A few months ago I signed up for the beta of Monzo.. The iOS app has been the focus up to now but my invite came through when the android app was launched and I signed up.
Monzo - It's time for a new kind of bank
They sent me out the garish flouro visa card and I cash load it (from another debit card). They are in process of gaining a UK bank license but until they do, thats the system of funding what is basically a prepaid visa card.
You can in app choose how to load your balance (I think you can direct debit a UK current account) and in app can freeze your card should you miss place it.
When you spend your outgoings are instantly in app notified, broken down into categories, daily monthly etc, spending patterns.. You have the GPS location of the billing.. Loads of nice touches like you would expect from a modern banking tool.. The REALLY good thing and why I am posting it here is there is no ATM fee worldwide and
you get the interbank Fx rate.. When I compare that to any other plastic I use, with an ATM charge, poor Fx rate, etc etc it actually makes a difference.
Thai banks do still apply the Thai bank ATM charge.. they cant defeat that.. But as the Fx rate is better than I get when I move larger lumps in via telegraphic transfer, to my Thai bank account, as long as you pull a decent amount each ATM hit, it even balances out on that. It seems so far to have many upsides and very few downsides (its contactless system has failed in a couple of places.. Possibly the fact your loading it and managing a second balance). For travel and cost saving it has to be one of the best options out there.
Only negative is a lack of points or rewards.. I have a lot of flights to do next year, and I see the british airways visa card has a free 25k avios, 3x avios for BA flights booked etc, that potentially adds up for me. UK people dont have anything like the chase sapphire preferred, which seems to offer HUGE amounts of freebies for the annual fee. Anyway, those are cards with annual fees for perks, this is the opposite a free card / system which offers the cheapest access to travelling cash.
Anyone UK resident with a lot of travel, or a lot of Fx expenditure.. Definately give it a look.