Cash Passport?

Nope, haven't used that. Have you checked with your card issuer to see if they have an arrangement with a UK partner that reduces your fees? For example, Bank of America has a deal with Barclays which means I can use my BofA card in a Barclays ATM in the UK with no extra fees. Bear in mind that you will always pay someone for the actual currency exchange. Frankly, measured against the costs of a trip to the UK, the fees associated with using an American card in UK ATM's are minimal. The trick is to avoid making a lot of small withdrawals. Call your bank and ask them to raise your daily withdrawal limit for the duration of the trip. They almost certainly will. (And tell them when and where you will be traveling so they don't see the first card use in the UK as fraud and freeze your account.) Raise the limit as high as you can and take out enough to get through 2-3 days.

Yes, I definitely always do those things. Since I go to the UK every year, I've always had to deal with fees- but they were, as you said, fairly small. Unfortunately, when I moved to Tennessee, I had to switch banks. The fees associated with my bank are pretty high compared to what I'm used to - it costs about $20 each time I withdraw money from the ATM. Last year, I had more than $100 in fees. I don't think I'm going to do the Cash Passport, though, because I checked their currency conversion rate, and it's terrible.

BTW, thanks!

The cash Passport has fees, too. There is a setup fee, for one thing, just to get the card. I believe that there are also fees when you load the card. You would be better off to get a regular debit card linked to a credit union account. I have cards with two different credit unions and one from an online bank (Ally). Ally and one of the credit unions charge 1%, the other credit union charges absolutely nothing. My local credit union offers the Passport, also, and I asked them what the advantage of that was over my regular ATM card, and they didn't know. Apparently, they didn't even know I could use my regular ATM card while abroad. Sounds like you are getting royally ripped off by your own bank.

Nancy,
I know I am, but I have no other alternatives where I'm at, unfortunately. Although, if I can find a credit union nearby, I might try that. I wonder if they'd have that 1% offer as well. Can you believe one of the banks here that I was considering was going to make me sign a waiver stating that they weren't responsible for anything if my card was stolen and used while overseas? And it's a Visa card as well. I told them they didn't need my business and went elsewhere.

I am going to look up the Ally bank you are talking about. Thanks.

I just joined the ALLY bank. Thanks Nancy! 1% fee + NO ATM fees. Wonderful!

As another alternative, I now have a Schwab Bank checking account. No fees at all. ATM fees charged by others are refunded by Schwab. You need to have an investment account, too, I believe, but I don't think there is any requirement that you use it or carry a minimum balance in either account. (A retirement account might also work.) You can set it up so that you can transfer funds electronically between your home bank account and your Schwab Bank account. But be forewarned, it takes a week or so before the funds are available in the Schwab account so you need to plan ahead.

Ally also refunds ATM fees and there is no requirement to open an investment account. If I transfer something into my Ally account the money is available in two days or less.

My Bank Of America ATM/Debit Card has enough international banking partners (each, only in their home country), like Deutsche Bank, and BNP Paribas in France, that I have no trouble using their ATMs to get cash with NO ATM fees and at a fair exchange rate. I've never had a hotel be unable to use my AARP (Chase) VISA card with only a magnetic swipe. On the other hand, I NEED a chip and PIN card to buy bus and train tickets at unattended train stations. This can also save you from waiting in huge lines at big train stations-you can use a ticket-issuing machine that only takes chip/PIN cards. That said, my Travelex Cash Passport (which I bought yesterday-no actual experience in Europe yet) is only a stop-gap until more US banks/credit unions realize they can make money by offering these. State banking laws can affect your ease in reloading Cash Passports (I live in NJ, and the salesman warned that I could only refill it in person, and in NJ-hard to believe!) The exchange rate from Travelex yesterday looked over 12% worse than the online rate (yes, yes, for big banks and transactions of millions of dollars ....). When I went online to register the two cards they gave me (no extra charge), I was asked a different security question than the salesman and I agreed on - I had to phone to unlock my account. When I was in the queue ... I noticed that the automated voice wanted me to enter my date of birth in the European order of day/month! Finally, the live person (also with an English accent, and not in India) made me read my card number even though I'd keyed it in. Bush league!

I was researching on cash passports as well. It is better to use your debit cards or credit cards. each of them charge a 3 % transaction fee but the exchange rate is much better. Cash Passport is offered by travelex and they have much higher exchange rates. for eg. today 6/14 citibank credit charges my account at $1.44 + 3 % transaction fee = $1.48 whereas cash passport charges $1.54 for 1 Euro

cash passpsort is too pricy to load up initially. Just use an atm and withdraw a reasonable amount at a time of the local currency. Overall less than CP for me anyway.