Travelling on a Budget with PrePaid Cards

December 12, 2018

Hooray for the holidays! As you may know, I live in Vancouver, Canada and I’m originally from England. Just after Christmas, I’m heading home with my little family, to spend a few weeks in the English countryside for a postponed holiday get-together. We’re going to bake a gingerbread (well my mum and my daughter will, I’ll eat it), see old friends, and eat all the Christmas sandwiches if there are any left in the shops.

Sidenote – a Christmas sandwich is a wonderful British staple of the season, available in many varying recipes from pretty much any food shop. It’s a sandwich with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sometimes bacon, and it’s amazing.

Aside from eating all the festive food (diet starts as soon as we get back, I promise), I’m going to be doing some January shopping on a couple of trips up to London. However, using my Canadian debit and credit cards can be a little risky as the exchange rate and ‘conversion charges’ can fluctuate wildly. While I have a rough idea at how much the UK pounds translate to Canadian dollars, there’s a lot going on that can give me a hefty bill when I get home.

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To beat this and to avoid carrying cash around the bustling streets of London, I’m putting a few ‘deep-sea divers’ (fivers / $5) onto prepaid cards. They work just like a usual debit card and have the same level of securities, but it’s all paid up ahead of time. The money is also locked in at a set exchange rate, so there’s no need to worry about things suddenly turning more expensive without me seeing.

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Exchange rates change overnight and it’s hard to keep up.

The cards I will be using are ‘open-loop’ cards, which means they’re not store-specific gift cards, but can be used anywhere the card network (American Express, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa) is accepted, including online.

So, whether I’m spending a monkey ($500) or a pony ($25), I can just use my prepaid card in whichever department store or down the pub and I’ll be sorted.

From the CPPO website, here are a few other great reasons why a prepaid open-loop card makes a great option for travelling safely with money:

Funds are universally acceptable. Consumers can make purchases anywhere in the world the card is accepted, including online and over the phone.

Funds are immediately available. There is no waiting for a cheque to arrive in the mail or clear the bank, and funds are available as soon as they are deposited by the consumer, business or government.

Cards are convenient and easy to use. They function in a similar fashion to credit and debit cards at the point-of-sale and offer the same fraud and loss protections.

Budgeting Tool. They are an excellent tool to manage a budget because a set amount of funds are loaded in advance of the purchase.

Consumers can avoid costly overdraft fees and interest charges. A set amount of funds are loaded in advance of a purchase, so consumers can control their budget and avoid interest charges and overdraft fees.

Financial Inclusion. Open-loop prepaid cards open the door to economic participation for “unbanked” or “underbanked” Canadians without a banking or credit relationship.

Disclaimer: This post was supported by the Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization to help share how prepaid cards can help at this time of the year, and when travelling abroad.

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