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Using a Prepaid Credit Card in France

As you know we have recently been on a trip to France and dealing with exchange rates can be confusing at the best of times and I have heard many a scare story about people getting confused and spending a lot more than they thought they had.  This is where Kalixa Pay card came in to it's own.  It is a  prepaid MasterCard, which you upload money on to the card and then use it like s standard card. You can use it to pay for things both online and in shops with a pin number like any standard card and with the number on the back online.
kalixa pay 1

We uploaded our holiday budget on to the card before going (there is an initial £6.95 fee for the card), but no charges after that for topping up your card.  We chose to leave all bar one other card at home when we travelled as it felt saver not having everything with us.  I also made sure that we had cancellation details with us incase of anything nasty happening, but felt safer knowing that there was only a set amount on the card.
We used the card during our holiday to:
  1. Buy diesel at the fuel station
  2. Pay for some duty free at Eurotunnel
  3. For all tolls on the French motorways
  4. To buy food at the French Supermarket
  5. Pay for medicine at the French Pharmacy
  6. Pay for meals when eating out
Kalixa

We found using the card no different to a standard credit card, apart from the fact that we had to keep en eye out on the balance on the card, but that was easy to do online.    You can set up free SMS and email alerts when the card has been used so you really can keep track of everything.  As a mum I think that a card like this would be a perfect way to introduce teens to a card rather than using cash.

Post has previously appeared on The Mad House


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  1. ThreetimesaMummy6 September 2013 at 18:50

    I am so pleased that you wrote about these types of cards. We recently bought a Zafira (baby 3 on the way. We have become a one car family. Budgeting so I can stay at home). Part of the deal was £500 towards fuel. It came on a pre pay card so technically we could spend it as we liked. We have found it so useful having our fuel budget in one place that we are going to transfer our fuel money onto it each month as soon as my husband gets paid. A really useful tool for keeping us financially on track

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