I generally indulge in meticulous planning when it comes to my international trips. Whether it is the itinerary, packing the right clothing, travel insurance, visa processing, or considering the currency exchange before the trip, I don’t leave any space for surprises in a foreign land. When it comes to currency exchange, people do tend to ignore it and keep it at the end of their to-do list. Most of them end up exchanging currency at the airport with a high conversation rate, just before boarding their flights.
It was during my research on how to carry local currency just before my maiden trip to Thailand a few years back, I came to know about Forex cards and their benefits. And since then, there is no looking back. The importance of carrying plastic money is something that the season travelers have acquired for a long time.
Gone are the days when your wallet used to be loaded with various currencies while boarding your flights. Traveling light does not only imply baggage management, rather one needs to be smart enough to know how to manage the local currency, the conversation rates, and avoiding heavy charges on each transaction through international debit or credit cards. I heavily rely on Forex cards that serve my purpose to travel hassle-free and make my journey to a new land tension-free as well.
The Forex cards are basically pre-loaded travel cards issued by the Banks or Forex merchants. The best part of carrying a Forex card is that it enables you to carry Multi-currencies on the same card. If you are planning to visit two different countries, the Forex card makes your life easy by allowing you to transact with multi-currency in various destinations. It simply makes your life so easy that it hardly matters which destination you are flying next with the card in hand.
What I love about the Forex Card is that it has this great feature which enables it to automatically detect the country you are in and pay using the pre-loaded local currency of that country. Also, in case you are in the need of withdrawing money from the ATMs abroad, it may be just a flat ATM withdrawal fee per ATM usage. But it definitely solves your cash crunch on foreign soil.
Not just that, even if you lose the card in any circumstances, you can easily get a replacement card with the unused funds transferred over for free or for a nominal fee. Unlike your credit cards, the Forex cards really help me to determine my budget of spending beforehand which actually saves me from excessive compulsive shopping abroad. It’s really a boon for people like me who never care when it comes to shopping. So, find out my honest forex.com review as to why using a Forex card is a superlative option.
It’s accepted all across the Globe:
The Prepaid Forex cards are widely accepted in all countries. One can use this card for all types of transactions in Luxury Resorts, Upscale Bar and Restaurants, Departmental Stores, or Shopping Malls. Easy to carry and use, which saves everyone the hassle of carrying loads of cash.
Cash not required
With the Prepaid Forex card, one can go cashless, thereby making your travel hassle-free. Imagine a situation wherein you are running out of cash in the middle of a trip; enough to give you a panic attack, right? This situation can be avoided if you carry a travel card.
Safe and Secure
It is always safe to carry a travel card rather than cash when you are on a holiday in a foreign land. The Card comes with embedded chip technology rather than magnetic strip technology, which makes it more secure. Just like the Debit cards, they also need a pin to spend cash using them, boosting their safety factor. In case your Forex card is stolen or lost, you can contact the bank and block the card. Also, the money is transferred to your new replacement card.
Multi-currency convenience
These cards are extremely convenient and handy for trips abroad. The advantage of a travel card is that one can load multiple currencies into one card to have a smooth transaction experience in different countries. These cards are universally accepted and can be used in ATMs or for online transactions abroad.
Enormous Saving
You can save quite a lot in terms of the exchange rate and the flexibility to use the card at any given time at the best available rate during your holiday. There are no extra conversion fees, surcharges, or convenience fees, in comparison to your credit or debit cards. The exchange rate offered is the best and you can manage your money better through Forex Cards as they provide the facility of online access to track one’s spending through Net Banking. Once your abroad trip is over, you can easily encash the remaining foreign currency, thereby ensuring that the balance amount does not go waste.
Combining the convenience of a credit and debit card
Another significant feature of Forex card is that you can enjoy the benefits of both debit and credit cards in one travel card, albeit with a fixed limit for spending. You get a pin for your travel card, which one can use to withdraw money in times of emergency. The best part of the Forex card is that it is not connected to your bank account. This way it sets a limit on your spending and you are saved from compulsive spending.
Shop at Duty-Free stores in Airports
Once you are back to India after your trip abroad, there may be some remaining foreign currency in your Forex Card. You can encash this or use it to buy items from Duty-Free Store at the Airport since they only take payments in foreign currency.
Though there are various banks that issue Prepaid Forex cards, my preferred one is the Axis Bank Forex Card. It has some amazing features which make it my perfect travel companion. Whether it is waiving off the transactions fee, 24-hour access to funds, complimentary insurance cover, en-cashing unutilized balance, getting SMS alert, availing special offers, or duty-free shopping across all international airports in India, the Axis Bank Forex Card is loaded with benefits for frequent travelers. The card is available on the VISA platform, comes with exclusive dining privileges, and also has the added benefit of TripAssist which is emergency assistance in case of loss/theft of your card. There are two options available in Axis Bank Forex Cards like Contactless Forex Card which is Powered by Visa’s payWave technology, the Forex Card will allow you to pay by simply ‘waving’ your card. With a secure, contactless CHIP technology, you will spend less time at the cash counter, thereby giving you the freedom to explore the destination to the fullest. Another one is the Image Forex Card which allows you to design your own Forex Card with a personalized image of your choice. With 11 powerful currencies in one card, this globally accepted Forex card not just makes your travel hassle-free, but provides you facilities with smooth cashless transactions across the globe.
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Do you use Forex Cards for your trips?
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Yes it offers multiple benefits if you have forex card.
Amazing Article And Your Information About forex card It’s Very Amzing And So Much Helpful For Me. Keep It Up And Thank You Very Much.:)
This is really very Informative and worth reading. I personally found BookMyForex.com forex card very reliable in terms of service and as well as in cost factor. They charge the very nominal fee 2.5 -3.5% as compared to other providers.
This is just helpfu blog for carrying forex and giving insight on features of card.Thanks for sharing it
Wow nice blog… Forex Cards are unbeatable when it comes to convenience.
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wow these are really awesome really like your post you just made 1 more follower to your site
I used Thomas Cook Forex Card once. Its pretty neat. The only thing is, when going on a relatively longer trip, these cannot be used for online transactions. During short trips we won’t need online transactions, but if its a month long, I might need one. I got frustrated when it didn’t support and ended up using my regular credit or debit card.
I had actually never heard of this card before, but now I want to look into it. It’s so nice not to have to worry about money abroad. Thanks for the introduction!
I have never heard of Forex cards! These look like they provide so many important options for travel and are so convenient. I have some trips coming up and will have to look into them.
very Interesting blog i prefer to use this forex card on my international trip. it shows how travelers shows problems during traveling you can also visit my blog https://bookmytickets.tumblr.com/
Interesting. We have been using a caxton card for the last few years for all of our trips, which is also a preloaded currency card so is the same principal. We have however recently had a few problems with it where it duplicated a few of our transactions. We are now in a long dispute with them over the fact that we lost $400!! So we are looking for a new one for our next trips… maybe we will consider forex. Is Forex visa?
This is interesting. Did not realize the advantage of using one. We will definitely consider this and use them on our next international trips. Thank you for sharing.
Great! I have never heard of Forex card before. I can see why it is a convenient way to travel. Getting foreign currency has always been a headache for us. Thanks for the recommendation.
Forex Cards are unbeatable when it comes to convenience. These are so handy when you are visiting multiple countries and need to transact in multiple currencies. That the card can be pre-loaded with multiple currencies and also has an auto-detect feature which enables you to transact in the appropriate currency is also great.
I can’t believe that I had no idea that there is such a thing as Forex card. It’s very convenient! I wonder if a lot of travelers are using this already. I will look into this for our next international trip. Thank you so much!
Interestingly I did enquire about Travel Forex cards before my trip and I found them a little expensive. The Axis Bank one charges a 3.5% transaction fee for every swipe made which is the same as a credit card. Maybe I should check with them again as you say that there are no transaction fees on them. Thanks for the alert