Travelex cards

Lauri, check the General Europe section of the Helpline. There have been at least a couple of recent threads about Travelex cards. The consensus is that they are not the preferred method of handling money mainly because the fees are so high. No one has reported problems with using them, mainly because we don't choose to use them.

Works fine if you are comfortable with high fees for a convenience that is no better than a standard debit card which are often nearly fee less.

I have two ATM/debit cards and I don't know how anything could be easier to use. I only occasionally use one for a POS purchase, but also, there, they are very easy to use. I don't think Travelex has any advantage over regular cards.

I have been thinking the same thing. Should I buy a Travelex card. We will be using the public transportation system a lot. I have heard that many of the self ticketing machines won't take american debit cards. That is why I have thought about getting a Travelex card and only putting maybe $100 on it for little things like buying tickets from a machine or paying for gas in a rental car. We are leaving in a few weeks for Europe. Alanna from Houston

The self-ticketing machines still accept cash, right? Just get cash from an ATM and you'll be fine.

Some self ticketing machines accept coins only. It's risky, but in a pinch you can always try to give someone cash and then have them use their chip & pin card for purchasing the tix. I've purchased tickets for tourists who were unpleasantly surprised by their inability to buy train tix.

After much thought and discussion my husband and I decided to go with the Travelex Mastercard/debit card preloaded with euros. It can be used like a credit card or a debit card. There is a fee but depending on how much you put on the card the fee varies. The more you put on the card the lower the fee. Also, we found that by exchanging cash we got an even lower rate than if we had used a credit card. Our bank may charge a transaction fee for each debit transaction depending on the location and will charge a conversion fee each time we use it to withdraw cash or as POS. We feel the travelex card will be more convenient and we have more control over the fees. We knew what our fee was up front and estimate it will much less than if we used our American debit cards. Using our debit card approximately 6 times in France will be equivalent to the fee we paid. We know we need it at least 3 times to pay hotels, 1 more time for car rental and that leaves only 2 times for purchases or cash withdrawals. Travelex will buy back any unused euros dollar for dollar upon our return. We got 2 cards so we can each carry one. We are happy with our decision.