NotASandwich
Traveller
4 comments
Posted 8 years ago
Hi everyone.
I\'m planning my 2017 Interrail trip, including my preferred method of survival, financially.
Here on the website there was stated that the best way to go would be a prepaid creditcard (Mastercard is most likely my go-to) and have a back-up stash of cash for when MasterCard is not accepted. I was having a discussion with my mother and stepdad and they recommend only putting around 500 euros on the MasterCard for when my Maestro card is not accepted, so basically as a back-up, however seeing not all countries support Maestro, let alone everywhere, it seems like an unreliable solution. I think my dad is all in on the MasterCard plan, so putting most of the money on the MasterCard, and having a small reserve for emergencies.
I\'m in the middle here and I\'d like to hear you opinions or experiences.
Thanks a lot!
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hey.
Welcome to rail.cc :)
I personally use a mix of Maestro bank card and Visa card. I never had problems with both within Europe. Only outside of Europe.
Therefore I think I\'m fine with having both cards with you (Maestro and Master Card).
At ATMs you can always withdraw money by Maestro within countries of the EU (at least my experience).
One think you should ask before at your bank: the fee you have to pay per withdraw.
All in all, it is always good to have some cash with you. 100 EUR and you are fine to easily survive two days. ;)
Have sunny days, Pete :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hey,
what countries are you going to visit? I never had any troubles getting money with my Maestro, including Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey,...
Flo 8)
NotASandwich
Traveller
4 comments
Thank you both so much.
Sorry for the late response, got busy with working and whatnot so I kinda lost track of the existence of my post ^^"
Is there a (major) fee for prepaid credit cards per withdrawal if you get the prepaid card straight from MasterCard/ICS?
Based on your responses I will most likely go with my standard Maestro card I use in everyday life provided by my bank, with a cash reserve on hand.
Again, thanks!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hey,
no worries, haha :)
To get back to the Maestro card - where do you expect problems with the card not being accepted? I have used it all over Europe now to withdraw cash and pay and had no problems.
I would assume that the withdrawal fees of a prepaid card will be about the same as those of a Maestro card or even a regular credit card, ranging about 2% of the amount.
To get the exact numbers I can only recommend to ask directly at your bank and/or credit card provider.
Flo 8)
NotASandwich
Traveller
4 comments
Hi Flo,
When you say "withdrawal fees of a Maestro card", I\'m not sure that\'s a thing. Let alone here in the beautiful Netherlands, where we have seperate registers in the major supermarket chains where you can only pay with your Maestro card, not cash. I think I only got charged 1.50 EUR extra once in Barcelona for using my debit card. I don\'t know about other countries and I can only assume you know better. ^^
There were a few places in Spain last summer where they didn\'t accept my debit card, only credit cards. I can only expect that they\'re not the only ones. Then again, if I have a cash reserve, I should be fine for that. Not to mention that ATMs probably will do the trick :)
Thanks!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
I was mainly referring to fees that apply when withdrawing another currency than Euro from ATMs. For instance, my bank charges 1,82€ + 0,75% of the amount for that (it is free when withdrawing Euro and Swedish Kroner). When paying at a store they charge 1,09€ + 0,75% of the amount outside of the Euro zone.
If you are going to Scandinavia, cash is not widespread anymore and especially in Sweden there are some places where you can only pay with credit card (dont know if they make a difference between regular and debit cards though).
NotASandwich
Traveller
4 comments
Alright! Thank you so much! This has cleared up a lot :)