Being charged for foreign currency when abroad.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges

If you use a credit card to withdraw money abroad, you will get stung, just as you would if you did so at home.

But, using a debit card doesn’t seem to cost that much. I quite like being able to put my UK debit card into a cash machine abroad (I once did so in a Wells Fargo machine in San Francisco). It is convenient and incurs a small fee, which I think is more than reasonable.

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try my debit card.

If you use a credit card to withdraw money abroad, you will get stung, just as you would if you did so at home.

But, using a debit card doesn’t seem to cost that much. I quite like being able to put my UK debit card into a cash machine abroad (I once did so in a Wells Fargo machine in San Francisco). It is convenient and incurs a small fee, which I think is more than reasonable.

Halifax offer a credit card which doesnt charge a fee if used abroad.. i applied for one purely for my hols last year..

There are two cost elements to a foreign exchange transaction, the commission charged by the company (Bank / Credit Card / Etc) and the spread, the difference between the bid and offer prices for the currency.

The bank or credit card company are providing a service, they are entitled to charge for it. If they charge too much, just go somewhere else.

The issue is always the time that needs to be spent researching.

As a tip, a Post Office Credit Card provides travel money commission free, but they still charge it as a cash withdrawal, and it is always possible that their spread is bigger than another supplier who is charging commission, thus making their overall cost higher for commission free, than the commission charged source.

The Euro has been a great boon. I always now keep a fairly large float in Euro, never changing it back again at the end of a trip.

Today I ended up with a pocket full of Zloty

Moggy

The sorts of services for which you can pay in “plastic”!!;)

Hmm, Chas, exactly what “Services” are you referring to? :D. Like as in, Amsterdam?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7.

I thought that practice had now been stopped, but perhaps not. I have a Cash Passport and just top it up whenever I need to and use it like a credit card – either to draw cash or pay for services.