Hi
I know the Baltic Countries have their own currency, but do they accept Euro's. I think Estonia might? I would also like to preload a Visa Travel Debit card (not connected to my bank account) with money. How easy is it to find machines that will take these cards to issue local currency?
(we are going to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia..we plan on using mostly credit card, but we know that we have the need for some cash. We won't be in each country for very long and don't want to change a lot of cash)
Thanks,
LL
Using Euros and Visa Travel Money Debit Card in the Baltics and Russia
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Really probably better just to use an ATM card connected to your bank account to obtain local currency as needed. If you want to protect your primary bank account from possible shenanigans, open a second one for travel uses.
The general feeling about these cards, from what I have read here, is that they are a ripoff.
I would think ATM is the way to go, but will leave it to those who have been to those specific countries to identify any issues.
No problem with ATMs in Lithuania. Cash stations everywhere.
Prepid VISA (or any other) cards are a waste of time and money, no matter what country you're visiting.All you need is an ATM debit card, and your credit card for large purchases.
thank you for your replies, but I have found that the Visa travel card, which I bought for a one time fee of $5. was accepted in more places than my bank atm card? I have actually been stranded with no cash..and I use a well known bank! So perhaps I will take both...
In Estonia, Finland and Russia I had no problem using an ATM card issued by my small local credit union. It is on the Plus network/system. Actually, I've never had a problem using it in any place I've traveled to.
What network/system does your bank's ATM card use?
I have had various problems usign my debit and credit cards in Russia and in Finland in 2008, and this is why I decided to get a prepaid currency (travel) card. today I save a lot of money on every trip thanks to my Caxton FX Global traveller card, which also gets accepted everywhere without problems (and fees and commissions are ZERO). I think you should get one because it doesn t cost anything, its convenient, it saves you money, and it gets acceppted wherever you see the master card logo! have a good trip !!!!
Thomasmueller, where do you live? The item you describe does not look like anything available in the US financial system, where any currency conversion, physical or electronic, will cost something. We can get close to zero with our credit cards and ATM/debit cards from a very few banks/issuers, but every "prepaid card" I've seen comes with costs, usually higher than those associated with most credit cards (assuming one does not carry a balance that incurs interest).
I went to the website of Caxton (it is a UK company) and saw that the terms of the prepaid card include this
"The exchange rate applied is fixed at 2.5% from the prevailing interbank rate."
So the cost of using your card is similar to that of the average US-issued credit card used for overseas transactions -- between 1 and 3%.
There have been several threads here about the REAL cost (at least for North Americans) of the VISA prepaid. When you read the threads, the word RIPOFF will come to mind. Perhaps other countries are different.
"fees and commissions are zero". Means nothing. If zero, where do they make their money? With any currecny transaction...what is the exchange rate? I will exchange any amount of your home currency you want free (I'm so nice), but let me set the exchange rate (I'm going to be so rich)