How To Make The Most Out of a Travel Money Card

For the uninitiated, a travel money card is a card that is specially designed for you to be able to spend money overseas. Before you go, you can order a travel money card from your bank (if they offer one), then load up your money into the card as needed, picking out the currencies you’re going to use while you're on your trip.These cards sit separate to your everyday transaction accounts. Those are the obvious benefits, but there a few perks that people often don’t know about: 
 

No conversion fees sets you free 

Let’s say you headed overseas with your regular debit card that you’d use to buy a choccy milk at the servo. If you then went over to Thailand and bought yourself a pad thai for 50 baht (the currency over there), you’d be charged by the vendor in Thai currency. Then the bank would convert that to AUD (using an exchange rate that might not be the best for you), before charging an additional transaction fee, which could cost just as much as the meal you just bought! 

Most travel money cards can automatically convert your money into the local currency every time you buy something, and typically these cards also have low or no fees for things like ATM withdrawals and everyday transactions. 

When you’re using a travel money card overseas, sometimes you will be asked whether you want to pay in Australian Dollars or the local currency. It might seem simpler to opt for AUD because it’s what you’re used to, but if you pay in AUD, you’ll usually have to pay an exchange rate on top of what you were expecting to pay. So instead, pay in the local currency and let your travel card do the conversion! 
 

Pre-loading currencies could give you more bang for your buck 

We don’t wanna be here all day talking about how exchange rates work, so let’s go for a simplification here and say that the value of different countries’ currencies changes over time. While the day-to-day differences aren’t usually that massive, a few months’ difference could mean that you have more or less value for your money. 

If you’re looking to take advantage of exchange rate differences, you’ll need to pay attention to the exchange rate of your destination country and hang out for a sudden drop in price. The scary thing is that the exchange rate might just keep climbing, so there’s always risk involved when waiting to convert funds. 
 

Extra currencies are great for multi-leg trips 

A great thing about travel money cards is that you can load up several currencies at once, before you even arrive at your destination. If you’re hopping from country to country, you don’t want to have to mess around with visiting a currency exchange every time you get to the airport or bus stop (also the rates at those places are usually terrible because they know you’re desperate). It’s worthwhile having a bit of cash on hand before you arrive in a new country, if not just so you can get a cab, bus or train to your hostel hassle-free, but it’s nice to know that you can access your funds in a pinch. 
 

They’re a bona-fide budgeting tool 

The good thing about pre-loading funds on your card is that you can keep track of how much you’re spending while you’re overseas. This is an absolute godsend if you’re on a strict budget, or if you’re one to splash your cash around when you get excited. Before you push the button on that big expense, you have to go through the steps of adding extra money to your card, which could be enough to make you wonder if that novelty (read: tourist trap) experience is really worth the hassle.  
Or, loading the money for your trip on beforehand just means you can check in on your funds and enjoy yourself knowing that you’ll have savings to get you back on your feet when you’re done. 
 

Travel cards are just one way to handle your money overseas. You've probably heard about the benefits of carrying cash, or even using a credit card and thought ‘could that be a better fit for me?’. If that sounds like you, or you’re just keen for more tips on managing and spending your money overseas, make sure you give our Travel Hub a visit. 

This content has been created by Year13 and is sponsored by Westpac.