Pre Paid Card?

[frecklejuice]

I've left this really late as it completely slipped my mind until last night.

DS (15) is going to Spain with the school in 3 weeks and needs to take money, preferably on a card. He has a bank account with Metro Bank but I looked last night and it says that you can't use it abroad as he has the 11-15 account. My friend said her daughter used a Revolut card last year in France but a lot of places didn't accept it so we obviously don't want him to end up stuck with a card he can't use!

Has anyone used Revolut? My husband has one but has never actually used it.

Are there any other pre paid cards that are good for spending abroad? Have been looking at the post office one but I don't really have a clue!

Thanks.

I’d really recommend a Monzo card! I have used mine for all of our holidays for the last few years and never had anywhere not accept it, plus you don’t get charged for using it abroad x

Monzo, Starling, Kroo, or Chase. I don't understand the point of Revolut. It's not a proper bank account unlike all the others.

I don't know if his age is a factor but what I do know is:

Starling can be used to make electronic payments in Euros and has no charges whatsoever - Monzo charge if you take more than 300 euro out in cash, but that's probably rarely a consideration these days.

Kroo pay 4.35% interest on balances, so good as a savings account too.

Chase pay 1% cashback on purchases.

There's probably a more in depth analysis on Moneysaving Expert but they can all be opened in a few days so he has plenty of time to choose one and open an account.

Starling or monzo

I'd get him a Monzo card and you can load it as needed by linking it to your own bank account.

I've used post office before. It was really easy.

I've used both Post Office and FairFX. The FairFx one was good as I could just top it up if needed or remove money from it when it was lost.

We and our DD have used Revolut for years, and have never found anywhere that doesn't accept it. It is a bank account, DD has just used it to transfer funds in Euros abroad.

Monzo is a bank account but is good. Hyperjar is a prepaid card that can be used abroad.

Monzo! Card arrives quickly, you can have the app on your phone and transfer money. You can also see what he’s spending.

I’ve got a Monzo card and you don’t get charged abroad, you can use either the app or the card to pay too and it’s really easy to set up.

My DC’s have 11-15 nationwide flex accounts. Both have successfully used the abroad & the exchange rate is favourable with no additional charges.

it’s just their bank.

they don’t keep too much in it most of the time.

I have a revolute and never had an issue with it, used it in many different countries. It's a visa card so I'm not sure why it wouldn't be accepted. It is also a bank. The one good think with revolut is that when you put euros on the card, when you use the card you aren't being charged the daily exchange rate as you have already exchanged, whereas I think it might be the post office card (just check I've the right one), when you are using the card you are paying with that days exchange rate.

I have a Revolut card and used it no problem in Majorca last year, it’s free and you top it up from your account so can control how much is available to use, I didn’t have any problems with it not being accepted.

We use HyperJar for the kids. They can be used abroad and have the added benefit of me being able to keep an eye on their money so they are not caught short.

We just used a revolut account for Disneyland Paris. Used it everywhere and no issues at all. Weve kept it open and now use it to save some spare cash

Post Office is very easy. You can order it online or get one in a branch. If the latter your local Post Office will get income every time you top it up so if you want to support a small local business it’s a good way of doing it.
The main attraction for me is that you can top it up online but it’s not linked to your bank accounts so it’s more secure. I wouldn’t want my bank account linked to a card held by someone else.

The FX rate will be much better on any specialist card than just withdrawing cash or using your regular bank account overseas.

I tried Monzo but you have to open a current account and I don't want to. I'm going to try Post Office. We used to have Osper for DD, that was good

www.postoffice.co.uk/travel-money/card?campaignid=sop~tmc~nil~nil~ac~prosp~consideration-meta~stad~nil~tmc-prize-draw~tmc-existing-cust~11-vid&~31636252~5050387~390888718&dclid=CJewh8K5ioUDFQ1HHQkdVkIKWQ

There's a special offer/comp at the moment.

We've had Revolut cards for several years and in most places have had no bother (and we've travelled to many). The only country that we couldn't use it in ATMs was Brazil. It worked fine all over the rest of South America and in Brazil as a visa card, but we couldn't withdraw cash there. No problems in Scandanavia, Finland, Ireland or Spain but we haven't tried France.

@TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams thanks for that. I see it's described as a travel money card but I only want to use it in the UK. I assume that will be ok

Both my children have successfully used their nationwide bank cards in Europe from the age of 11.

Couldn’t recommend Monzo more for travel! Super transparent with their exchange rates and as it’s a Mastercard it’s accepted everywhere (except on board of flights, for some weird reason)

We use Revolut and I opened their under 18 account for my 12 year old. All free, I can top up as and when needed, never had problems with payments (I have virtual card added to my Google pay but my daughter has physical card).

I use Revolut. It’s great, never had any issues. I know people who use Monzo who would also recommend

We used revolt everywhere in France and Spain.. heres a link for a friend referal which will give you extra cash on it

Join me and over 40 million users who love Revolut. Sign up with my link below: https://revolut.com/referral/?referral-code=gemma02a8!MAR1-24-AR