Banking for Africa
 

Hi everyone

I didn’t know where to put this question

Ive heard some good reports regarding Starling bank for ATM withdrawals in Africa. Has anyone had experience with them?

Thanks

You're in the UK? British retail banks seem to be universally terrible.

Option 1: N26 Bank. Fully online, based in Germany, small fees on ATM withdrawals around the world.

Option 2: Transferwise Borderless account. Probably the best currency exchange rates you will get from any retail bank. Works like a local bank in Germany/Eurozone, UK, USA and Australia.

Both of these will give you a debit Mastercard easily. Keep most of your money in a different bank and do online transfers to either of these to top them up on the road.

You will be able to use a VISA ATM in every large city and definitely Capital city.

Dollars always changed at the borders too. You won't be short of opportunity to change money at African Borders. They swarm on you. Negotiate a decent rate.

For debit cards Mastercard has always run a distant second to Visa in many areas of Africa. On the other hand, the only time I've ever actually needed a Mastercard (and Visa was useless) was somewhere in West Africa. I carry both, but Visa has been far more handy. I would not embark on a long journey carrying only a Mastercard-branded debit card.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

I am with Ted and Mark that Visa works best in Africa but take a Mastercard for backup, one of the prepaid ones such as Fairfx works fine if you don't already have one.
Dollars and a few Euros for emergencies.

Absolutely. Have options.

I think I had about 3x Visa, 2 x Mastercard.

I also carried $500 USD in Cash and $200 Euros in cash.