Accessing your money in Malaysia & S/E asia

[Mat the Splat]

OK so here is another question for the cognoscenti
I'm off to Malaysia next month to buy a Honda Cub and ride it back home.
Would be nice to have easy/cheap access to my money whilst on my travels. Most cards seem to charge quite a lot to access a sterling account whilst away from the UK.

What's the answer ??

[DeeG]

Not sure if it would work for you, but....

I opened up a separate account and got a credit/ATM card for it. As the need arose, I went online to my banks website and transferred funds from my main banking account into my 'travel' account. I could withdraw cash at an ATM machine or use it as a credit card to purchase fuel, food,etc.

That way, if the account was somehow compromised, I would only lose a small amount of money, and my main account would not be affected.

There was a small fee, but it wasn't too steep. I did bring $2000US in cash, but I kept that in reserve, just in case something happened and I needed a bit of cash in a hurry. (Exchange rates in Thailand were quite favorable and in Cambodia, there was no need, as the US $ was the accepted currency.)

[r3pl4y]

You might want to consider the Revolut app: revolut.com

I'm using it since about a year already and I'm quite happy with it. It allows you to charge it with GBP and then withdraw for free in the local currency (except ATM fee by the bank and conversion rate).
The conversion rate to the local currency is usually not bad.