Holiday money – the cheapest credit cards and pre-paid cards to use abroad.
If you’re thinking of going on holiday, it’s worth knowing how you can save money when you use credit cards and pre-paid cards.
If you’re planning a trip abroad it’s likely that you’ll take at least one credit or debit card with you. Credit cards have the advantage of providing valuable consumer protection (through Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act), but the downside is that they often come with lots of extra charges. Pre-paid cards are becoming more popular as well, but which is the best option to save money?
Using your mobile phone abroad; avoiding a large bill.
If you’re heading abroad for a holiday or a business trip, make sure you know how you’ll be charged for calls, emails and downloads.
What do you use your mobile phone for besides making or receiving calls? Sending and receiving emails? Accessing the internet? If you’re on a monthly contract you can get web access included in your monthly tariff, but once you leave the UK, you’ll have to pay for this as well as phone calls and texts. If you’re travelling around the EU, there’s an upper limit on how much calls, texts and so-called ‘data roaming’ (which means accessing the internet or sending emails) can cost, which changed on July 1st. But non-EU countries have no limit.
If you’re thinking of hiring a car for the summer holidays, you can save money on your insurance.
If you hire a car you might not realise that the insurance you’re offered usually has a large excess – which can add up to hundreds of pounds.
You’ve booked the holiday, bought the flight and managed to track down a hire car at a reasonable price. What could possibly go wrong? Well, if you’re not careful you could end up with a massive bill if you have an accident and you haven't taken out excess liability insurance. Many car hire insurance policies impose an excess of several hundred pounds, so you could be seriously out of pocket. And while you can take out extra insurance to cover this when you sign up, it can cost £10 a day or more. But if you shop around for excess liability insurance you can get a much better deal.
