A friend of mine stayed last night who had just returned from Spain. He uses a pre-loaded card for his Euros, which he likes, doesn't have to worry about carrying so much cash with him. I can understand some of his reasoning but still cannot get my head around why it is any better (is it better?) than my debit or credit card. His cards obviously, well I assume anyway that they charge him fees and if he uses an ATM abroads I presume the ATM will charge him as well? I may or may not be wrong about this. Anybody know anything about these cards to guide my thinking as to their possible good use when i go hiking.
Coincedentaly, my wife and I received new credit cards this morning, contactless ones!!!! I phoned my bank and had a little, but polite rant about how stupid these things are and asked why are our banks, who are suppossed to protect our money, offering us something that doesn't protect us at all??? They didn't quibble, not even for a split second, which makes me even more suspicious of their motives towards me their customer. The member of staff made NO ATTEMPT WHATSOEVER to defend this product. We will get new ones which require a PIN number next week.
My view of contactless cards is that they are potentially dangerous to us the people who may use them, once lost or cloned they can be used to steal loads of money from our accounts. A least with an ordinary card, if stolen the thief would have to spend some time working out what my PIN number is first, with a contactless card you just need to wave it over a machine and as long as its less that £30 per transaction the villain is quids in! Mt wifes friends aunt lost £1200 over Christmas, someone 'borrowed' her card and went on a spending spree, mostly bought sctratchcards with the money.
I'd still prefer to carry less cash with me when hiking. Whats the best way?