Holiday travel money – don’t be fooled by ‘commission free’ offers

If you’re about to head off to Europe for some Christmas cheer, don’t be fooled by ‘commission free’ offers for your travel money, make sure you consider a prepaid currency card.

Holiday currency exchange dealers are enticing customers in with ‘commission free’ offers. The issue though is you could get stung with uncompetitive exchange rates.

Your bank plastic may not be that great an option either – most cards have an average 2.75% foreign exchange mark-up, as well as ATM withdrawal fees.

There are better ways to ensure you get the best travel money deal and make the most of your money as you travel. Here’s what Caxton FX suggest

• Use a prepaid currency card – as an example a Caxton FX card has great rates, no overseas ATM Fees and no commission. Top it up with Euros before you set off on your travels and then use it like you’d use any other debit or credit card
• Get deals where you can – Caxton FX works with Hotel Club, offering all their Currency Card customers up to a 15% discount on hotel bookings. Caxton FX card customers can also get 10% discount on SIXT holiday cars
• Pay in the local currency if you can, not sterling. This way you avoid Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), whereby a retailer or ATM invites you to pay in sterling and then does the exchange at an unfavourable rate, costing you more money. Caxton FX research shows that during last year’s ski season some £30,000 was wasted at just 5 of the most popular ski resorts in Europe through DCC.

You can get a Caxton FX card really easily – if you want to know more about this prepaid currency card, you’ll find our article ‘The Caxton FX currency card – facts and figures‘ useful.