Mel B Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I've just signed up for a FairFX Euro pre-load card as they've got a special rate on at the moment - load it with £500 or more and you get: a discount of £8 (so for £500 worth of Euros you'd only pay £492!) a free card (normally costs £9.95 if you load it with less than £500) Once I'd bought it, got an email with a link showing another offer if you want to put less than £500 on it: Your Personal Refer-A-Friend Voucher code As a valued FairFX customer we’d like to thank you for your loyalty by offering you a £5 voucher for every friend or family member that you refer to us to sign up for their first FairFX Prepaid Currency Card. We'll also waive the normal account opening fee of £9.95 [subject to a minimum load of £50, €60 or $75] for all of your referrals - simply share your voucher code or referrer link (below) with your friends, family members and colleagues and we’ll do the rest! So: if you want to put LESS THAN £500 on the card use the link below and the £9.95 card cost will be waived. LESS THAN £500 link if you want to put £500 or MORE on the card, use the MSE link below and use the FairFX link from there and you'll get the card free and an £8* discount too (*the MSE site says £10 discount but it has obviously been reduced). £500 OR MORE link To be totally transparent about this, if you use the first link (ie put less than £500 on) it means I'd also get a £5 bonus for every referral, but that's not my intention here ... I originally was just going to mention the '£8 discount' one in case anyone is interested in the £500+ deal as until I'd done it myself I wasn't aware of the other 'referral' reward until the email popped in my inbox! PS: I forgot to mention that you get a better exchange rate on this card than the Caxton card. PPS: Another thought! I got a card (putting £500 on) and referred hubby who got a second card as we wanted to have 2 (putting £60 on) so it means we've actually got 2 cards without having to pay for a second one, as you would with Caxton! PPPS: Yet another thought! If you DO use my referral link and complete a transaction please let me know so I can thank you! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 The more than £500 link doesn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 "PS: I forgot to mention that you get a better exchange rate on this card than the Caxton card". You do but unlike the Caxton card you have to pay ATM withdrawal fees with the FairFX card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I'm lost for words ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 £ all over the place at the moment..between 1.22 and 1.19 ( i know because i have just bought a van and have to pay for it soon :-S) So what rate is this card set at? I use this firm for euro cash: http://www.bestforeignexchange.com/Exchange-rates-check-exchange-rates.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean.clarke Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I've done a bit of digging in this area recently and the FairFX card always does well in the rate comparisons, I think MoneySupermarket (or similar) rate it as the best foreign excnage prepay card. Would I couldn't decide on though is how it compares to the Halifax Clarity, what gives better rates (on a day to day comparison) and what works out cheaper over say a year. I know the FairFX rate is set at loading, I am not too bothered about that as my luck would dictate I would load at a lower rate anyway 8-) . other than that I wasn't sure of the advantage. Opinions? Judge, have a look at HiFX for your van payment, I sold a boat to an Aussie the other year and he save a non trivial amount - you may have a better way, but thought I'd mention it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I've used Caxton for a few years and wouldn't change. There's no change at cash points or sale points in Europe or the UK/US Second card linked to the account IS free ( I don't know where you heard they charge) First card only needs about 15 euros to open it. We've also got the dollar card for our xmas holidays in the Caribbean, same terms and conditions. Both load by text and the rate is the best I've found without conditions, i.e no minimum load to get a good rate. This is my preference, but obviously that's not going to say everyone is, Good to see you're happy with your choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 sean.clarke - 2014-02-07 6:00 PM Judge, have a look at HiFX for your van payment, I sold a boat to an Aussie the other year and he save a non trivial amount - you may have a better way, but thought I'd mention it. Cheers Sean..this a good comparison site for exchange. Once you choose one you can set a rate for them to buy at..so if rate spikes in middle of night you get that rate...a bit turbulent at the moment so waiting a bit....... make sure FCA approved. http://www.fxcompared.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Mike88 - 2014-02-07 2:05 PM The more than £500 link doesn't work. Oops, I tried to use the "Best Buys: overseas" link which won't work, so if I just leave it on the initial page it does, but you'll have to click on the link on there yourself: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-cards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 donna miller - 2014-02-07 6:04 PM I've used Caxton for a few years and wouldn't change. There's no change at cash points or sale points in Europe or the UK/US Second card linked to the account IS free ( I don't know where you heard they charge) First card only needs about 15 euros to open it. We've also got the dollar card for our xmas holidays in the Caribbean, same terms and conditions. Both load by text and the rate is the best I've found without conditions, i.e no minimum load to get a good rate. This is my preference, but obviously that's not going to say everyone is, Good to see you're happy with your choice. Donna, according to the Caxton site there is a £5 charge for a second card: Secondary cards cost £5, €7.50, $10 (depending on the currency of the card). This is not a deposit, but will be deducted from your primary card’s available balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 We DO HAVE a Caxton card and have used this quite happily however we prefer not to put all our eggs in one basket, hence why we decided to have both Caxton AND FairFX cards, that way if we are on holiday and there is a problem with one of the companies we still have the other to fall back on and/or use whichever is most suitable at the time. Both have pros and cons which I've tried to sum up below but this is not inclusive by any means! FairFX Advantages • FairFX rate is currently £1.00 = €1.182 at the moment. • no joining fee if you load with £500+, or use my referral link and it will be waived for amounts under £500 • no fee for spending in store • get the £8.00 discount (freebie or whatever you want to call it) when you load over £500, so when I put 'bought' £500 worth of euros it only cost me £492 which made the 'load' rate the equivalent of €1.201 • minimum of €60 load • you can have another card with a separate account (in your wife's/husband's name) so if one card stops working you have the other, but more importantly from our point of view, if you have your card stolen or lose it and your first account is frozen by having a second one on a separate account it would still be usable (assuming you have the sense not to keep it in the same wallet etc as the other one so it has als been lost/nicked! . ). • if you get a card and load it with £500+ you will also get an email so you can 'earn' £5 per referral Disadvantages • costs £1.50/€1.50 per transaction when getting cash out of an ATM CaxtonFX Advantages • FairFX rate is currently £1.00 = €1.176 at the moment. • no joining fee • no fee for ATM withdrawals • no fee for spending in store Disadvantages • minimum of €150 load • if you want a second card you either have to pay £5 for it (on the same account) or get a second one on a different account and load it with at least €150 • if you have 2 cards on a single account they would both then be unusable if the account was frozen (due to theft/loss etc I am NOT telling you that the FairFX card is better than any other, just pointing out that there is a special deal on at the moment ... if you want to take advantage of it then do so, if not, then don't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Current Visa rate 1.208498 *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 JudgeMental - 2014-02-07 8:00 PM Current Visa rate 1.208498 *-) ... but not much good if you want to draw out some cash and/or use the card in Germany who are VERY selective at what they'll take! Guess where we're going for our next foray into mainland Europe .... ok, ja! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 JudgeMental - 2014-02-07 8:00 PM Current Visa rate 1.208498 *-) What would be the charge though. We use both Visa Credit card and Caxton card for purchases and find that Caxton is normally slightly cheaper. If we needed to use the it in an ATM Visa the credit card is much more expensive. Our Barclays visa debit card is always more expensive. If you are transferring money for a Euro purchase don't use a bank. I transferred £25000 inheritance to my sister in law in France and found out afterwards I could have got her around 700 Euros more by using Caxton or any of the other FX companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 You have learnt the hard way Cliffy..crazy to use the banks Just make sure if using an FX firm that you check them out with FCA. you can call or input their number and find out direct contact details. ONLY use contact details on FCA site NOT from website,s as there are cloned sites out there that will happily disappear your money! I just checked out 2 companies on FCA site now using live chat: eddie has joined9:28am eddie Hi, i just want to check out this firm please.. Rational fx No: 5079589:28am Nick has joined 9:30am Nick Hi, you're speaking with Nick 9:30am Nick Let me just check this for you now, are you thinking of doing business with this firm? 9:30am Nick I have found a firm on the payment services section of the FCA register and they are an authorised payment institution 507958 - Rational Foreign Exchange Limited, we would only recommend you contact them on the number that we have for them which is 020 7220 8181, this is to make sure you don't deal with any scam firm that has cloned their details.9:34am eddie yest these or EasyFX 9:36am Nick Are you also wanting to check EasyFX?9:37am eddie please 9:37am Nick I can also find an authorised payment institution 541092 - VFX Financial PLC who have a trading name of EasyFX, their contact number is 020 7959 6900 9:39am eddie thanks Nick! 9:40am Nick Are there any further questions you have for me today?9:4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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