Bank card that avoids foreign conversion fees?

[WTF0ver]

Hi,

I have a sizeable payment to make soon (visa application fees) and have heard that there's certain cards you can use which don't have extra fees pilled on from them converting your £ to $ and back again (which they apparently do).

Monzo is one of them. I'm terrible with money and nervous about the whole visa process anyway because it's so bloody confusing and stressful but if there's a simple way to avoid them fleecing me for more money I'd like to try it.

I think I'm going to have to call my bank to make sure they don't block my debit card anyway but if I can avoid extra fees by putting the cash into a different account that would be good.

Any advice?

Thanks

Have you looked at Revolut?

Have a look at the Halifax Clarity MasterCard

I have a halifax clarity too. You have to pay it off though the interest rates are going up soon

Another Revolut vote here.

Monzo doesn't convert currency. Revolut does.

Double check about Monzo - they used to have great transfer rates but they culled a lot of the benefits. I've got w beta account so mine isn't bad, although not as good as it used to be, but if you are planning to open a new account, it might not be worth it.

Revolut were pretty good last time I looked.

I have a Starling account and it's great and so easy to use.

I got it initially to use on holiday, but we now use it as our non-essential spends account. It makes it really easy to keep track of our spending.

I have a sizeable payment to make soon (visa application fees) and have heard that there's certain cards you can use which don't have extra fees pilled on from them converting your £ to $ and back again (which they apparently do).

If it's just to pay for the visa then you just need a card which has low FX fees. But I don't understand that "and back again" comment?
You're not changing currency, you're just paying for something in another currency?

If you need to actually change currency, Santander have an account thing, think it's called OnePayFX.

Thanks for the comments!

Maybe it's just from GBP to USD, it's been a busy few days haha.. Another way to make extra money from people anyway. I've read on forums about people getting charged about £160 extra on top of the visa fee because of this.

Revolut looks interesting I'll look into that thanks.

Anyone else use Transferwise? I opened an account to use money in the US to pay a bill in the UK but ended up using a US credit card instead. Will have a closer look at the recommendations above. OP I find this sort of thing stressful and confusing, good luck with your visa.

Do you pay the visa fee like any other online purchase?

If so, you want a Starling, Monzo or if they take a credit card, Halifax Clarity or Santander 123 account.

I'd go for Starling, and you'll be able to use it for spending on your trip as well. Monzo is probably nearly as good but you are limited as to how much cash you can withdraw before being charged, but that's a minor one unless you go somewhere that prefers cash and want to spend more than £200 per month.

Sounds like a credit card might not be for you if you have money issues, but if you don't ask for an overdraft, they don't even credit check you with Starling and you can be up and running in a few days.

Unless visas cost several thousand pounds, people aren't going to be losing £160 by using the wrong card, it's about 3-5% on average.

Thanks, @quickkimchi it's a very confusing and stressful process so good thoughts are appreciated!

Barb, I believe so. Submit the application and then pay. There's the visa cost and a health surcharge for using the NHS. Costs nearly 3k for the first visa, need another in 2.5 years. I'm not sure if you need to pay for them at the same time. I'm not going anywhere it's for my husband to join me in the UK.

*Paying at the same time I meant the initial visa and health surcharge costs. The second visa will be paid when we apply for that later.

I travel to Europe with work, use Revolut for all my overseas spending. It took minutes to set up - they use an existing bank account to verify identity - then i transfer £ from my current account to it.

I've signed up and it says on the website that you need to send photos of photo ID and a pic taken of yourself to verify identity?

Can you transfer a larger sum at once?

Thanks.

With revolut you can exchange up to £5000 a month with their standard account.

I've signed up and it says on the website that you need to send photos of photo ID and a pic taken of yourself to verify identity?

Yes, Monzo did this. A selfie taken that day. They then verified this against the passport photo on the passport doc I'd sent in. I can't recall if the selfie was done holding the passport but it was something like that.

We use TransferWise. Very low fees. GBP to Euro payment for a holiday rental was showing in the renters account in under 10 minutes.

I managed to verify my Revolut account so now I just need to transfer the money over. Not sure if it's best to do this in one go, are there any restrictions?

Don't think there are any restrictions.

Tandem.

Also does 0.5% cashback.

I'd go for Starling as they are an actual bank and are properly regulated and capitalised as required by law. This is not the case for Revolut or Monzo, also Monzo in the news for all sorts of issues re regulation lately. You want to be covered if there are any issues with capital or legal issues. I don't like the idea of my money getting lost due to lack of proper regulation! Starling is great, no fees on currency transfer and they have 24 UK customer service which I like the idea of.

I've been using Transferwise for a couple of years - it's a bit faffy to set up initially but the rates are great.

Revolut is excellent

Revolut is NOT a bank account.
It is a charge card.
You move money from your UK bank into it
then transfer that money into whichever currency you need
and spend it or send it

it is not regulated like a bank
because it is NOT a bank account
but it does what it does really well