UK info wanted

[Robby nz]

Hi All

The lady now has her visitor visa for the UK and the tickets are booked and paid for so it is all on.

Right now I have 2 questions someone could possibly help me with.

First : the lady will no doubt be wanting to call home in TL so what is the best way to do this from a mobile throughout Scotland and England. IE what card or whatever to get and if possible an indication of how much?

Second : I will change some Baht into pounds for immediate use but will be wanting to use a NZ debit card to access cash while there. I envisage getting a lump sum at a bank rather than putting the card through a machine for each purchase with a view to having to pay only one set of transfer charges.

The Question is : can anyone tell me what limit there would be for withdrawing pounds from a bank or ATM in the UK using my NZ card.

I will probably think of other questions as the time gets closer.

Thanks in advance.

[MaprangHolmes]

You can get a calling card to call back to Thailand the cost of most of them start at £5 and normally go up in 5's so £10, £15 and so on. The problem you will have is the most of the calling cards use a free phone 0800 number which most mobile operator here charge for I believe GiffGaff offer 0800 numbers for free or you could use a public phone box.

You can withdraw £300 per day from most ATM's (some banks and cards do allow £500) or if you go into the bank you can withdraw higher amounts but you will have to check with the bank as most have a daily limit if you do not give them notice Halifax was £1,200 per day or you could take out £300 from the machine and then pop into the bank and take out another £1,200 making £1,500

Hope it is of some help

[theoldgit]

This is a good tool for looking for the phone deals http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/thailand-mobile/mobile/all

Not sure on the ATM limits, I think they vary from bank to bank and are in the region of £300 - £500, but I believe some card issuers set their own limits, they certainly need to be advised.

[MrZM]

You can buy international phone cards from most newsagents. They are usually only £5 credit which is 500 minutes and are free to use from landlines. There will be an added cost for mobile.

You can purchase a Skype package which I think is £7/£8 a month with unlimited minutes.

As for withdrawing money an ATM you can can withdraw up to £300. You can't withdraw money from a bank as far as I know, but you can from exchange shops. You also may have difficulty if you don't have a chip and pin debit card.

Your best off if its possible buying travellers cheques here and then changing them in the UK.

[7by7]

Not sure on the ATM limits, I think they vary from bank to bank and are in the region of £300 - £500, but I believe some card issuers set their own limits, they certainly need to be advised.

Indeed, sudden, unexpected, large withdrawals from the UK will almost certainly arouse your NZ banks suspicions that your card has been stolen or cloned, in which case they'll cancel it.

Tell them what you will be doing.

There are lots of low cost access numbers you can use to call Thailand (I can't remember the one my wife uses, but I think it's 0.5p/min from a landline and a mobile; there may be a connection charge as well).

Just Google 'low cost calls UK to Thailand' and you'll get lots of options.

[Robby nz]

Thanks fellas that all helps.

My NZ bank knows what I will be doing as I have arranged a new card with my personal banker, the old one is due to expire so should be no problem there.

Robby

[Stanaris]

Hi Robby

My wife (Thai) highly recommends Skype. Only costs me £10.00 a quarter and she talks for at least 3 hours every day to friends and family in Thailand. Put the App on her phone and away she goes.

Best £10.00 a quarter I could ever spend.

[Jay Sata]

I hope you are coming soon Robby while the weather is good here and it's the middle of winter in NZ.

I'm not a great fan of Auckland at this time of the year.

[Robby nz]

Hi Jay

We will be there in September to miss the school holidays, hope the weather hangs in there, still the MRs has never seen snow.

We are in Thailand, have lived here for 7 years now, I have bank accounts in NZ which I will be using.

Temp in Auckland yesterday 10c, Thailand much warmer.

Robby

[Jay Sata]

I hope your missus doesn't see snow in September here. I think it's not a bad time here as it's not too hot or cold.

She should go to the south island (NZ)this time of the year for the snow.

The good thing about coming to the UK from Thailand is you are halfway here already. NZ is a real trek over a couple of days hard

flying from the UK.

Are you from Auckland? I prefer Khon Kaen!

[Robby nz]

No Jay

Not from Auckland, a place to be avoided, from the East Coast

We plan on traveling Scotland and the little bit to the south what's it called, England of something I think, for a month.

Yes I am from Scotland.

Hope the weather does hang in there for us, not too much rain, I see the temps are around 20 at the moment.