Cash in the Miles Game

I wrote about the pros & cons of using credit cards vs cash to help you decide which is right for you.

There are situations where you will be left with no choice but to use cash instead of your credit card. These are:

1. Merchant does not accept credit cards

2. Merchant’s payment terminal does not work

3. Merchant impose additional fees for credit card payments

This will not be a problem if you are in Singapore as you can simply make a rare trip to the cash machine.

Here are the options to having cash in hand while overseas:

1. Exchange a small amount of cash at a money changer in Singapore or overseas

2. Withdraw cash from at ATM overseas using a Singapore-issued ATM card

3. Use prepaid debit cards like Revolut, TransferWise or YouTrip to make ATM cash withdrawals overseas

Option 1 is inconvenient. The whole point of going cashless is to skip money changers and not waste time ‘surveying’ for the best rates. Option 2 can be expensive as most Singaporean banks charge an additional fee for withdrawal from an ATM overseas. Which is why I use option 3. Revolut, to be exact.

With the free standard price plan, Revolut allows me to withdraw up to S$350 a month from overseas ATMs without any fees. A reasonable 2% fee applies after that. S$350 is usually enough petty cash for me while overseas. To be extra safe, I do my overseas withdrawals from ATMs that are located in my hotel or within a bank branch. Topping up my Revolut account is free, even with a credit card. And I can just withdraw any remaining amount to my bank after my vacation. Does not get any more convenient than that! Sign up for a Revolut card for free and and get a $10 bonus for a limited time.

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