Travelling requires careful planning. To make sure you can enjoy your holiday to the full, you need to give plenty of thought to your preparations before setting off. The same is true of your finances. To prevent your excitement about visiting a new city or beach from turning to financial frustration, we have put together a few tips on how you can save money while on the road – and give yourself some extra funds for living the high life while you’re there.
1. Your financial situation is like a good playlist – the more thought you put into it, the more fun you get out of it
If you are sitting on the plane or train and suddenly realise that you haven’t prepared for your trip, then it’s already too late to do much about it. After all, if you arrive in your dream destination and discover that there is no WiFi or 4G and you have no access to your online banking, then all you will have to fall back on are the remaining funds (hopefully) available on your account. Even if you can connect straight away, it takes at least a day to complete any bank transfers. That’s why it’s so important to prepare your finances before you set off on a trip, just like packing a bag or compiling a playlist for the journey. If you want to enjoy a delicious cappuccino when you arrive at your holiday paradise, you can simply pull out your Yuh Card and you’re good to go. That’s because, while you were still at home, you: a) moved enough money into your Yuh account, and b) made sure it was available in the right currency, thus avoiding exchange fees.
Tip for travel pros: If you want to enjoy a welcome drink in a country that doesn’t have the most stable financial system, it’s always worth taking a bit of cash in EUR or USD with you. For example, when travelling in a faraway land you have to pay visa fees in cash and in dollars, restaurants and shops in Buenos Aires only accept dollars rather than pesos due to the unstable economic situation and in Indonesia the ATM machines are empty.
2. Leave your Swiss francs in Switzerland
Generally speaking, it’s always better to pay in the local currency. This question will come up time and time again among your friends, and now you know how to answer it. If you’re drinking a cappuccino in Rome, you’re better off paying in euros. The same applies if you’re shopping and need to choose between CHF and EUR at the checkout – always select EUR! This is because the local business or restaurant will use a local bank to process the transfer of funds. These banks often charge high fees, particularly for foreign currencies and tourists like you.
3. Leave cash in the ATM
As already mentioned, your best bet is to take some cash in the local currency with you on your trip. You can use your card almost everywhere to pay for the rest. This is generally safer too, as it means nobody can trick you by not giving you enough change, you don’t have to look for a working ATM for hours on end or, worse still, face the horror of having your card swallowed by the ATM once you find it. Anyway, your card looks much cooler and could help you to leave a lasting impression…
4. A new PIN in no time
If the welcome drinks are so good that they make you forget your PIN, it’s quick and easy to change it. You can do this directly in the app without having to contact us or remember your old PIN. All you need is your Yuh Key, and access to an ATM to confirm your new PIN. In most cases, you can also pay by chip and PIN at a terminal and confirm your PIN that way.
5. Only trust your own exchange rate?
No problem. If you think the exchange rate will improve and make your cappuccino cheaper, simply go to Pay > Exchange and tap on “Target exchange”. Set the rate you want and set the validity period for some point in the future.
6. Shop and win with Swissqoins
We doubt you do, but if you need another reason to use your card, then how about this: we give you two Swissqoins for every card transaction you make, whether you’re at home or abroad. You can keep these or convert them to money at any time if you want to embark on a pre-holiday shopping spree…