Money matters are one of the major concerns for travellers, long term, short term and regular. There are many prepaid travel cards available now, but which is best?

Taking a good prepaid travel money card is one of the most secure ways of looking after your travel finances. Done right, you’ll have low currency fees, minimal ATM transaction fees and the security that if your card is lost or stolen you can lock or cancel it and get a new one delivered promptly.

You might be wondering if just using your bank card or your credit card is a good idea. In most instances, no, it’s generally not advised. Most bank issued debit cards charge high fees for foreign transactions and you also don’t often get the best exchange rate.

There are a few exceptions. The Halifax Clarity Mastercard offers no fees for ATM withdrawals or foreign transactions, but it is a credit card so you will be charged between 19-26% interest on any balance you accumulate.

Our recommendation is to use a prepay travel money card (ie: a card you can top up with credit from your bank account). This way you’re in control of the money you have on your card and if someone does steal it they don’t make off with your whole travel fund!

Here at GoneTravelling we’ve used a few options for paying our way on the road over the years (from rolled up notes to travellers cheques! to the modern prepaid app based travel cards). These are the best prepaid travel cards we would recommend for regular travellers.

Revolut

Revolut was one of the first generation of app based prepaid travel cards. It acts like a bank account and you can top up your card and hold most major currencies, including Pounds Sterling, US Dollars, Euros and Australian Dollars.

You need to order your Revolut card via their app (available on iOS and Android) and then top up with £10. You then pay £4.99 for delivery (or Euro/Dollar equivalent) which comes out of the balance.

Once you receive the card you activate it via the app, and away you go!

There are no fees to top up the card once you receive it and the exchange rate is pretty much as close to market rate as you can get. In fact, most major currencies are available at current market rate during currency trading hours (in London). Outside of these hours you pay between 0.5% to 2% over the market rate. Still pretty good and much better than most current accounts.

Standard account holders can withdraw a maximum of £200 from foreign ATMs, fee free. After this there is a fee of 2% on the value of the withdrawal.

Revolut is now available in the EEAA countries, Australia, Switzerland and the USA.

Features:

Other great features of the Revolut card include.

• Instant top up using the app.
• Pay your contacts from the app.
• Option to use a ‘virtual bank account’ for online transactions that you don’t fully trust (a maximum of 20 per month).
• Transfer between multiple currencies inside the app – all at market rates.
• Deactivate your card and order a new one as soon as it’s lost or stolen.
• See instant, daily and monthly reports on your spending by location and type of transaction (food, entertainment, travel etc).
• The Revolut Mastercard is contactless and now works with Android Pay and Apple Pay for full contactless functionality.
• Your account has a sort code and account number so can accept bank transfers or set up regular payments.
• Your account also has option to receive US Dollar or Euro bank transfers via SWIFT/BIC transfer.
• Available for users in the UK, Europe, Australia and USA.
• Option for premium service (approx £6.99 per month).
• Option for crypto currency trading (if that’s your thing).

Cons:

• I haven’t found many cons, but my main observation is that many companies won’t accept the Revolut card as a credit card for security purposes. For example, when hiring a car you often need to block off an amount for the security deposit, but this isn’t possible with any pre-paid bank card – not just Revolut (If you plan to hire a car, having a credit card will still come in handy).
• Another issue I’ve found is that some airlines won’t accept Revolut inflight. EasyJet in particular.
• There has been some slightly off putting news about Revolut’s work culture, which might put some off. If you just want a good quality pre-paid card though, these are your guys.

Conclusion

Revolut has been my first choice travel card for around 3 years. As it’s a Visa card it is accepted pretty much everywhere and the option to top up the card on the go means you can stay in control of your spending.

Extra aspects like the virtual account and being able to accept bank transfers in Dollars or Euros is the charm for me. Read up in this full review of Revolut here.

If it matters, Revolut cards are a cool two tone blue and red. Premium members can choose funky designs and colours…!

Get your Revolut pre paid travel money card.

Monzo

Monzo focus more on being a virtual current account than a foreign exchange focused card. However, they still have some great fees if you’re planning on using Monzo as a prepaid travel card.

Like Revolut, Monzo is applied for and topped up via an app (available vis iOS or Android). You only carry your home currency on your Monzo account (so no USD if you’re a GBP card holder etc), but it still works out the most favourable exchange rate.

You pay the Mastercard rate for currency exchange rate and can withdraw up to £200 fee free in a 30 day period. After this there is a 3% charge on the total transaction.

Shop or online purchases in any currency are always fee free.

Features:

• Instant top up via the app.
• Create savings pots on your Monzo account which you can share with other Monzo users. Sort of like a joint account but not a joint account…
• Pay friends and contacts via the app.
• Live reports on spending including locations etc.
• Monzo Mastercard is contactless and works with Android Pay.
• Option for £100 overdraft (after a credit check).
• Freeze card if lost or stolen and order a new one within the app.

Cons:

• It’s not quite as full featured as Revolut, with less options to hold multiple currencies or crypto etc.
• Monzo markets itself as a bank account, but there are no physical branches. However their customer service is very good, so if you do have a problem you can normally sort things out online or over the phone.
• Currently only available to UK users.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a hassle free online bank account, and one that doesn’t charge a fortune to use abroad, then Monzo is probably the best option. It’s not quite a true ‘pre-paid travel bank card’ but it has all the features of one.

As a final selling point, Monzo probably have the best card on this list with a shocking coral pink card as standard.

Get your Monzo virtual bank account/travel money card.

Starling

Starling markets itself as a virtual bank account rather than a pre-paid travel card. You order your Starling Mastercard from the iOS or Android app and top it up with Pounds Sterling. It’s UK residents only like Monzo, but it does now offer options for a Euro bank account which you can apply for if you have an existing Starling account. You do get a seperate card and sort code/IBAN so it could be useful for those who spend a lot of time in the Eurozone.

Using Starling abroad is pretty much the same as the previous two options. Free ATM withdrawals, the Mastercard rate for local currency, easy to top up via the app etc.

One other thing that separates Starling from Monzo is that you earn interest on your balance with Starling. If you’re a business traveller, the option to have a business account might be the clincher for you.

Features:

• Instant spending reports and breakdown of spending by location etc.
• Top up easily via the app.
• Lock your card if it goes missing and unlock it again if you find it.
• Earn interest on card balance (between 0.25 and 0.5%).
• Zero ATM fees.
• No charge for delivery of card.
• Contactless Mastercard works with Android Pay and Apple Pay.
• Business account available.
• Euro account option.

Cons:

• Only available to UK residents at the moment.
• Brands itself as easy international bank transfers but charges £5.50 for SWIFT transfers.
• Like Monzo, Starling is an online bank with no physical presence. But customer service is available 24/7.

Conclusion

There isn’t much between Starling and Monzo as a straight choice between virtual bank accounts. As a prepaid travel card, they’re much the same. Although Starling does edge it with no ATM fees and the interest on balances.

Starling’s cards are a very corporate purple.

Get your Starling virtual bank account.

N26

This German run bank now offer a digital account for UK residents. If you’re resident elsewhere in Europe though, this might be the option for you. Like pretty much every other account on here, it’s accessed through an app with no physical branches. Customer service is great, with multi-lingual staff available through the app.

For UK residents, the thing that might rule N26 out is that they have a tiered subscription option. For the free option, you get no charge bank transfers, but a fee of 1.7% for transactions not in the home currency. So if you have a Euro card, no problem in Europe. But for GBP card holders, that might be an issue when you go travelling.

Probably a major factor for expats in Europe is the no-hassle application for a Euro bank account. This means you’ll get an account with a local IBAN (so, if you move to France or Spain, you’ll have a local account with no international transfer fees).

The monthly option with free ATM withdrawals starts at £4.90 per month. Their transparent card is pretty cool though.

Features:

• Instant spending reports and breakdown of spending by location etc.
• Top up easily via the app.
• Lock your card if it goes missing and unlock it again if you find it.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay available in most countries (not all!).
• Set spending limits to control your outgoings.
• Available for residents of most European countries.
• Apply on the website (not just on the app).

Cons:

• Some features only available with monthly subscription including fee free ATM transactions.
• The local IBAN is good, but I noticed in Spain that government institutions wouldn’t accept bill payments from an N26 account. This slightly negated the point of the card for me, personally.

Caxton FX

One of the first prepaid travel money cards I used was the Caxton FX. Using an app to top up and then access your balance was a novel idea about ten years ago, but the new boys on the block (above) have usurped this as my preferred travel companion.

But, it’s still a good choice.

Caxton are foreign exchange dealers, so their main business is buying and selling currency. Theoretically, it means they have some of the best rates on foreign currency (seeing as they buy it in bulk), although this model may have appealed more before the age of digital banks. Today, Caxton FX pre-paid travel card works in much the same way that Revolut and Monzo do.

Features:

• Caxton’s Mastercard can be applied for from their website.
• Download the iOS or Android App to keep track of your spending and top up.
• You can also top up on their website.
• Choose from a specific currency card (Euro, GBP, Dollar etc) or choose a card which can carry multiple currencies.
• Mastercard’s local currency rates.
• Zero ATM fees overseas, but a small charge to use it at home.
• You can buy a secondary card which shares the same balance as the main card (£5 charge).
• Caxton FX bank cards are now contactless

Cons:

• Charge to use at home (£1.50 ATM or POS charge) – this has apparently been waived as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
• Mark up if transaction is in currency not supported by card (2.49%)
• ATM balance enquiry £0.30p.
• UK residents only.

Conclusion

The Caxton FX is a solid choice for a prepaid travel money card, being one of the oldest dedicated prepaid travel cards. For me, the Revolut app features and flexibility mean that would be my preferred option.

The Caxton FX card comes in a solid black colour.

Apply for your Caxton Card here.

Other Options

Other popular travel money card options include:

Fair Fx – Similar to Caxton FX but has an ATM fee of €1.50.

Travelex Card – Similar to Caxton but has an inactivity fee of £2 per month after 12 months of non use. Also FX fees and load fees are not as good as Caxton or Revolut.

Had any experiences with prepaid travel money cards? Is there one you could recommend that we haven’t covered? This is also a very UK-centric list, so Americans, Canadians, Europeans etc, please feel free to comment below…