Agree we're going a little OT, but given the financial aspect to the thread am sure there is at least some interest here

No, the PO MasterCard is a credit card, therefore if you use it for cash withdrawls you incur fees & interest. On the upside you don't need to pre-load it for purchases though, and get interest-free credit on it assuming you pay your credit card bill in full every month. For ATMs I use a Metro Bank card (only availble from their branches in London, but open to any UK resident they can run a credit check on - only takes around 30min). They charge 0% for both ATM withdrawls and purchases - as its a debit card there are no interest fees. For both of them their rates are pretty much the MasterCard rate on that day.

Really good info on decent cards for forex transactions here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/tra...p-travel-money - needless to say at 3% Amex are pretty rubbish!