Pre-loaded Currency Cards

[Benjamin]

For our forthcoming Winter trip in Euroland we will be taking a combination of credit and debit cards together with some €uros. For the first time I'm also thinking about taking a pre-loaded €uro currency card. I've chosen the company I want to go with but would welcome any feedback, negative or positive, from anyone who has experience of using these cards.

[EuroTrash]

I tried a Post Office currency card many years ago when they first came out and it was a disaster - seemed a good idea so I bought one, went to France, spent the money I had on it and tried to load some more money onto it and it wouldn't let me, apparently I'd failed their money laundering checks and they'd written to my UK address asking for utility bills etc. No way I could do that, being in France, and they wouldn't budge an inch. So the card was no use at all and it was a good thing I wasn't relying on it or I'd have been stranded penniless.

However I know other people who have used them very successfully and seem to have saved themselves a lot of bank charges by doing so.

[YCCMB]

I asked the same question a while back and here's the thread. Some experiences mentioned.[url]http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/2918573/ShowPost.aspx[/url]

[Kong]

I found the cards very useful in Euroland as they do not charge any commission on transactions. Be wary of using them to buy fuel at the pump as they put a shadow charge of (usually) 200€ on the card in case you take the maximum of 200€ worth of fuel. The actual amount you take is debited later and the shadow charge is removed. If you do not have 200€ credit on your card it may be refused. This is documented on the website of the card I used.

edit: I didn't realize this subject had been done to death in a previous thread!

[Benjamin]

Thanks for the link Betty. We were "travelling"  at the time which I guess is how I never saw the thread. Pickles' sub link to MSE is also interesting although for the life of me I can't work how they graded the cards listed.

We've decided to go with I C E as they provide the second card at the same time as the first one. If the first one is lost/stolen/chewed by the dog, it's a single 'phone call and your balance on the first card is transferred across. Much better than waiting for a replacement card to be sent.

Any other experiences still welcome.

[Gardengirl]

I rather think I replied on your link, Betty. We still use our euro Caxton card regularly, and have done quite a bit of topping up recently, while the rate has been favourable - a big plus for this type of card.