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Prepaid Travel Cards
Have you heard about prepaid travel cards? You can normally load up the Visa or Mastcard Prepaid card and even in some cases benefit from a multi-currency card - you can have more than one currency held on the same card and spend as though you were using local currency!
In the past travellers cheques used to be the preferred way to travel safely knowing that your money was secured even in the worst of situations, however, prepaid travel cards are quickly changing the way that people prefer to carry money when travelling as they are the easiest way to carry secured funds with you in any country.
Why Are Prepaid Cards Better?
Most prepaid travel cards can be loaded with an amount of money prior to leaving on a journey and can be used at just about any location that will accept a card instead of being limited to a few locations as yoou might be with travellers cheques.
The latest prepaid cards also have mutliple currency options so you can interchange money between the currency you want before you try and spend. For example Euros to Swiss Francs before you corss the border for a day trip.
This all means that a prepaid travel card can be used in exactly the same way that you would use a debit or credit card at home. This means you skip the step where you must head to a bank or currency exchange centre in order to cash out a traveller’s cheque as needed.
This added convenience also allows you to travel more freely since you know that your money will be accepted everywhere without any concern over the local currency or the destination. In fact, you can even use the travel cards at a cashpoint the same way that you would use your debit or credit card making them an excellent choice for any trip.
The Additional Benefits
One of the other benefits of prepaid travel cards is that you also do not need to have credit in order to get a prepaid card since all you need is the minimum amount required from your financial institution in order to receive one.
When the bank issues you a travel card they will also issue you a PIN number that helps keep your funds safe. In the case that you should misplace your card during your trip simply call the institution you purchased it from and they will lock the card so that funds cannot be accessed.
If you need to reload your travel card with local currency during your trip, you can normally use funds from your own bank account. There are various ways to do this, but the latest ones allow you to do it via your mobile!
