Caxton Travel Money Card Review - Benefits, Features, and Our Experience

Managing travel money effectively is crucial for ensuring a smooth and hassle-free trip. When we travel abroad, we always aim to plan and budget our expenses in advance to avoid overspending. We also usually carry a mix of cash, cards and travel money cards to ensure we have multiple payment options on hand. Although with the advent of travel money cards, the amount of cash we now carry has reduced.

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Travel money cards are special prepaid cards designed for people who are traveling abroad. You put a certain amount of money onto the card before you travel. You can load money in different currencies, depending on where you’re going. And then you can use the card to pay for things just like a credit or debit card but usually with better exchange rates and lower or no transaction fees.

On our recent holiday to Rome, we put the Caxton Travel Money Card to test.

Caxton offers 2 types of travel money cards - a Black Card (that is free with competitive FX rates) and a Red Card (£8 monthly fee for leading exchange rates and no FX mark-ups). We trialled the Black Card.

Applying for the Caxton Travel Money Card

The process for applying for the travel money card was pretty straightforward. I filled in a form online at www.caxton.io The form asked for basic information about the primary card holder (in this case, me) and I had to set the password for the account. I then received an email to verify my identity, which I did by sharing proofs of identity and address. Upon submission of these details, the application was complete and successful. I could then log in to my Caxton account.

The card is only dispatched once you have made your first load - a minimum of £10. Once this was done, I got my card in a couple of days by post and I then activated it online. The card was then topped up and ready to use.

How did we use the Caxton Travel Money Card?

We used the Caxton Travel Money Card as our main travel money card while in Rome. We used it at cafes and gelaterias, at local supermarkets, to pay for public transportation and even in the duty-free section at the Rome Airport. All of this without any transaction fees and great exchange rates.

You can use the Caxton currency card in over 50 million merchant locations globally (you can use it anywhere you see the Mastercard logo).

Benefits of the Caxton Travel Money Card

What are the advantages of using the Caxton Travel Money Card? I hear you ask. Well, there are many advantages.

The first and foremost is security. The Caxton Travel Money Card is preloaded with money and not directly linked to your bank account. So, in the unfortunate scenario of losing or misplacing your card, the maximum that you would lose is what's loaded onto the card. Of course, if you realise that your card is stolen or misplaced, you can login to your account and block the card. You can even call the customer service team (who, by the way, are excellent) and inform them to do the needful.

The next advantage of the card is that it offers fee-free spending - no transaction fees and no overseas ATM fees (nothing from Caxton's end, though some ATM providers may have their own fee structure). So, due diligence is advised when using the card to withdraw cash from ATMs abroad.

At present, the card can be topped up with up to 15 different currencies including British Pound Sterling, Euro, US Dollar, Norwegian Krone, Japanese Yen, Hungarian Forint, Swiss Franc and the Hong Kong Dollar.

I also liked the fact that we could manage our account 24/7 online or via the app, be it for checking transactions or account balance or anything else. Also, on the occasions that I have had to contact the Customer Services team, it has always been a friendly and pleasant experience.

Overall, based on our experience I can say that we enjoyed using the Caxton Travel Money Card during our Rome holiday. It provided us with peace of mind and convenience during our travels. We loved the extra security of not having it linked to our bank account and the ease of managing the funds through the website/app. Being able to use the card almost anywhere without worrying about extra fees made our trip even more enjoyable.

This review was based on our experience with ordering the Caxton Travel Money Card and using it in Rome. To learn more about the Caxton Travel Money Card or to order one, visit www.caxton.io

Note:

- Caxton currency cards are valid for 3 years. You can opt to renew your card closer to the expiration date.
- Always pay in the local currency (even if you’ve loaded GBP on your card). You get a better exchange rate this way.
- Don’t use the Caxton Card for security deposits (at hotels, car hire etc.) as this can lead to funds being held in reserve for up to 20 days. 

Caxton recently surveyed 625 frequent flyers who revealed their top tech eseentials. The survey showed the most popular tech gadgets beyond mobile phones are portable charges (70%), tablet and e-readers (55%), noise-cancelling headphones (35%), Smartwatches (30%), digital cameras (25%), and travel-friendly power strips (9%). To ensure connectivity some also take their MiFis abroad.

Frequent Flyers Recommended Travel Apps included:

• Route planners: Komoot, Google maps and Waze.
• Guides: Tripadvisor, GetYourGuide, Viator and Polarsteps.
• Language aides: Google translates up to 133 languages.
• Getting around: Ouigo, Italo, Trainline, Citymapper, Rome2Rio and Uber.
• Currency: Caxton currency card app to help manage your travel money and international payments.
• Special Diet Eateries: Zabiha (halal) and Happy Cow (vegetarian).
• Other useful apps: Living Earth (weather), Flightradar24 and Gatwick airport parking app.