Thanks to the hassle that is involved with trying to cash travelers cheques and the huge fees that are involved with exchanging your homeland currency for currency in other places of the world, more people are searching for reasonable alternatives to getting local currency while on holiday or while taking a business trip. Most people do their research and ultimately decide to buy travel money online.
The ability to buy travel money online is something that is catching on with waves of travelers, though it is not necessarily a brand new idea. This option has been available for awhile, but as more people become comfortable making online transactions and giving their private and financial information through websites, there are more people who are also comfortable enough to buy travel money online.
Why Buy Travel Money Online?
The primary reason that anyone would want to buy travel money online is obviously to save cash, especially if you decide to purchase a reloadable prepaid credit card. The following steps should be taken if you want to purchase your prepaid travel money card online:
1) Do some research to find the lowest currency exchange rate and as few fees possible.
2) Purchase your travel card with a substantial amount of money on the card.
3) Use the card while on holiday or throughout the course of your trip.
How to Purchase Prepaid Travel Cards
This first step is extremely important, though it is the first thing ignored by many people whether they buy travel money online or offline. Many people just take it as a given that they are going to have to pay some fees and a high exchange rate when they are buying holiday cash. What they don't realize is that they can save a substantial amount of cash just by going online and doing a bit of research prior to purchasing their travel money.
If you aren't totally convinced that a prepaid travel money card is the way to go, see what kind of exchange rates you can get through several different card options and compare to the fees and exchange rates being offered through banks. You will see quickly that the travel card is definitely the way to go, even if it's only due to the increased security of having a card which can be replaced with all your money intact in the event it is stolen or lost!
Locking in the Savings
Once you find a prepaid travel card that will give you a competitive exchange rate, go ahead and buy travel money online on that card. You want to put a substantial portion of your travel money on the card since you are locking in that exchange rate at the time you place the money on the card. That means they can't raise the exchange rate on you later on, which is what will likely happen if you run out of money and need to exchange money while on vacation or a trip in another country.
If you put enough money on your prepaid card and use it as often as possible while on your trip you will eliminate the problem of trying to exchange money at a foreign bank. You will also avoid the super high fees that come with using your regular credit and debit cards while out of the country. Finally, you avoid the fees that come with withdrawing money directly from a bank ATM while away from home.
Friday 09 April 2010, 03:45pm
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