really I could have got away with just the Chase card.

For the Spain trip I set up a Santander bank account, they allow fee-free cash withdrawals from Santander cash points (but do charge for transactions, so it was purely going to be if I needed more euros), and I took my Monzo card, and Barclaycard Rewards card. The Barclaycard sat in the hotel safe as my Monzo card worked everywhere flawlessly (incl contactless). The Chase card was MIA shortly before the trip or I'd have taken that as a spare instead of the Barclaycard.

An important tip to remember in Spain, they must charge you in EUR or you'll pay an eyewatering conversion rate, a couple of small shops insisted I paid in GBP because it was a British card...

No transaction fees and Visa/Mastercard currency conversion rate for the Monzo, Barclaycard and Chase account. Monzo is great as it will ping your phone for every single transaction whether successful or declined.

[Pete O Tube]

I've been using Revolut this year, not a single problem in Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium or Luxembourg for paying for meals, accommodation, fuel and sundries.
Have thought about a Monzo for back up though.

Revolut's exchange rate seems to be 2 cents (euro) better than high street travel cards and cash exchange.
I also only load it up on a daily basis with what I think I'll need, that way, if it's lost or stolen you'll only lose that amount (and kept separate from other cards).

[geoffbandit]

I second revolut also has one use virtual card good for web buys

[timangus]

I used a Santander Zero Mastercard, which has no charges and comes with an app so you can see almost immediately what your purchase cost in Pounds. It worked everywhere on my RTW trip.

[Pete O Tube]

Apparently Santander discontinued the Zero credit card over two years ago (Santander is our main current account bank).