Efficient/Cheap Travel Banking??

bazpaul

Afternoon All,

whats the craic with yis?

I just have a a query about banking while travelling. I need to know how other people managed their funds and what they think would be the best way to manage your money while travelling.

Basically i will be going backpacking for a year or two. i will have saved a substantial amount of money for this trip when i leave, but am unable to decide exactly how i will manage this money. i was thinkin, of bringin a 1000 or two in travellers cheques, then putting alot of money onto my credit card (accepted everywhere). However i have be told that this may be an expensive means of moving money around. Another idea was to put all my money into an online bank like Rabodirect.ie then pay my credit card bills from there and then transfer money into international accounst from there i.e. an Australian bank account.

Basically;
1. i will need small cash for travelling through remote villages
2. will need large occasional lump sums for Flights
3. will need to be able to transfer to foreign accounts easily

anybody have any ideas???

P. Breathnach

Not traveller's cheques! They are only marginally more useful that trade goods like beads and mirrors.

For a combination of convenience and efficiency, I would put money in a bank account at home (see if you can find one that gives a little interest); set up a direct debit to pay all or part of your credit card balance each month; get an ATM card and use it for cash withdrawals -- almost everywhere, the best foreign exchange rates are got on ATM and CC transactions.

Why might you need foreign accounts?

HarryD

Also interested in this topic as I'm heading off on Sat for 2 months backpacking.
I found this site quite helpful: http://travelindependent.info/b4yougo.htm#funds
ATM seems the best bet but the fees seem quite high..
Is it true if your credit card is in Credit, that you are not charged for cash advances ?

BuffyBot

Basically i will be going backpacking for a year or two. i will have saved a substantial amount of money for this trip when i leave, but am unable to decide exactly how i will manage this money. i was thinkin, of bringin a 1000 or two in travellers cheques

I'm not all that fond of Travellers Cheques, and they're becoming more and more obsolete as time goes by, and harder to find places to cash them - especially outside big urban areas.

then putting alot of money onto my credit card (accepted everywhere). However i have be told that this may be an expensive means of moving money around.

If you find a card that doesn't charge you for withdrawals if your account is in credit, this could work reasonably well.

Another idea was to put all my money into an online bank like Rabodirect.ie then pay my credit card bills from there and then transfer money into international accounst from there i.e. an Australian bank account.

For Rabo, you need a digipass - a digital device that authorises access and transactions etc. Not something I'd want to carry on a round the world trip in case of loss, pass getting broken etc.

I don't believe you can pay bills or do international transfers directly from it. So you may end up having to transfer from Rabo -> Another account -> your destination account. That's going to make it take a longer time also.

Ponster

HarryD wrote: »

Is it true if your credit card is in Credit, that you are not charged for cash advances ?

I imagine that such an offer would be specific to your bank rather than a credit card.

HarryD

I thought it was a general rule with all credit cards..
Need to find some confirmation.... looking

Ponster

HarryD wrote: »

I thought it was a general rule with all credit cards..
Need to find some confirmation.... looking

Maybe an Irish banking rule but not with VISA in France.

BuffyBot

bazpaul - it's generally considered bad form to post the same thing across different forums. I've merged your two threads into one place

bazpaul

cheers lads for the replies, yeh that sounds like a good option.

i checked out the rates for ATM transactions abroad: 1.75% of Transaction (min charge €3, max €11)

i checked out the rates for Credit Card transactions abroad: 1.5% of Transaction with an extra 1.9% if theres a currency conversion!

This seems kind of expensive. I suppose when your travelling you would want to be taking €200 at a time from your ATM to get the best value!!

The reason i wanna transfer to foerign accounts is, i hope to work in Oz, America, South Africa and europe, so i want to be able to transfer money seemlessly! I had to transfer money to a british bank there awhile ago and the forms that i had to fill out were just crazy!!!

Ponster

The last time I transfered cash from France to an Irish a/c and from an Irish to an American there was a €30 charge.

I think you're better off with ATMs

eve

HarryD wrote: »

Is it true if your credit card is in Credit, that you are not charged for cash advances ?

I had to use my Mastercard in Barcelona last year and I was charged for withdrawing cash even though I transferred the money to the card (making in 400 in credit) the day before I withdrew the cash.

bazpaul

Ponster wrote: »

The last time I transfered cash from France to an Irish a/c and from an Irish to an American there was a €30 charge.

I think you're better off with ATMs

thats just silly! you see i wanna leave money in ireland and then transfer lumps of it to my Australian account or American account!

i think the credit card option may be the best, not doing cash advances but paying for flights with it, considering that buying a €1000 flight will cost you €15 in CC expenses!

Dam banks!! i hate them!