Five ways to save on holiday money
This year, it’s even more important to make your holiday money go further. Your Travel Planner has been exploring this and outlines 5 ways to get the most of you holiday money and make it work harder while you’re on holiday:
- For cash, it’s best to pre-order rather than exchange at the airport. I checked for US dollars today and both Thomas Global Exchange and the Post Office offer 0% commission and competitive exchange rates. Both offer an online service and you can opt to collect at a branch or have your currency delivered to your door (charges apply).
- If you like the convenience of picking up your currency at the airport, it’s still better to pre-order and collect from one of the exchange bureaus at the airport rather than buying it on the day.
- You can pay heavily for making purchases with your credit card overseas. The benefit though is that credit cards do offer some consumer protection for purchases over £100. At the moment, credit cards from the Post Office and Nationwide offer 0% commission on purchases overseas. However, from 6 May 2009, Nationwide will charge 0.84% and then 1% from 1 July 2009. This is still better than the 2.75% that most other credit cards charge.
- Using your credit card to withdraw cash while you are abroad is one of the most expensive ways to buy currency. Better to have a Nationwide Flexaccount; their Visa Debit card has 0% commission on withdrawals and no ATM fees. However, from 1 June 2009, Nationwide will charge 0.84% and then 1% from 1 July 2009. Checking the Visa exchange rate before you withdraw your cash could also save you pounds.
- Another cheaper alternative for withdrawing cash oveerseas is to use a Prepaid card. You load your card with a set amount of money, and use it just like a credit or debit card. Cash withdrawals from an ATM are normally cheaper than most credit or debit cards. Exchange rates are competitive too. CaxtonFX have had a lot of press or try FairFX for more details.
The starting point for Your Travel Planner’s research on “Ways to save holiday money” was Martin Lewis’ fantastic website www.moneysavingexpert.com. It’s full of ideas on how to save money on absolutely anything, including holiday and travel money.
