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.

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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Travel prepaid card need-to-knows

If you think a prepaid travel card is right for you, here are our key need-to-knows to consider before getting one. 

  • Money on prepaid cards is classed as 'electronic money', and all prepaid card providers are required to hold your cash in a bank account ringfenced from their own operating cash.

    So, provided the prepaid card company has followed the rules, if it were to go bust, the bank or building society where your money's held will still retain your cash and you'll be able to get it back.

    The slight risk comes if the bank or building society goes bust, because your cash is NOT protected in this case. Always try and find out which bank the provider uses for its ringfenced accounts, so you can then understand the risk. For example, the accounts in this guide use Barclays, so it's arguably less risky than, say, a bank you've never heard of.

    Either way, think of your prepaid travel card as one that you'll keep cash on for immediate or short-term spending requirements, rather than as a place to store heaps of it for long periods of time.

  • As long as you contact the provider of your prepaid card and get it blocked, you shouldn't lose out on any money, though you may have to pay up to £10 for a replacement card.

    Pay special attention if your prepaid card is contactless as it could be used for a series of small, fraudulent transactions, so always alert your card provider as soon as possible. It's also worth alerting local police or security services if there's been a theft – you may need an incident number to claim losses back on your travel insurance.

  • Prepaid cards have more fees than credit or debit cards. We take all these into consideration when picking our best buys, deliberately picking cards with low – or no – fees, but these are the charges you need to watch out for with bog-standard prepaid cards:

    • Application and replacement fees. Some cards cost £5 to £10 to open and display that fee prominently on their websites. However, many also charge a sneaky 'replacement fee', and set the expiry date to one year after opening. After 12 months, you'll have to pay around £5 to keep using the card and any funds already on it.

      A few cards also charge a monthly fee of a few quid simply for holding it, which works out hideously expensive.

    • Transaction fees. Some cards charge you for retail purchases (just buying something in a shop), or withdrawing money from an ATM. Both fees usually jump when you're abroad.

      Spending. Charged as either a percentage of the amount or a flat fee per transaction. If you make a high number of small purchases, go for a percentage fee. If you make fewer and higher-value purchases, go for a set fee.

      Withdrawing cash. Usually £1.50 to £2.50 per withdrawal. It's also worth checking the cards for loading and transaction limits. If you're likely to want to withdraw lots of cash, it's no good picking a card with a £50 or £100 per day limit for cash withdrawals.

    • Inactivity charges. Prepaid providers want you to regularly use the card, racking up charges and boosting their profit. Therefore, you're often penalised if the card goes unused, typically £2/month if you haven't used the card in 12 months.

      So use it frequently enough on small transactions to avoid this charge. Similarly, don't overload funds on to the card; most charge a fee to refund the money.

    • Charges for topping up your prepaid card with a credit card. There's a hidden charge you could fall foul of if you're using a credit card to pay for and to top up your prepaid card.

      Buying currency on a prepaid card is counted as a cash withdrawal, so you could face a myriad of fees, including cash withdrawal fees, interest, or even a fee for using a credit card charged by the money changer.

      Therefore, if you're buying and topping up currency on a prepaid card, ALWAYS use a debit card, which isn't allowed to charge this fee.
  • Whether its euros, US dollars or Japanese yen, prepaid travel cards will typically let you load most of the more popular global currencies. The number of currencies you can pre-load on our current top pick cards ranges from 13 to more than 50.

    So depending on where you're travelling to (or might want to travel to in future), it's a good idea to check the individual cards before you apply – especially if you're heading somewhere with a less commonly used currency.

    If you can't find a card that lets you hold the currency you want, it may be that you'll need to load the card with pounds, and let the card do the currency conversion when you spend. Though, here, you can't control the rate you're getting, you get the rate on the day (or the day after) you spend.

  • When travelling, it's pretty common for a cash machine or retailer to ask if you want to be charged in pounds instead of the local currency. This is called dynamic currency conversion. In general, you should usually opt to be charged in the local currency rather than pounds, as exchange rates can often be appalling.

    When we selected our top picks for this guide, part of our criteria was that they should have top exchange rates and minimal fees. So, with any card from this guide, always opt to pay in the local currency.

    Even if you're using a normal card, as you've no idea of the relative exchange rates, it's usually best to stick with paying in the foreign currency. For a great example of this, read Martin's blog.

  • While these cards say they're accepted anywhere you see the Mastercard or Visa symbol, there are some notable exceptions. Most car hire places won't accept prepaid cards, or if they do, they're likely to also require a credit card for any excess deposit authorisation, so make sure you have back-up cards.

    We've also heard from MoneySavers that prepaid cards aren't accepted at many petrol stations or motorway toll booths. Please let us know in the Prepaid Travel Cards forum if you've had a prepaid card declined in other places.

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*

Important. All these providers are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and any money you deposit is ring-fenced – Revolut and Wise use Barclays for their ring-fencing, Zing says it uses multiple banks. So, if there are problems with Zing, Revolut or Wise, the money's safe (as long as the banks they use to ring-fence still exist).

(i) If you spend at weekends (UK time) it adds a 1% fee to its rates, unless you've locked in a rate on a weekday. There's an additional anytime 1% fee on Thai baht (so 2% at the weekend) and a 1% fee on amounts more than £1,000 in a single month.

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.

Top cards for under-18s to use abroad 

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

(1) These cards won't charge you, but ATMs may.

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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