Quick one for you that I think I already know the answers to, but wanted to quiz you bright sparks in the hope I can save some cash.
Myself and my Fiancée are getting married in Italy in October. and the vendors have a tendency to request the payment in cash on arrival, otherwise they will add around 25% premium () to pay via bank transfer, somewhat understandable with their taxation but frustrating nonetheless.
The challenge we have is that we arrive 3 days before the wedding, and as my daily withdrawal limit is only £400 I won’t be able to draw out anywhere near enough to pay the vendors, but as it’s a wedding I’d love to save some money using my card.
Does anyone have any useful advice (other than get all of my guests to sign up to )?
I would suggest checking out another pre-paid card model that has better limits, and maybe not so great exchange rates. The Money Saving Expert will no doubt point you in the right direction. I’m confident you will save a lot of money compared to the high street currency exchanges.
get your fiancee , best man and bridesmaid , father, mother father in law , mother in law to get a monzo card , load their cards with your money and all withdraw your daily limits
Thanks, this was my initial thought… I have managed to get 5 signed up so far (for daily use too not just my wedding ) however it will take a fair few more…
I guess you could sign up for a bunch of competitors to basically accumulate as much as you can in terms of daily withdrawal limit.
Revolut allows up to £500 ATM withdrawal a day. Within this daily limit, £200 is free, but 2% fee above that. They offer quite comparable exchange rates to Monzo. Revolut card will cost £5.
Loot.io, £250 daily ATM limit, first 2 withdrawals in a month are free, then £1 each withdrawal thereafter. I’m not sure what exchange rates they offer…
Starling, somewhat similar to Monzo (same mastercard fx rates), no fees on ATM withdrawals, but not sure what’s the daily ATM limit.
I would prefe to have the ability to withdraw all money myself (less hassle to send money to relatives), while relatives can be my backup if everything else fails.
Yeah, I had a quick look and couldn’t find it either (I checked all competitors before posting). Funny is that I do have Starling account, yet I’m clueless about this fairly important thing… Should be something above £250, but that’s speculation.
Yeah, as @anon95680666 says Starling is £300/day, max three withdrawals per day. For some reason they don’t have this information in the in-app FAQs but do have them online here https://www.starlingbank.com/faq/
Anyone in Italy with a euro bank account going to the wedding? If you trust them, transfer the money in advance so that they can withdraw the cash by the time you arrive. TransferWise give pretty good rates, though there will be a small fee.
Anyone in your wedding party with a Euro account in any country, not just in Italy or at an Italian bank, would perhaps be useful. Even friends or family in say Spain, Netherlands or Germany could withdraw out the cash in advance for you, assuming you not only going from the UK
I’m not comfortable carrying 5 figures of cash out of the UK, it would in fact exceed the customs limit for the EU I believe? Plus we have just completed a big relocation (bad timing) so really any saving right now would be helpful.
in October. and the vendors have a tendency to request the payment in cash on arrival, otherwise they will add around 25% premium (
) to pay via bank transfer, somewhat understandable with their taxation but frustrating nonetheless.
card.
)?
) however it will take a fair few more…
/
. Just my two cents.