Caxton: The Global Banking Saviour

Before embarking on my year abroad, banking was a massive concern for me. I knew if I took my usual bank card, that I'd get charged excessively for purchases and for withdrawing cash. I spent days thinking about my options, should I take a huge wad of cash to last me the year? Should I just suffer the charges and let them go? I even trekked to several banks to ask for recommendations. With plans to live in Spain for the year, I thought Santander would have a decent deal. Should I have opened an account in the UK, surely I'd be able to use the same card in Spain? Wrong. There's few banks, if any, that allow you to use a bank card abroad without getting charged.

That's when I found out about Caxton, a pre-paid card which you can use to purchase items, withdraw cash, do whatever you want, all with little to no charges. It honestly was my saviour while I was living abroad.

This card is a pre-paid one. You can use the Caxton app, or go online, to transfer money onto this card into your desired currency. You select a designated about of British pounds, paying onto the card with your usual bank card, and it transfers it into your desired currency, for example euros, and then your card will show you the amount of euros you have on it. Basically, the Caxton card will give you an excellent exchange rate for your money, much better than the rates on your highstreet (believe me, I saved loads using Caxton). You can use this card free of charge abroad. Though beware, you'll get charged for using the card in the UK, but it doesn't matter, right? I'll be using my usual bank card while in the UK.

My favourite thing about Caxton is that you can load the card with as many different currencies as you like. As long as the card is loaded in the country's currency, you're ready to go. At one point, while I was travelling Europe, I even had 4 different currencies on there. What's also great, is that you can transfer each currency back into British Pounds and put it back in your usual bank after the year end (or whenever you want), though there's a small administration fee, 50p or something, I believe. But honestly, the great exchange rates you get with Caxton definitely make up for this small fee. I didn't have to worry the entire year about getting charged, only if I went to an ATM where the bank charged me for withdrawing cash (which only happened once, though Caxton never charged me). 

I felt so much safer carrying this card with me, which works like a regular bank card, PIN and all, knowing I didn't ever have to carry any cash, and that my purse wasn't loaded up with several different currencies. I've found the card so helpful that I still use it today. Instead of exchaning money at Marks & Spencer's like I'd usually do before going on holiday, I just put some euros onto my Caxton card. That way, even if I do have money left over, I don't have to worry about coins I can't exchange back, cause I never even had any cash on me. I can just do it all electronically.

The photo below (obviously not someone's actual card), is what the card you'll get will look like. It's simple but does the job.

Source

To summarise, I couldn't live without this card anymore. It has honestly been my global banking saviour.

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