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Which Forex card is good

CVR

TF Ace
VIP Lounge
I am planning to travel to Europe and had same question on how to manage the forex..
For most spends i will swipe magnus or dcb as reward rate is more than forex mark up but for cash i was wondering what to do.. was wondering should i open indusind exclusive account for 0% markup debit card.. but want to avoid hassle of opening new bank account if possible..

1) any axis debit card with low forex? I currently have burgundy debit card
2) i am travelling to europe to countries which don’t have euro as currency (swiss, norway etc) so do the forex cards don’t have any markup for this or are they loaded in euro so again i will have forex markup for euro to Norwegian kroner conversion?
 

bigbrain

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
I am planning to travel to Europe and had same question on how to manage the forex..
For most spends i will swipe magnus or dcb as reward rate is more than forex mark up but for cash i was wondering what to do.. was wondering should i open indusind exclusive account for 0% markup debit card.. but want to avoid hassle of opening new bank account if possible..

1) any axis debit card with low forex? I currently have burgundy debit card
2) i am travelling to europe to countries which don’t have euro as currency (swiss, norway etc) so do the forex cards don’t have any markup for this or are they loaded in euro so again i will have forex markup for euro to Norwegian kroner conversion?
I had used HDFC multicurrency card when I travelled to Norway about 7 years back. I was able to load directly in Norwegian Krone. So no markup fees. All places accepted card except for one locker fees in one railway station in Bodo or Trondheim. They accepted only coins and we had not carried coins.
 

CVR

TF Ace
VIP Lounge
I had used HDFC multicurrency card when I travelled to Norway about 7 years back. I was able to load directly in Norwegian Krone. So no markup fees. All places accepted card except for one locker fees in one railway station in Bodo or Trondheim. They accepted only coins and we had not carried coins.
no markup fees or any fees for both loading and withdrawing? i need for cash withdrawal only.. for swiping i will use credit card only..

also i don’t have hdfc bank account, can i get this card?

actually, in axis muticurrency card i didn’t see option of norwegian kroner
 

bigbrain

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
no markup fees or any fees for both loading and withdrawing? i need for cash withdrawal only.. for swiping i will use credit card only..

also i don’t have hdfc bank account, can i get this card?

actually, in axis muticurrency card i didn’t see option of norwegian kroner
For loading and selling they charged same price as listed buy/sell price on their website.
I think you can go the bank and request for forex card without a bank account. However you can only load it at bank. You will need HDFC account if you want to load online later.
 

CVR

TF Ace
VIP Lounge
For loading and selling they charged same price as listed buy/sell price on their website.
I think you can go the bank and request for forex card without a bank account. However you can only load it at bank. You will need HDFC account if you want to load online later.
so u load in Inr today and based on your spends in different currencies on those respective dates the forex rate is charged or u freeze the rate today when u load and u need to decide today only how much each foreign currency (in case of multiple currencies) you want..
 

Cardmarvel

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
For loading and selling they charged same price as listed buy/sell price on their website.
I think you can go the bank and request for forex card without a bank account. However you can only load it at bank. You will need HDFC account if you want to load online later.

In my experience, there is always a markup fees while loading forex cards. That's how they make money. I've used ICICI, HDFC, ThomasCook cards and paid about 2% markup fees.
 

venkateshr

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
Is there any specific reason for a ForEx card?

If possible, my suggestion would be to go for a high-reward rate credit card like Axis Magnus or SC Ultimate.
For example, if you can spend over 1L in the month using the Magnus then you would end up getting a 6.2%. That would cover any ForEx charges applied and then some.
Can you clarify whats the reward for SC Ultimate for forex spends? Is it good? thanks.
 

bigbrain

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
so u load in Inr today and based on your spends in different currencies on those respective dates the forex rate is charged or u freeze the rate today when u load and u need to decide today only how much each foreign currency (in case of multiple currencies) you want..
You have to decide today and load that currency. If you have euros loaded and want to spend in franc or krone then you will be charged markup charges on the conversion. You can have multiple currencies loaded and you can lock or unlock each currency online.

They give you two cards. One main and other as a backup.
 

venkateshr

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
no markup fees or any fees for both loading and withdrawing? i need for cash withdrawal only.. for swiping i will use credit card only..

also i don’t have hdfc bank account, can i get this card?

actually, in axis muticurrency card i didn’t see option of norwegian kroner
Same query I have. If suppose I do use the FI card for loading lets say 50k now and then I use it for ATM outside in other country = other than the cross-currency rates prevailing on that day - what else would be the charges.

And also one more thing - if anyone has tried that - I recently opened a FI basic account - completed full KYC - can I upgrade to that higher tier (hav ing higher MAB requirements) having 0 Forex fees for 2-3 months and then come back to basic once my travel is done? Is it even allowed or do that or there is some minimum time one has to be there and maintain MAB there.
 

venkateshr

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
Use Bookmyforex for loading and unloading icici / yes bank multi currency card to avoid loading and unloading charges , plus they provide best available rates for conversion
how to get this Yes Bank multi-currency card. Does one need to visit branch to have this? And what are charges they have if loading / unloading is free? essentially bank has to make money in this somehow right? If its not usurious / unreasonable I'm more than happy to pay for this service.
 

anirban.choudhury

TF Legend
TF Family
Moderator
VIP Lounge
how to get this Yes Bank multi-currency card. Does one need to visit branch to have this? And what are charges they have if loading / unloading is free? essentially bank has to make money in this somehow right? If its not usurious / unreasonable I'm more than happy to pay for this service.
No need to visit branch , you can apply directly from bookmyforex

 

CVR

TF Ace
VIP Lounge
You have to decide today and load that currency. If you have euros loaded and want to spend in franc or krone then you will be charged markup charges on the conversion. You can have multiple currencies loaded and you can lock or unlock each currency online.

They give you two cards. One main and other as a backup.
but i want to use this only as backup in case credit card is not accepted so can’t estimate now how much various currencies (of Scandinavian countries) i will need.. so maybe better for me to use zero mark up debit card in which money is in inr and direct conversion to country i am using instead of euro to that country.. and i don’t need to decide today how much currency i need..
any axis debit card with zero mark up? else opening indusind exclusive is the only option?
 

anirban.choudhury

TF Legend
TF Family
Moderator
VIP Lounge
but i want to use this only as backup in case credit card is not accepted so can’t estimate now how much various currencies (of Scandinavian countries) i will need.. so maybe better for me to use zero mark up debit card in which money is in inr and direct conversion to country i am using instead of euro to that country.. and i don’t need to decide today how much currency i need..
any axis debit card with zero mark up? else opening indusind exclusive is the only option?
In that case , rather than opening a exclusive account with high IP and High AQB requirement , open a online basic savings account with RBL and take the signature plus debit card at 5900, with 5000 vouchers
 

bigbrain

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
but i want to use this only as backup in case credit card is not accepted so can’t estimate now how much various currencies (of Scandinavian countries) i will need.. so maybe better for me to use zero mark up debit card in which money is in inr and direct conversion to country i am using instead of euro to that country.. and i don’t need to decide today how much currency i need..
any axis debit card with zero mark up? else opening indusind exclusive is the only option?
You can explore cards on bookmyforex.com. You can also load currency online there.

I am not comfortable trusting the neo banks and their debit cards for non popular currencies forexs.

I don’t have axis bank account and I am not aware of their service. Just started using Magnus. Maybe ok to trust.
 
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CVR

TF Ace
VIP Lounge
You can explore cards on bookmyforex.com. You can also load currency online there.

I am not comfortable trusting the neo banks and their debit cards for non popular currencies forexs.

I don’t have axis bank account and I am not aware of their service. Just started using Magnus. Maybe ok to trust.
ya i am also comfortable with neo banks.. hence sticking to axis or indusind debit cards.. axis doesn’t seem to have zero markup card.. anyways most of my spends will be on cc..
 

Cardmarvel

TF Premier
VIP Lounge
ya i am also comfortable with neo banks.. hence sticking to axis or indusind debit cards.. axis doesn’t seem to have zero markup card.. anyways most of my spends will be on cc..

If you're going to use it as a backup card, not worth thinking too much about it. On a recent 2 weeks EU family trip, I simply withdrew 100 euros using my debit card and spent everything else on Magnus.. Except for street shopping, you should be able to use credit card pretty much everywhere.
 
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