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Prepaid travel cards
Lock in a top rate before you go away
If you're planning a trip overseas, making sure you'll be able to pay for things in your destination is crucial. But many don't like taking too much cash in case it's lost or stolen. A prepaid travel card could be a solution – they let you load your chosen currency to it before you leave, then use it while on your trip like any normal debit card. This guide has everything you need to know about these cards, and our top picks.
Prepaid travel cards let you lock in a rate before you go, but there are two main alternatives to consider...
Specialist credit and debit cards give near-perfect exchange rates worldwide when you withdraw or spend, with no fees.
Top travel credit and debit cards
Prefer cash? Useful if card isn't accepted, our tool helps you find the best exchange rates for your holiday money.
TravelMoneyMax
What is a prepaid travel card?
You decide how much currency you want to add, and then you can use it for spending or withdrawing cash abroad (or buying online in a foreign currency). As it works more like a debit card than a credit card, you know how much you have to spend and can't go over that amount – unless you load more money.
Not all cards are created equal though – providers will either use the 'interbank rate' (the perfect exchange rate), the rate set by Mastercard or Visa (which will will be a touch lower), or one of these with the car provider's foreign exchange fee added – this fee will often be between 1% and 2.5%.
Your money should be safe if your card issuer goes bust, even in different currencies. It's considered 'e-money' and should be held in a ring-fenced account with a UK bank, separate to the card provider's own operating cash. The small risk is that you're not protected if the underlying bank goes bust.
What types of prepaid travel cards are there?
There are two main types of prepaid travel card, depending on how you want to load or use the currency you need. The best for you will depend on how you want to spend overseas...
- Multi-currency cards – these allow you to load multiple currencies onto a single card. This can be useful if you are travelling to and spending in multiple countries, and want to lock in an exchange rate before you go.
This can be good if you're working to a budget and want certainty over exactly how much you'll have to spend. Plus if the pound weakens after you load the card, you'll gain from having locked in the better exchange rate – though obviously you'll lose if the pound strengthens.
- Prepaid sterling cards – you'll load pounds sterling onto the card, and when you spend abroad, it'll be converted into the local currency within a couple of days. This can make it a more straightforward option, though you can't be certain of the foreign exchange rate you'll be charged.
You can find both types of prepaid currency card in our top picks below.
A travel credit or debit card can be a better alternative
Before you consider a prepaid card, check out travel credit or debit cards. They're often less of a faff than loading before you go and the top picks consistently offer near-perfect rates every day of the week. Plus if you're using a travel credit card for a purchase costing £100-£30,000 (even abroad) you'll also get Section 75 protection.
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Top-pick prepaid travel cards
We've compared cards to find ones with the best rates and lowest fees. Though it's always worth comparing our top picks to the best you'd get in holiday cash by using our comparison tool TravelMoneyMax.
With these cards, you can just spend on them in pounds and you'll get the rate on the day you spend – or you can lock in a rate before you go on holiday, so you know the rate you'll get before spending.
To do this, you'll first need to find whether the currency you want can be exchanged in advance, as it varies per card. If it can, you'll need to load the card with pounds and then navigate to your account in the app or online. There's then usually an 'exchange' option where you can select the currency you want. If you're happy with the rate, hit 'order' and your pounds will be exchanged and you'll then have a balance on the card in the foreign currency.
Prepaid travel cards – our review
Our top picks all use near-perfect interbank exchange rates (which tend to be slightly higher than Mastercard's or Visa's rates) and can be used anywhere in the world that accepts Mastercard or Visa. So the difference comes down to the fees each adds on top.
HSBC-owned Zing charges an exchange fee starting from 0.2%, but until 30 December it's fee-free on up to £500 per month. So if you're exchanging £500 or less, it's an easy top-pick. If you're exchanging more, or after the offer ends, it's still a decent rate and could be cheaper than the alternatives below for some currencies – though do check.
Plus newbies can get a £30 welcome bonus when signing up via our link* and spending £5+ using the physical or virtual card before 21 November. The money should be paid into your Zing GBP wallet within 30 days of making the qualifying purchase.
You can get a physical card for free, which comes with free ATM withdrawals in the UK. For withdrawals abroad, the first each month is free, with each withdrawal after that costing £2 or equivalent – so it's best to limit withdrawals if you opt for Zing.
Revolut's standard plan doesn't charge exchange fees for the majority of currencies between Monday and Friday UK time, though you'll pay a 1% fee to exchange at weekends. However, you can beat this by loading the card with pounds in advance and exchanging on a weekday – you can do this with over 30 main currencies, including euros and US dollars. Though if you exchange more than £1,000 in a 30-day period, you'll pay an additional 1% fee.
You can use its free virtual card with digital wallets (Apple & Google Pay), or you can pay a delivery fee for a physical card, which you'd need if you wanted to withdraw cash. The first five withdrawals are free each month (max £200), after that there's a 2% fee (min £1).
Note: Recent news stories have come to light of people finding fraud protection at Revolut inadequate. Revolut denies this. But we’re talking about using it as a prepaid card, so you’ll not be loading substantial amounts of money on it if you use it that way. Therefore we’re not doing a full risk assessment.
Alternatively, Wise charges a small exchange fee of at least 0.33% at all times. The fee depends on the currency – for example, exchanging pounds to euros has a 0.33% fee, so would beat Revolut at weekends if you'd prefer not to exchange a set amount in advance. It also has two fee-free cash withdrawals up to £200 each month.
Zing* | Revolut* |
Wise* | |
Card delivery fee | None, including one free replacement | Usually £4.99 | £7 |
Uses interbank exchange rate? | Yes, plus a 0.2%+ fee (no fee on £500/mth until Dec) – see its cost calculator for exact fee above | Yes, though 1% fee at weekends. 1% fee if exchanging over £1,000/month (i) | Yes, plus a fee of at least 0.33% (see its cost calculator for exact fee) |
Overseas ATM withdrawal fee | One free per month, £2 or equivalent from second onward | First five/£200 free per rolling month, 2% after (min £1) | Two per month free up to £200/mth, 1.75% + 50p above |
Currencies you can exchange in advance (locking in the rate) | 20 | 30 | 47 |
Fee if not used? | No | No | No |
How to manage | App | App | App or online |
Apply* | Apply* | Apply* |
Am I eligible for a prepaid travel card?
Prepaid cards do not do hard credit checks, so anyone can get one, so long as you provide the required proof of address and identification.
Typically, you also have to be 18 or older, though there are some specialist prepaid cards for under-18s with fee-free spending abroad. These allow you to load funds onto the card and can be useful for providing spending money for holidays. Our selection top picks for under-18s are below.
Top cards for under-18s to use abroad
Many people don't use cash abroad anymore, making it tough to give children spending money. The solution is a kids' prepaid card where you (or they) load up money to spend.
They can be used in the UK, but some also have decent rates when you go overseas, meaning you can just give your child one card home and away.
Prepaid cards let you set spending limits and monitor via apps, plus some offer near perfect exchange rates too. Unlike the cards above, though, here you get the rate on the day you spend. Our top picks are below...
Top cards for under-18s – what we'd go for
Our top-three picks all offer fee-free spending abroad with no limits – which is best depends on whether you'd prefer a prepaid card or a children's bank account, and whether you value using ATMs.
- HyperJar's prepaid-card has no monthly fee but there's an initial £4.99 card delivery fee (though you get a £5 Amazon voucher for every card you order). It can't be used at ATMs, even in the UK, plus load or transfer fees can apply, depending on how you use the card. If you load less than £10 onto the card more than once per month it will cost 50p per load (it's always free if you load £10+) and if you transfer out of the HyperJar account more than four times per month it will cost 50p per transfer.
- Nationwide's kids' bank account is free to open and comes with a contactless debit card, though it doesn't have monitoring facilities like the prepaid cards do. It also gives access to an easy-access savings account which pays a decent 5% on up to £5,000.
- Via our link, GoHenry's prepaid-card is free for two months and you get £5 cashback – after that it costs £3.99/month, though you could use it for the holiday & then cancel.
Alternatively, if you already bank with Revolut or Starling, you can get your child a free prepaid card which offers fee-free spending abroad – full details are below the table.
KEY FEATURES | HyperJar* Prepaid card |
Nationwide FlexOne Children's bank account |
GoHenry* Prepaid card |
Is there a monthly fee? | No, but £4.99 card delivery fee (comes with £5 Amazon voucher) |
No | Yes, £3.99/mth (two months free + £5 cashback via our link) |
Age restrictions to get the card? | 6 to 17 years | 11 to 17 years | 6 to 18 years |
Fee-free ATM withdrawals? (1) | Can't withdraw from ATMs |
Yes | Yes |
Fee-free spending? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Decent alternatives - but you'll need an adult's bank account to get 'em free
Both cards are fee-free to spend on abroad, though Revolut has ATM fees/limits.
- If you already have a Starling current account (or are happy to open one), you can open the fee-free Starling Kite, which gives fee-free overseas spending and ATM withdrawals with no limits.
- Existing Revolut customers can open one Revolut <18* account for free, though there's a £4.99 delivery fee. It's free to spend on the card up to £250/month (0.5% fee above) and you can withdraw up to £40/month from ATMs without paying any fees (2% fee above).
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