 Poster: A snowHead
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Worldchoice Travel Foreign Exchange are offering these at the moment, if you pre-load them with 700 Euros they give you an extra 50 free, they will also waive the usual activation fee.
Has anyone got any experience of using these in France ? I know some credit / debit cards are more difficult than others.
If you haven't heard of them, they are basically a pre-loaded debit card, but it sves the hassle of taking travellers cheques or cash.
Same deal for US dollars too.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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bladeskier, Don't see the point of this? With a good debit card you can get much better exchange rates than you will get with a Bureaux de change operated system. I have a Nationwide Building Society bank account and you can use money for free. They give you the interbank exchange rate and charge no commission for using it. Cash machines easy to use in Europe. I bet you that the 50 free Euros will easily be lost in poor exchange rates. Also some credit cards are better than others for use abroad (but NEVER use these to get cash or you will get really stung for interest - there is no interest free credit period if you get cash on a credit card) see www.moneysavingexpert.com for who is doing the best deal at the moment.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Chris Reed, I too am a fan of the Nationwide Flex Account and its charge free cash card capability. Excellent exchange rates abroad.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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snowbunny, The slight pain that I've had on recent trips is that I ski in France but fly to Geneva. Otherwise I'd take no Euros with me and draw the lot out abroad but I don't need too many swiss francs in France...... Also apparently their credit card is good abroad. I don't have one but I may get one to replace my rip-off Barclaycard
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I must admit that I haven't use travellers cheques in ages. I just use a bit of cash, credit cards and a debit card for when the cash runs out.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Chris Reed, We have the Nationwide cards and have no problems even travelling through GVA....most resorts have cash tills which you can use to get out euros, but I think I'm right in saying that there are some euro tills in Geneva airport...no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong!...I can't be sure as I've only ever drawn CHF there!
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homphomp, There are 'change' machines down in GVA train station for getting Swƒ from Euros and all the cafes etc in GVA take Euros (rate might be a bit iffy though)
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Have to agree on the Nationwide cards. When touring the Alps for a season I just used the Flex Account debit card and a Nationwide credit card - no problems encountered anywhere along the way and, considering how much I spent over 5 months, I reckon I saved a fair amount.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Masque, Iffy isn't the word for it! We always carry a few francs now as we've been shocked by the exchange rate you get if you spend euros. I thought I'd seen some Euro ATM's there last time we were taking out francs? Might just be my imagination...
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FAQ
just the sort of garish site I usually ignore as being too poorly presented but this one actually has damn good content! Nationwide it is - I do actually have some cash stashed with them but don't have a current account and never read anything they send me other than my statements 
