FairFX - www.fairfx.com

I'm surprised by the reviews on this site for Fairfax. I genuinely think it's the best card out there for using abroad. I've got the EU card and use it fairly often.

The exchange rate always beats the banks and I've had no problem using the card on ATM machines, shops and restaurants.

The website is great too. It's incredibly easy and quick to transfer money across, and their mobile site makes it even easier to do on the move.

Only once have I been charged for using an ATM machine, but it was a weird one in the middle of nowhere so I'd assume probably everyone got charged for that machine.

Most impressive of all is their detailed when to Exchange blog, full of lots of useful information.

This is a great card and if you shop around you should be able to avoid the opening fee.

Highly recommended.

When you register use the code foq1z to save the registration fee.

I have used these cards both in Europe and USA. They are hassle free and easy to budget a holiday and check account online.

The whole point of the card is that one does not need to carry cash around, however this is exactly what we had to do, as the card was declined at numerous places, even though there was credit on the card and the locations accepted MasterCard payments. This was of course embarrassing and inconvenient. The locations included toll booths, car parks, and food outlets. On contacting FairFX I got an unfriendly reply stating that "there is a service restriction on the FairFX Card at some self service petrol pumps and motorway toll booths, particularly in France." why is this not advertised?

I applied for this card after seeing it recommended on moneysavingexpert to use on my holiday in Vietnam. Unfortunately, about 70% of the time when I tried to use it, it didn’t work. When I checked my online balance, I was concerned to see that all these attempted transactions were now pending, and this money (which amounted to about £800 at one stage) was being held by fairfx. I contacted customer services and received a reply (quite a few) days later, which helpfully informed me that these transactions would drop off my account after 21 days. Being as £800 was quite a large proportion of my holiday budget, and my holiday was about 21 days in total, I asked for a little more help and was told that I could write a letter to all the merchants to ask them to write a letter to fairfx to confirm that they wouldn’t be completing the transactions. Well being as I was in a country where I didn’t speak the language, and had no access to a computer, and there were 5-6 different merchants to contact, one of which was actually an ATM, I tried to explain that this wasn’t really a realistic option.

In the end, we were afraid to use the card, as it just kept declining everywhere and then holding onto our money. I ended up having to put all my holiday expenses on credit cards and dip into my overdraft and basically get all the hefty charges I’d been trying to avoid. At least this was an option for us, I shudder to think what would have happened if I’d been unfortunate enough not to have a credit card.

I first contacted fairfx customer services 22 days ago, and despite 8 emails to them and 2 emails to the complaints department, I haven’t received any help or support. I’ve been asking them to refund me my money so I can start to pay off my credit cards, but haven’t received any response to this. In the meantime, my bank charges and interest are racking up every day, while fairfx are earning interest on my balance.

In summary, if you enjoy spending your holiday in a foreign country with no access to your own money, and you like getting ripped off and enjoy crappy customer service, I highly recommend this card.

http://www.fairfx.com

What an amazing service. I didn't order until 2pm yesterday and it arrived this morning.

I found them via Money Saving Expert and while others offered slightly higher rates they seemed the most professional, offered free delivery for my requirements and were FSA regulated; these factors outweighed the extra few pounds. However with the exemplary service as well there's no comparison.

I would have no hesitation in recommending or using again.