FairFX Publicity > Opodo Related Posts
"If you are looking to lock in an exchange rate here in the UK before heading overseas, it could be worth your while considering a prepaid card.
“Bought and managed online, or from high-street locations, these cards offer rates of exchange that are the same as buying currency, and can often be obtained without any commission,” says Atkinson. “They are available in a range of currencies, the most popular being the euro, US dollar and sterling. You can either use the card to withdraw money from a cash machine, or to make purchases from retailers in shops with your PIN.”
While in the past travellers have had to watch out for the charges levied, things are improving, according to Atkinson.
“Many prepaid cards are now offering free cash withdrawals and no charge for usage, and can be delivered free of charge to your home address or collected at an airport or port,” he says. Another benefit of travelling with a prepaid card is that, if you lose it, you have the security of knowing it can be replaced and your money is not lost.
Considering both fees and rates, Hagger picks out the FairFX Currency Card…"
read more...
Monday 15 March 2010, 09:29am
The Northern Echo has recently confirmed an article which confirmed that the FairFX Anywhere Card is the card to use for Ryanair bookings.
The following is a snippet from the article:
“Ryanair, for example, charges £5 per person each way. That’s £40 return for a family of four – an amount likely to be vastly in excess of its payment processing costs.
“They get away with this by allowing people to pay with certain niche card types for free. Yet that tactic is unravelling. Previously, only certain specialist bank accounts offered these cards. Now the recent growth of pre-paid cards, which anyone can get and load up with cash before spending, means the game has changed.
“For almost all budget airlines except Ryanair, paying on a Visa Electron card is free. The cheapest prepaid version of this is the Travelex Cash Passport card, which is free, and just charges a small amount for top-ups. The undoubted winner in add-on charges, Ryanair has changed its payment policy. Out went free-pay on Visa Electron, and in came freepay on pre-paid Mastercards.
“The new card you need for Ryanair is the free FairFx Anywhere card. It charges only1.5 per cent of the transaction amount each time you use it.”
Click here to read the article in full.
Thursday 11 February 2010, 05:40pm
The Telegraph published a nice article yesterday about prepaid currency cards and how they’re the new way to spend your cash abroad.
The article confirmed that if you ordered 500 Euros on a FairFX Currency Card then you’d save £5.94 versus the nearest compared competitor.
Another reason to order your travel money from FairFX today!
Click here to read the article in full.
Tuesday 26 January 2010, 11:52am
Make your holiday money go further
"Pre-paid cards are becoming increasingly popular for those who want the convenience of a card but also want the option to be able to budget their money and earn a good exchange rate - all you have to do is load money to the card and you're ready to go.
"Most cards are available for either Euros or Dollars, although…FairFX has an Anywhere Card which can be used for any currency."
Click here to read the read the article in full.
Click here to find out more about the FairFX Anywhere Card.
Tuesday 15 December 2009, 12:24pm
According to Stephen Heath, FairFX Chief Executive, people travelling to Egypt and Turkey are less knowledgeable about their currencies compared with the euro or dollar.
An article on Skyscanner confirmed that the varying exchange rates meant that many people left their travel currency "to the very last minute".
However, with the British pound sterling weakening at the moment, that could be a mistake. With FairFX, people are able to lock-in the value of the euro at the time of purchase on their currency cards. Then, if people use their FairFX euro currency card in countries like Egypt and Turkey where other currencies are used, your currency is dynamically converted to the local currency at no extra charge from FairFX.
That’s significant – FairFX do not charge you when you use your currency card in a country that doesn’t use the currency card currency, making the FairFX card the ideal global traveller card.
Friday 25 September 2009, 08:25am
This week the Bank of England has highlighted that overseas investors may choose to reassess their willingness or ability to purchase sterling assets and thereby finance the UK trade deficit.
This has led them to conclude that "As a result, the long-run sustainable real sterling exchange rate... may have fallen."
Currency markets reacted suddenly to this statement. According to an article in the Express, the Post Office have been offering just 1.03 euros to the pound, Gatwick airport just 1.02 euros to the pound and Birmingham and Luton airports a poultry 98 cents and 99 cents respectively to the pound.
Here at FairFX our rates have also been dragged down – but not nearly as much. Today we’re offering 1.10 euros to the pound.
So in conclusion euro rates have fallen a little over the past couple of days – but they’ve also rebounded a little. Just be aware that at times when currencies fluctuate that some companies will feel that they can get away with giving consumers a worse deal. Keep your eye on the rate when you’re ordering currency at the moment.
Wednesday 23 September 2009, 01:00pm
In a recent article the London Evening Standard has discovered that British holidaymakers were charged a total of £106million for taking out money with their credit card abroad last month.
They highlighted that the biggest lenders, including American Express, Alliance and Leicester, Virgin Money, Halifax, Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland, are charging credit customers more than £50 to withdraw €1,000...
This means that holidaymakers are being charged nearly six per cent. According to the article, on taking out €1,000, Lloyds TSB and Halifax credit card customers pay 2.95 per cent commission - £25.95 - and a three per cent withdrawal fee - £26.39 - meaning their travel money costs £931.95.
The article recommends FairFX, saying that “Another popular currency card, from FairFX, sells €1,000 for £888 and has four times as many users as at the start of the year. It charges €1.50 for every withdrawal abroad.”
Click here to read the article in full.
Monday 21 September 2009, 11:53am
With most people re-evaluating their more exuberant spending habits, we’d like to ask the question - Should everyone start taking solvency tips from students?
After all, students are right at the heart of receiving up-to-date financial health advice from experts like Martin Lewis or from finance-focused newspaper journalists.
A recent article to offer great money-saving tips is one that was published in the Times in August… and we’re really happy that one of the recommendations was the FairFX Travel Money Card!
The article highlighted that if students are taking a gap year before university, or if they’re planning on travelling during the holidays, a pre-paid card could be useful.
It confirmed that for travel in Europe and America, the Fair FX card offers one of the best deals. Click here to read the article in full.
Friday 18 September 2009, 10:51am
A recent article in the Mirror has exposed zero commission travel money deals as a rip-off.
The article highlighted the fact that many shoppers attracted by special deals often don't realise that terrible exchange rates are costing them up to 120 euros when they change £1,000 worth of travel money.
Surprisingly, the Post Office were highlighted as one of the bad boys. They strongly promote zero commission deals – but its rates are very poor if you change money at its branches rather than online. At the time the article was published they offered just 1,094 euros for £1,000.
At the same time a leading prepaid travel money card like FairFX would give you 1,152 euros for £1,000, a significant saving of 58 euros.
FairFX Chief Executive Stephen Heath was quoted in the article. Click here to read the article in full.
Thursday 17 September 2009, 10:38am
A recent article in the Birmingham Post has confirmed online currency exchange rates to be among the best.
However, according to the article one in five people still leave it to the last minute and change money at the airport, where they are almost certain to get a poor rate. About 15 per cent rely entirely on credit or debit cards, where providers are reckoned by price comparison service uSwitch.com to collect fees and charges worth £281 million a year.
Stephen Heath and Ian Strafford-Taylor – both FairFX Directors are featured in the article. Heath and his business partner Ian Strafford-Taylor aimed to bring the Easyjet low cost online model to currency conversion in launching FairFX in 2006 – now they handle £100 million worth of foreign currency a year through cards and cash.
Low costs keep their exchange rate consistently high in best buy charts; its only charge on ATM withdrawals will be the one levied by the machine owner. Of course, saving on prepaid cards is maximised if buyers are canny enough to buy at a favourable exchange rate.
Wednesday 16 September 2009, 10:34am
Latest 'Opodo' Posts
15 March 2010, 09:29am
11 February 2010, 05:40pm
26 January 2010, 11:52am
15 December 2009, 12:24pm
25 September 2009, 08:25am
23 September 2009, 01:00pm
21 September 2009, 11:53am
18 September 2009, 10:51am
17 September 2009, 10:38am
16 September 2009, 10:34am
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