travel card
Hi all
I just wanted to find out if anyone have used travel cards while OS and which one do you recommend ?
Also i was wondering if you know of any travel cards that you can buy just the card and load it up with USD currency ?
i have called commonwealth bank and they told me i can only load it up with AUD money and they convert it for me, but the problem i have is that i have changed most of the money from AUD to USD while dollar was above $1, so the problem i am having now is that i can’t put that USD money i have on the travel card. Any suggestions are welcome.
I always use VISA when os!!!!!
I think that the only way ya gonna be able to put the US dollars on a card will be to convert it back to Aussie dollars!!!!!
Why don’t ya just take it in cash????? Too much to carry on ya?????
28 degrees mastercard is what you are after. No international transaction fees, no annual fee, true exchange rates and you can preload it with money (in AUD it’s converted at the time of withdrawal in the local currency) and effectively use it at a debit card when O/S
Makes for a perfect online shopping card as well I wish I had one earlier for this very reason.
There’s a billion page thread about this card on the whirlpool forums.
Last time i went over, I got cash and put money on a card (like a temp Visa/Debit) through the money exchange place. Don’t remember the accompaning fees, but i remember it was a good deal for the amounts I was taking over
We got one from Aus Post was so easy! Just be careful though because if a hotel wants to put a hold on fee’s like a security deposit, it actually goes out of your account when using a debit card. Make sure you have a credit card for these things!!!
28 degrees mastercard . . .
Terrible custome service, by the looks of it:
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/wizard-clear-advantage-mastercard.html
Thanks for the replies guys and girls
the problem i am having is that i can’t find a travel card that will allow me to buy the card and put USD money on it as i have changed all my AUD to USD, i just went to aus post office they said that they only accept AUD money.
Looks like i will have to carry the money around with me… grrrr…
I don’t understand why does it matter what money you put on it…
28 degrees mastercard . . .
Terrible custome service, by the looks of it:
http://www.productreview.com.au/p/wizard-clear-advantage-mastercard.html
Meh the large majority of whirlpool think it’s a card straight from the gods, and in my experience I had the card in the mail a few days after applying online, had no troubles contacting them to let them know when I was going to travel and everything else is simply handled online.
A site like product review is generally going to be skewed towards the complainers (If you scroll through ratings of other cards on there ANZ,CBA,AMEX etc all have ratings that are lower). The process isn’t rocket science apply online, get card, use card, pay statement. We have 4 of these cards floating around in the family and we’ve never had an issue and saved a tonne of money because of it.
Dave i called them up regarding that card, but once again i need to put AUD money on it and not USD, it looks like i will just have to carry the money around with me.
A site like product review is generally going to be skewed towards the complainers . . .
Very true.
Dave i called them up regarding that card, but once again i need to put AUD money on it and not USD, it looks like i will just have to carry the money around with me.
Yeah when I read your second post and realised you already had all your money in USD I started thinking about options but haven’t really thought of any. I guess it really depends how much “all” of your money is.
Maybe I’ve got it completely backwards but if you bought when it was say $1.10usd/$1aud and it’s now $1usd/$1aud wouldn’t you actually be making a small profit from the exchange? (not taking into account exchange fees etc) For example you converted $1000AUD which netted you $1100USD. You can now convert your $1100USD into $1100AUD showing a $100 profit (pre-fees)
The exchange rate at the moment isn’t terrible so if you really don’t want to carry cash I guess you could cut your losses and convert back to AUD then pre load a card and use that o/s which you will be spending at whatever the exchange rate is at the time.
I guess in the end it’s really finding the compromise between safety/convenience vs most economical solution.
Whats the currency exchange thing at the airports? They’ve been the best I found. They let me put $600usd on one when I went to Asia and the only fees were currency conversions.
Currency exchange at the airports are normally run by Travelex!!!!!
They are one of the worst exchange rates ya can get!!!!!
In Aus I’ve found that the Post Office is pretty competitive, and VISA for a true exchange rate when ya deduct ya cash out from an ATM!!!!!
yeah travelex! I don’t really know what the deal was with the exchange rate - I had changed my money to US at the bank beforehand. I hadn’t actually planned to put any money on a card, but the only reason I got it was because i had $1200 in cash heading to SE Asia and they weren’t going to charge me like everyone else to withdraw money and once I had used all my money I could just chuck the cards.