Prepaid Mastercards / Ryanair etc...

As I'm sure most of you are aware, Ryanair have terminated their free payment method of VISA Electron some time ago, the new free payment method being prepaid Mastercard. However these often have fees for purchase, top up, use and non use which Electron did not.

Just been past Thomas Cook, and they have a Mastercard Prepaid currency card in currencies of US$, EU?, GB, CA$, NZ$, AU$ and ZAR - the latter being mentioned in yesterday's Sun newspaper when they were talking about people travelling to the World Cup in SA.

I was thinking of getting a GB one just for booking Ryanair flights, but was wondering how it compares to other offers out there. Don't fly all that much with Ryanair, but the card fee is still annoying when I do - maybe a three return flights annually?

Basic fees for the GB card are:

2% or 3 min to load the card 1.50 ATM fee (will not be using it in ATMs though) Purchase Fee 0 If not used for 15 months there is a 2 monthly fee 10 for negative balances Use in currency other than GB is rate increased by 5.75% - do they mean (rate+5.75) or (rate+rate*5.75%)?

There is no loading fee for the cards of other currencies, but I don't know what the exchange rate will be when you load the card, as you are locked in to the rate on the day when you load the card, presumably at Thomas Cook's loaded rate? Or the actual rate on the day determined by Mastercard? Any way of having Ryanair charge you in Euros if you are booking a one way flight departing a UK airport?

Reply to
Steve
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I would have thought that for this level of usage you are wasting your time trying to save the fee with one of these cards.

tim

Reply to
tim....

On the other hand, if you can get one free and can minimise the fees charged, they may well be worthwhile.

See:

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I obtained a FairFx card for free with just a 1.5% charge for usage, which I think it worth it.

Reply to
Norman Wells

I waited years before finally getting an Electron card last year. I saved about £30 with it before it was changed to the prepay card.

In a normal year, I might have saved £60 with it, which is hardly worth the trouble considering the bother of having one more card, bank account, online username, password, identity theft opportunities....

And looking at the conditions and fees posted by the OP for yet another card, it definitely is not worth the trouble!

I now use my Visa debit card for nearly everything. In the UK there's a 0% usage charge for most things, and I don't have to explicitly 'load' it, as it works off my current account. (I got fed up with credit cards, which I was forever forgetting to pay and getting lumbered with fees, and having to pay 'twice' for things when long-forgotten purchases appeared on the statements)

Reply to
bart.c

Well, if you can't handle a credit card, you shouldn't really be dealing with money at all. Have you thought about an enduring Power of Attorney?

Reply to
Norman Wells

I doubt my experience is unique. You get a statement, and a date 2-3 weeks in the future in which to pay it off. What are most people going to do, pay it that instant?

If not then the chance of, not necessarily forgetting the payment date, but getting within 3 or 4 days of it and *then* realising a single- or double-bank holiday weekend are ahead, are high.

Anyway a few years back I was spending up to six months of the year away from home, that didn't really help.

Reply to
bart.c

Unless you need to use the credit card as a means of borrowing for longer than the interest-free period, the best two methods are:

(1) Set up an arrangement with the card issuer to have the card bill pay itself automatically in full by Direct Debit just before the due date.

(2) As above, but set it up to pay only the minimum amount. This avoids incurring charges when you forget to pay, so at worst you will be charged interest. You can also avail yourself of online banking to settle the balance. So yes, you pay it "that instant" but not quite, you merely set up, that instant, an instruction to schedule payment for a few days prior to when it is due.

Hot tip: Even if you don't go in for this new fangled online banking, just use a diary. When the bill comes, make an entry for a suitable day near but early enough prior to the due date, telling yourself to pay the bill. Easy, especially if the diary also shows bank holidays.

Besides, you *could* just do what you've already suggested, pay it that instant. You're hardly going to lose that much interest by paying bills a few weeks before you really need to, are you?

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

It hasn't been possible to create new EPAs for some time now.

Reply to
David Woolley

If they allow you to get negative balances, that seems to remove the last remaining advantage!

Reply to
David Woolley

In message , bart.c writes

I have a PC, which means I can place a recurring reminder in the Windows Calendar to remind me to pay in plenty of time to allow the clearance. :-)

Reply to
Gordon H

In order to avoid giving the OP the wrong impression......

now replaced by Lasting Power of Attorney

tim

Reply to
tim....

In message , tim.... writes

I am led to believe that they are not exactly the same thing, and that LPAs are more complex/expensive to set up than EPAs?

(According to my mate's solicitor, who set up an EPA for him just before the changes).

Reply to
Gordon H

EPAs acted as normal powers of attorney as well, but LPAs require the subject to be ruled to lack capacity before they can be used. I think there may also be more vetting of them when they are brought into effect. There are LPAs for your non-financial affairs, whereas EPAs only applied to financial affairs.

In the context of the slur intended here, they may be a rather narrow band between when someone's capacity falls to a level where an LPA can be brought into effect and when they cease to have the capacity to create one.

Reply to
David Woolley

Is LPA is a kind of Living Will, also then? My solicitor didn't want anything to do with living Wills when I made a tentative enquiry.

Quite! (No slur intended). ;-)

Reply to
Gordon H

There are two types of LPA, One is a sort of living will. There is still a duty to act in the best interests, even if they are not the wishes. It gives someone the right to make health and welfare decisions:

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Any right to withhold life sustaining treatment has to be explicit.

Reply to
David Woolley

Of course they're not the same thing, but ISTM that telling someone who thinks that they need to set up an EPA (for a relative) that they can't, without also telling them that there is a replacement, is irresponsible IMHO.

It's irrelevant that the new version is more complex. If you suspect that your relative is going to unable to look after themselves in old age then you need Power of Attorney, regardless of the complexity of setting it up. Not setting one up because it is too hard is always going to be the wrong decision because the procedure once the relative is incapable of understanding is far more complex (and costly)

tim

Reply to
tim....

This is something many do not understand, that medical staff may not adhere strictly to "wishes", they may be influenced by their oaths or by their religious beliefs.

Reply to
Gordon H

I agree absolutely.

The LPA is expensive (may be several hundred pounds) - but - if you have to go to the Court of Protection to release money from a spouse's/relative's account, it could be over a thousand pounds with incredible delays.

[Dont ask why - there is no justification for cost or time - but there is no option].

Two additional points.

One, you assume that it will be dementia or equivalent. If the cash-holder has an accident and is hospitalised, even temporarily, the effect could be similar.

Secondly, the trauma of having a spouse with dementia can be unbearable. Not having access to funding aggravates this many fold.

In addition to an LPA, it is *very* advisable that any parties should have joint ( or multiple) access to accounts. At the very minimum enough cash to live on. Ideally, each partner should have enough money to support themselves and provide care for the other.

Flop

Sorry that it may not be directly relevant, I have based the comments on husband/wife scenario. However, it would be similar for any other dependence.

Reply to
Flop

Not exactly, in my case I am a widower, and only one of my three children live in this country. In the case of my physical incapacity there would be no problem, I could give my daughter passwords to operate my home banking or my card and PIN.

I also have a lady friend who I would trust 100% with card and PIN in an emergency.

A joint account in either case would be going rather too far!

It is the possibility of a brain-damaging stroke which makes me think about an LPA in respect of my daughter, who is also Executor of my Will.

PS: I am in good health and better than average fitness for my age. ;-)

Reply to
Gordon H

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