Caravan Club Credit Card / which other?

[armstrongpiper]

I have had problems with Goldfish fouling up my Direct Debit details and getting charged unwarranted interest. They also got my birthday records wrong, so that I couldn't get them to do anything to correct matters on the phone, as they demand correct birthday input before the ladies will talk to you. Then the call centre is in Glasgow, and I find this accent very difficult to understand, especially when they talk rapidly. On top of this, you have to use an 0845 number and pay for the calls to correct Goldfish's mistales.

So, despite the earning of Site Night Vouchers, I would like to ditch the CC Card. I would like one that does't charge commission on puchases in other EEC Countries, as was the case with the CC Card in the good old days. We spend two or three months a year over the Channel. Which Cresit Cards do Forum members recommend, please.

 

 

Neil B

[Mike P]

I find Post Office carv very good for use in Europe

Mike P

[Guest Tracker]

I use an Asda credit card and save 2p per litre on fuel and get vouchers to spend in store every now and then (I have no idea how they calculate these - I am just grateful enough to spend them!).

 

 

[nomad]

Nationwide does not charge commision on foreign transactions.

[DonB]

We would also recommend Nationwide for touring abroad, as they don't charge commission. Only other comment is, don't have anything to do with Barclays cards. Whenever we go abroad we register the fact with our card providers. Barclays are always a problem, as they will only allow you to visit two countries, and they want to know exactly including time of day, when you are crossing the borders. They don't seem to realise there are open borders in the EU nowadays!

SheilaB

[trooper]

Hi I use HSBC, I have free banking abroad, and now have a french account and debit card, in a short time I should be able to transfer money between accounts on the net.

[Guest Tracker]

Does anyone know of a bank that operates in Spain and will allow cash withdrawals in France (and/or other Euro zone countries) so that the rent from our Spanish property can be paid in Spain and we can draw cash on arrival in France for forays in directions other than Iberian?

[trooper]

Hi, re spain.

you could try HSBC as they are a world wide bank, and as I said in my previous post I can freely bank between france and england with my premier acount.

Cheers

[Stuart]

I endorse the comments re Nationwide cards for use abroad. However, re the Goldfish problem, I too have a problem in that a payment has not been applied to my account so I have been "fined " £12 for late payment and also charged interest. The jury is still out but I did manage to elicit a freephone No from them. It is 0800 7310344.

HTH

 

Stuart

[BGD]

Tracker - 2007-12-01 2:13 PM

 

Does anyone know of a bank that operates in Spain and will allow cash withdrawals in France (and/or other Euro zone countries) so that the rent from our Spanish property can be paid in Spain and we can draw cash on arrival in France for forays in directions other than Iberian?

 

Hi Tracker - so far as I am aware, any Spanish bank will allow you to withdraw your euros in other eurocountries.

 

We're with "La Caixa" bank in Spain - and we've found them to be fantastic.

On-line banking with them can be done in English or Spanish.

If you don't speak Spanish, at almost all their larger branches along the Costas there is at least one person who speaks English.

You can get a Visa Credit, and /or a Visa debit card attached to your account, so you can pay for items/obtain hole-in-the-wall money from almost any other bank in Euroland.

You can move money electronically between accounts; and also back/forth to a UK account - and if you choose the slow cheque-transfer option, the fees are very low and the exchange rate is very good.

 

Only word of caution: There is in Spain (at least, I've never heard of it), any such thing as "free banking".

You do get charged an annual fee for having the bank operate your account (only about 20 euros), and a lot of banks here also charge you for processing direct debits/cheques etc (ours doesn't 'cos I negotiated a deal with them)

Having said that, La Caixa's fees for us are very low, and we're very happy with their service.

You also get a Christmas present from your local Manager each year. Yes, really!!

 

One Spanish one to avoid in our personal experience is BBVA - damned expensive for everything, and service was rubbish, so we closed our account with them.

 

 

[twooks]

I used to give Tesco's credit card a lot of use, but have lost interest now that I can't use the deal vouchers on my crossing of choice.

I already have a Nationwide account - and use their Debit card, I've now got there [?????? their - :$ you idiot :$ ] Credit card as well. They therefore handle both the credit card and DD payments - hopefully ......... .. .. .. . . . . .

 

B-)

[ALAN G]

I stopped using the Caravan Club card when I was told that it would cease to function on the 27th September when I woud be in Italy. I asked the CC what they could do. "We will send you the new card to your caravan site" they said. I had no idea where I would be/ or /when the Goldfish card would arrive in Italy. "Do you go caravanning?" I asked. "Oh no" they said. In short they really had no idea what they could do to make the transition, which is, after all, to their benefit, as painless as possible. Also the "perks" have dimished greatly ie no double points for spending with the CC....(both my vehicles are insured with them) and no double points at club sites.

Of course, when I returned home the Goldfish cards and the PINs were waiting for us......or any one who may care to raid our house. Yes, we had to phone for Activation but I feel that could have been done by anyone!

In the process of getting on to Boadband I came across the new BT card which seems to pay a lot of money into my telephone account. It will be interesting to see how it works out. They have warned, however, that my first bill may arrive before the Direct Debit is organised, so I will be wary of any notes that are on the statement.

 

[twooks]

ALAN G - 2007-12-01 5:07 PM

 

I asked the CC what they could do. "We will send you the new card to your caravan site" they said. I had no idea where I would be/ or /when the Goldfish card would arrive in Italy.

 

"Do you go caravanning?" I asked. "Oh no" they said.

 

 

that explains a lot :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

 

B-)

[Guest Tracker]

BGD - 2007-12-01 4:06 PM

 

Tracker - 2007-12-01 2:13 PM

 

Does anyone know of a bank that operates in Spain and will allow cash withdrawals in France (and/or other Euro zone countries) so that the rent from our Spanish property can be paid in Spain and we can draw cash on arrival in France for forays in directions other than Iberian?

 

Hi Tracker - so far as I am aware, any Spanish bank will allow you to withdraw your euros in other eurocountries.

 

We're with "La Caixa" bank in Spain - and we've found them to be fantastic.

On-line banking with them can be done in English or Spanish.

If you don't speak Spanish, at almost all their larger branches along the Costas there is at least one person who speaks English.

You can get a Visa Credit, and /or a Visa debit card attached to your account, so you can pay for items/obtain hole-in-the-wall money from almost any other bank in Euroland.

You can move money electronically between accounts; and also back/forth to a UK account - and if you choose the slow cheque-transfer option, the fees are very low and the exchange rate is very good.

 

Only word of caution: There is in Spain (at least, I've never heard of it), any such thing as "free banking".

You do get charged an annual fee for having the bank operate your account (only about 20 euros), and a lot of banks here also charge you for processing direct debits/cheques etc (ours doesn't 'cos I negotiated a deal with them)

Having said that, La Caixa's fees for us are very low, and we're very happy with their service.

You also get a Christmas present from your local Manager each year. Yes, really!!

 

One Spanish one to avoid in our personal experience is BBVA - damned expensive for everything, and service was rubbish, so we closed our account with them.

 

 

Thanks for that Bruce. We use Bank Inter at present in Spain but they are unhelpful to the point of being obstructive and expensive.

Some friends living in Spain use Cam Bank and they recommend that one to us as being more cost effective than Bank Inter, but I don't yet know how helpful and flexible they are when asked to provide cross border banking.

It would be even better to find a bank that allows trans Euro / Sterling banking and we will also have a look at HSBC.

We know we will not get free banking in Spain but I am not keen on not getting interest on my UK c/a and that might be an issue with HSBC.

Nevertheless as long as the credit balance is 'managed' correctly the convenience may well be worth the 'cost'.

[armstrongpiper]

Thanks for all your comments. I will, I think, be checking out the Nationwide card. Asda could also be useful. Also, interesting to read about HSBC accounts in France and Spain, but not really 'On Thread'. Why do people do this thread highjacking, instead of posting a new thread about the new subject, and so that people have a better chance of latching on to something they may be more interested in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the intrusion into my subject, but just wondering why this so frequently happens.

 

Neil B

[Mel B]

Credit cards, we've got

 

Caravan Club (Goldfish) card for the UK only

Nationwide card to use abroad only

 

We're also signing up now for the Capital One card as, at the moment they are doing an offer of 4% cashback for the first three months and then 1% cashback after that, at that rate is works out better than the free site night voucher for every £2,500 you put through on the Caravan Club card - we rarely stay on main sites anyway as we usually holiday abroad and usually end up selling them on ebay to save wasting them!

 

Once we get the Capital One cards we'll see how well they work before deciding whether to ditch the Caravan Club (Goldfish) ones completely.

 

B-)

[Ralph]

I also have dumped the CC card. I was disgusted with the handling of the changeover.

 

I now have 2 cards:

 

1 Nationwide. As others have said, no charge for use abroad. And I believe that's not just EU either. I also have a NW Flex current account for the same reason.

 

2 I've just applied for, and got a Capital One card, as advertised on TV.

They give 1% cashback. OK that's not a lot but on £2500 it means £25. With the CC card the same spend gave one CC voucher (value varies by site used of course) or one Camping Cheque worth £10 odd. So it's better than I was getting before with the CC card.

 

 

[Ralph]

Mel B - 2007-12-02 5:12 PM

 

Once we get the Capital One cards we'll see how well they work before deciding whether to ditch the Caravan Club (Goldfish) ones completely.

 

B-)

 

Sorry Mel, I made my post before properly reading yours and I said more or less the same as you.

 

One snag with Capital One that they don't advertise is that you only get your cash back once a year, in January. I'm not too bothered as it's not going to be a fortune anyway and I can celebrate by spending it when it arrives :-D

[LordThornber]

We sacked the CC'c Goldfish in favour of ASDA's. Like tracker says, 2p a litre off fuel and 1% back in the form of ASDA vouchers from all other purchases. Yes there is a foreign purchases loading but for us spending what we do abroad doesn't justify the faff of getting a fee free card. The other upside for us is that we can use the online facility they offer, view your purchases and pay online also.

 

Martyn

[Miami]

Dumped CC card and use our Nationwide Card which we can handle on line. Unlike the promised CCC card!!!

Also disgusted with the way the changeover was managed. Just had a statement from Goldfish for a Tesco bill charged on 2/10/07. Thought I had paid it all up!!!

Sent a cheque with the cards all chopped up inside the envelope. 

[twooks]

armstrongpiper - 2007-12-02 11:17 AM

 

Thanks for all your comments. I will, I think, be checking out the Nationwide card. Asda could also be useful. Also, interesting to read about HSBC accounts in France and Spain, but not really 'On Thread'. Why do people do this thread highjacking, instead of posting a new thread about the new subject, and so that people have a better chance of latching on to something they may be more interested in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the intrusion into my subject, but just wondering why this so frequently happens.

 

Neil B

 

the brain doesn't work in a straight line I guess,

>:-) 'speshully Rich's >:-) >:-)

 

 

B-)

[Guest Tracker]

Nevertheless, there is some interest in the related topic and the greater the interest in the thread, the longer the thread stays on page one, and the longer it stays close to the top of the page the more people will see it and hopefully contribute - so I make absolutely no apology for slightly digressing!

[trooper]

here-here