I assume that this is what you are on about.

http://www.cashpassport.com/thomascook/index.html

Browsing it there does seem to be plenty of information - I personally cannot see any advantage to your ordinary debit cash card. You still need to use an ATM but are putting money into another account to draw it out. Now cynic that I am I can see Thos Cook having lots of cash sitting there earning interest for them.

fwh

fwh, thanks for quick reply and with all the info. too. Will read this through before making a decision.

The FairFX card is recommended as the cheapest pre-pay currency card to use, with good exchange rates, no fee for purchase transactions, and just a 1.5€ fee for ATM withdrawals. There is a £9.95 card issue fee, but this is waived if your initial load is over £500, or if you click through the link from Martin Lewis' site

I'll second the Fairfx recommendation!

Got one last year and I won't ever take travellers cheques again. As CSK said, €1.50 cash withdrawal fee, no purchase fee, no annual fee, brilliant exchange rate (1.1075 today compared to 1.0680 at Thomas cook)
I explained in another post about how I load it up with multiples of €301.50 and draw €300 every few days from a cash machine (€300 + the €1.50 fee is taken off the card, hence multiples of €301.50!!) and if you run low whilist away you can just logon to your Fairfx account and purchase more € online, it takes a few hours to process but better than using a £ card in the cash machine

when i got mine,last year,i went through the matalan web site & it was free.not sure if that's still the case though!
tracy

Little Late I know...but for those of you interested - I'd forget the cash card - go and open a nationwide account and use their card - no charges for atm withdrawals etc as they cover the visa charges

PandaFi x

i thought nationwide,were starting to charge,for withdrawals?

Nationwide are not charging on their debit card if you use it in europe. Nels

Here is a link which tells you in which countries you can withdraw cash from ATM's free of any charges using a Nationwide debit card - and also of course those where you will be charged.

http://nationwide.co.uk/current_account/foreigntransactions.htm
However, you do get charged for withdrawing cash with a Nationwide Gold credit card - as I kept telling my husband ..... but do they ever listen?!