Access to my money while travelling?

Four of a kind

Myself and girlfriend are going to Asia in June for 6 months.

Im currently with BOI and have online banking set up with them, and I also have their Sligo I.T mastercard.

Our plan is to set up a new joint account(either with BOI or another bank, depending on least charges) and get a visa card.

So when we are travelling we can transfer money each week onto our credit card and withdraw the money from ATM's over there.

Now I rang BOI and they said these are the charges they have:

Credit Card (with money in the account) Outside Euro Zone
1.75% of the transaction (cross border handling fee)

ATM Laser Card Outside Euro Zone
1.75% of the transaction
Min .46cent
Max €11.43


So from what I gather, as long as you have money loaded onto your card you'll only be charged 1.75% of whatever you withdraw(local ATM's fee's also have to be considered).

So if this is the case then 1.75% isn't much imo? Maybe I'm wrong?

Forgot to ask them though, can I get a visa card or do BOI do visa cards? Its just mastercard is meant to be a bit of hit/miss especially around India etc.

Any help would be great on this matter.

Ideo

mmm, i've done exactly this before and im nearly sure there was no fees for withdrawing the cash once there is money in the credit card a/c. it was just the fx that hit the card, though maybe thats changed?

1.75% isn't bad on the cc anyway. its certainly much cheaper than the laser fees! make sure the laser card has cirrus/maestro and not just laser (laser is irish btw)

ive a boi visa also and an ulsterbank mastercard as back up. (why not get one of those cards each?) instead of setting up a joint a/c why not just keep track of what your spending in the back of your guide book. then every couple of days total up the cost and get the gf to pay for the nxt few days. when your even again, then you start paying etc... its a good way to keep track of what your spending too, you will be on a budget of course!

btw have done most of asia from india to china to SEA so i know a little about withdrawing cash and finally, if you load up your cc and it gets scammed then any money lost will not be covered by the bank. just something to keep in mind!

Four of a kind

Ideo wrote: »

mmm, i've done exactly this before and im nearly sure there was no fees for withdrawing the cash once there is money in the credit card a/c. it was just the fx that hit the card, though maybe thats changed?

1.75% isn't bad on the cc anyway. its certainly much cheaper than the laser fees! make sure the laser card has cirrus/maestro and not just laser (laser is irish btw)

ive a boi visa also and an ulsterbank mastercard as back up. (why not get one of those cards each?) instead of setting up a joint a/c why not just keep track of what your spending in the back of your guide book. then every couple of days total up the cost and get the gf to pay for the nxt few days. when your even again, then you start paying etc... its a good way to keep track of what your spending too, you will be on a budget of course!

What you mean for me to get a boi visa card and her to get the ulsterbank one?

btw have done most of asia from india to china to SEA so i know a little about withdrawing cash and finally, if you load up your cc and it gets scammed then any money lost will not be covered by the bank. just something to keep in mind!

Yeah I know about your money not been covered if its preloaded onto the credit card.

We just plan to transfer online from current account into credit card whatever our weekly budget is going to be and withdraw that out. Therefore if the card is stolen etc...then we only lose the weeks money we transferred onto it.

I presume its possible for me to get a visa card from Boi and still keep my mastercard? We will more than likely set up the joint account with Boi as well.

CashMoney

If you are in credit on your BOI credit card, there are no charges for withdrawing cash. At least there wasn't when I was travelling 5 years ago. As far as I know, this hasn't changed.

EDIT: after further investigation, it seems that BOI have always been charging the 1.75%. It was less than transparent to say the least when I used to use it. It didn't show as a separate charge. I must have just assumed I was losing a bit in the currency conversion.

Four of a kind

CashMoney wrote: »

If you are in credit on your BOI credit card, there are no charges for withdrawing cash. At least there wasn't when I was travelling 5 years ago. As far as I know, this hasn't changed.

EDIT: after further investigation, it seems that BOI have always been charging the 1.75%. It was less than transparent to say the least when I used to use it. It didn't show as a separate charge. I must have just assumed I was losing a bit in the currency conversion.

So am i correct in assuming that the only charges you'll be charged from BOI when taking money out in non-euro zone regions is the 1.75% fee? There won't be any other "handling" fees on their behalf?

If so then its really decent compared to other stories i've heard about other banks charging 2.75%-3%

Monty Burnz

Warning - money that you have on a credit card is NOT covered if your card is used fraudulently. They will only cover credit that is run up on it, not a cash balance.

Just so you know.

Four of a kind

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Warning - money that you have on a credit card is NOT covered if your card is used fraudulently. They will only cover credit that is run up on it, not a cash balance.

Just so you know.

yeah i'm fully aware of that. I only intend on loading €400 at a time onto it before withdrawing it so as to prevent all my money been stolen like you said.

Anyone know if its possible for me to get a boi visa card and also keep my mastercard?

Ideo

CashMoney wrote: »

EDIT: after further investigation, it seems that BOI have always been charging the 1.75%. It was less than transparent to say the least when I used to use it. It didn't show as a separate charge. I must have just assumed I was losing a bit in the currency conversion.

Yeah same here, sneaky sneaky!!

OP, re getting two credit cards from BOI, i'd say its very unlikely!! Anyway, why not get your GF to get a Visa card with her bank. If you were to get robbed for eg, then at least you'd still have the other card in her name? Spread the risk etc..

Four of a kind

Rang Ulster Bank regarding their Visa debit card.

For Atm withdrawals (outside euro zone)
2% per transaction min: €3 max: €12
Plus
Exchange fee of 1.5% of transaction! :mad:

So, for example, If you wanted to withdraw €500 at once from an ATM it would cost you €17.50 from the bank plus whatever local ATM fees apply!

Obv the advantage with a Visa card is that its more widely accepted...but these fees are F$%king crazy imo.

Im with BOI and I've a mastercard with them. Which the only charge is 1.75% per withdrawal outside of eurozone.....no other fees(as long as your card is in credit).

So if I was to withdraw €500 I'd only be paying €8.75 in fees(plus whatever local ATM fees apply)

The disadvantage with mastercard from what I've read is that its not as widely accepted as visa.
:mad::mad:


BOI don't do Visa cards they said as I rang them up today.

Really don't know which is the best way to go about accessing my money while travelling.

Rebel1977

AIB student credit cards are good from what I heard

If your travelling what ye should do is have ATM cards for your current accounts, make sure they dont expire when your away! Have cards for the new joint account your opening as a back up in case you lose/carck card of if it gets swallowed by a atm. And also have the caredit card as a back up and ensure you have all your codes for internet banking

when withdrawing abroad do it in bulky amounts, as its cheaper i.e. not €20 now and €20 3 hours later.

Four of a kind

Rebel1977 wrote: »

AIB student credit cards are good from what I heard

If your travelling what ye should do is have ATM cards for your current accounts, make sure they dont expire when your away! Have cards for the new joint account your opening as a back up in case you lose/carck card of if it gets swallowed by a atm. And also have the caredit card as a back up and ensure you have all your codes for internet banking

when withdrawing abroad do it in bulky amounts, as its cheaper i.e. not €20 now and €20 3 hours later.

ATM cards are wayyyy more expensive to withdraw money from compared to credit cards.


Ok, is it possible to set up another current account with BOI and have two current accounts....with two different bank cards?