-
I used to have a BA prepaid Mastercard, which wasn’t the best but worked ok for what we needed/spend.
We have a BAPP and free Barclaycard. So the Curve is an option but didn’t like the weekend charges (when we do a lot of travelling) and the cap on spend.
Are there any other options out there?
I travel once a month for work and we travel about 6 times a year on various trips around Europe and ROW. Feels like a waste using a Monzo.
If you have a business, then have a look at Capital on Tap – https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/05/10/last-chance-30000-bonus-points-capital-on-tap
– earns Avios and no foreign transaction fees for card payment transactions.
Sits well behind a commercial Curve account too.
If you have a business, then have a look at Capital on Tap – https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/05/10/last-chance-30000-bonus-points-capital-on-tap
– earns Avios and no foreign transaction fees for card payment transactions.
Sits well behind a commercial Curve account too.
No business unfortunately so would need to be a personal card
Worth bearing in mind the Curve weekend conversion fee doesn’t apply for transactions in EUR or USD.
If you don’t want to use curve, the only other option is to use Chase for fee free payments and 1% cashback. Use the savings to buy avios on balance booster.
Worth bearing in mind the Curve weekend conversion fee doesn’t apply for transactions in EUR or USD.
On Metal, there’s no weekend fee for any currency as long as the funding source card is in those two currencies or GBP.
Worth bearing in mind the Curve weekend conversion fee doesn’t apply for transactions in EUR or USD.
On Metal, there’s no weekend fee for any currency as long as the funding source card is in those two currencies or GBP.
Not sure that’s the right interpretation.
“If the currency of the selected payment source and the transactions are both in GBP, USD or EUR, the rate will be increased by 0.5% over the Mastercard Wholesale rate. In any other currency, the rate will be increased by up to 1.5% over the Mastercard wholesale rate. “
Unless am looking at an old document.
What I think are the current terms state:-
If the currency of your payment source and the transaction you are making are different:
● we do not apply any surcharge in addition to the Currency Conversion Fee (see above) or the Foreign ATM Withdrawal Fees (see below) where the currency of your payment source is EUR, GBP or USD; or
● we charge 1% in addition to the Currency Conversion Fee (see above) or the Foreign ATM Withdrawal Fees (see below) where the currency of your payment source is in any other currency.[there is no currency conversion fee for Metal and my experience of using Curve in France, Serbia and Spain recently is consistent with the above terms]. Curve currently doesn’t work in Argentina.
Ok, that was indeed an old document.
The latest terms say:
If the currency of your payment source and the transaction (i.e the currency at the point of sale) you are making are different:
● We do not apply a Weekend Currency Conversion Fee in addition to the Currency Conversion Fee (see above) or the Foreign ATM Withdrawal Fees (see below) where the currency of your transaction (i.e the currency at the point of sale) is in EUR, GBP or USD.
● We charge a 1% Weekend Currency Conversion Fee in addition to the Currency Conversion Fee (see above) or the Foreign ATM Withdrawal Fees (see below) where the currency of your transaction (i.e the currency at the point of sale) is in any currency other than EUR, GBP or USD.In effect, the transaction currency determines the cost, not the funding source.
Hope this is the latest version:
I’ve learnt that it’s always best practice to go to the original web site to check for current t&c’s. Only today a friend thought Ryanair gift vouchers could be extended once and refunded. Google said so. Perhaps an old link from Covid times but not now for sure
Wrong thread!
Hope this is the latest version:
@BBbetter – thank you. I have to admit the 21 March version had passed me by. I can’t quite work out how the addition of/reintroduction of a fee is “either clearly in your favour or clarificatory in nature” such that they can apply it with immediate effect.Are there any other options out there?
Personally, I don’t think UK credit card options really are much good for earning Avios on non-GBP spending due to fees and, as a general rule, I wouldn’t/don’t use debit cards for purchases.
The best way I’ve found for earning Avios or AMEX MR on UK cards, at least for the places we travel, has been via travel/ticket apps like Klook or KKDay. You can choose the payment currency, they take all major credit cards, and have official relationships with many attractions/hotels/restaurants, etc., especially in the Asia region. We have used Klook and KKDay extensively in Singapore, HK, Japan, Malaysia, etc. In fact, we just bought our Universal Studios Japan tickets earlier this week on Klook and tickets were available earlier than the official USJ site with more ticket options (e.g., 15-min early entry) and more payment options (between currency, card type, etc.), so easier than buying direct and scored myself a bunch of miles.
Hope this is the latest version:
@BBbetter – thank you. I have to admit the 21 March version had passed me by. I can’t quite work out how the addition of/reintroduction of a fee is “either clearly in your favour or clarificatory in nature” such that they can apply it with immediate effect.Believe that was when they changed the fronted period from 30 day rolling to a calendar month.
In any case, the net result is zero fees on weekend fx on USD, EUR or GBP transactions. For all other currencies, there is a fee.
@RK228 I believe its from you that I got the info about KKDay and Klook, as I saved it to my favs. I am going to Asia this summer and it looks to be a great addition to my travelling arsenal alongside esimdb, xe and et al.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
