subject: Book Your Way To A Cheaper Summer Holiday With A Prepaid Card [print this page] With people struggling to cope with rising bills for everything from food to electricity, many will probably be thinking of having their holiday at home this summer. But getting away from it all can be very important, and if consumers play their plastic cards carefully, they might enjoy a holiday for less than they thought.
Its possible to start saving with a prepaid credit card from the moment flights are booked. For example, some airlines charge a 5 booking fee each way which can be avoided if a prepaid card is used to pay for the airfares. So straightaway theres a saving of 40 for a family of four booking return tickets.
These cards can also help travellers to avoid the risk involved with carrying large amounts of cash around. The customer just loads up a prepaid card before they leave the UK and then uses it at cash machines abroad to withdraw their money in the local currency. A traveller could use one with a GBP account anywhere around the world that their card is accepted, or they could choose a card already in the currency of the country being visited.
As well as saving money, prepaid cards can help prevent people from losing money. After all, if you lose cash its usually lost forever! But if a currency card is lost or stolen whilst abroad, the cardholder can just phone the card provider to cancel the card. As long as the card has been used sensibly, in line with the providers Terms and Conditions, the money on the card when it was lost can simply be transferred onto a new card, or into their GBP account.
Prepaid currency cards arent just a convenient way to carry travel money, they can also offer a good foreign exchange rate. Some currency cards can save you money by not charging a foreign exchange fee, and the card is even provided for free.
A prepaid card could also help travellers to stick to their budget by reducing the risk of overspending. Cardholders just top up their card with the amount that they can sensibly afford to spend whilst abroad the cardholder cant start spending money that they dont have.
Finally, its worth considering that over the last couple of years, over 60 airlines and holiday companies have gone bust, leaving many people stranded or out of pocket. But booking with certain prepaid cards can save an awful lot of money and worry as, similarly to credit cards, they offer free purchase protection, designed to help consumers get their money back if the worst happens from holiday companies becoming bankrupt to buying something that turns out to be faulty. This type of protection often proves very handy especially when abroad.
So people wanting to enjoy a cheaper holiday, with travel money at a great exchange rate and with protection from ailing airlines should give their wallet a break with a prepaid card.
