David Lock

Heard a report today that Brits are being ripped off when they pay in Sterling for stuff overseas. Much better to pay in local currency.

My lad off to Rio this week but only has a Euro card. Do you think the same would apply?

David

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Google will tell you which are the bad ones to use. I use a Post office credit card when I'm abroad as it gives you the best rate going and there is no sneaky charges or commission.

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Get a Monzo card. Zero charges.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I doubt that very much... the rate will be p!55 poor... they have to make money some how.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Cheapest way I've found is either large cash transfer at a bank where you have a flat rate charge, usually around £30 or using a cash point with your debit card usually around £3 per transaction so just take £250 a time or whatever your limit is... just check what rate you're getting at each bank.. which it will show you on the screen and give you an option to accept.

But to be honest they screw you no matter what, you never get the actual value of the pound and the really best way is to shop around at the local banks... NEVER get money from the airport, they're real rob dogs, and CREDIT cards have bigger charges on cash withdrawals and use in general so again I use a debit card and have a specific account just for that, which always has limited funds in it to protect against fraud.

BlkKnight

By far the best card to use on non-uk transactions is:

http://www.creation.co.uk/credit-cards/

SWRTWannabe

Simple way of telling how good a deal you are getting on a foreign exchange is to look at the difference between the buy and sell rates. The smaller, the better. In airports, the difference is massive.

Edited to add that you do of course have to consider any commission on top of the rate.

urban

iTrader: (1)

https://revolut.com/
You should investigate this. Slightly better rates, zero transaction fees.
OK its not a credit card in that you can't run up a balance.

Personally I have a post office credit card for use abroad as already mentioned, there are no transaction fees.
I got the post office card as it was quicker to get it, and in typical fashion I left things to the last minute, and the objective was simply zero fees.

I looked at the revolut card, and if you're doing a lot of foreign exchange, then its probably better

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Zero charges. The company is losing money. They plan to make profit next year when they introduce UK debit accounts etc.

Maybe you guys should check it out? I've got one.

https://monzo.com

Contactless prepaid Mastercard®
Real-time spending notifications
Zero fees, even abroad
Free, instant transfers to other Monzo users
24/7 world-class support
Clear, intelligent budgeting
Insightful and caring community
An amazing API to build with

coupe_20vt

iTrader: (2)

I'm just back from a week in New York and I used a Monzo card the whole time I was there.

I'd recommend it to anyone traveling abroad.

albob

Check out the Halifax Clarity card

"...no fees on spending or withdrawing cash abroad..."

David Lock

James is flying tomorrow so no time to change cards.

I just wanted to know if he would be better off paying in local currency and is paying in euros a bad idea.

http://www.express.co.uk/travel/arti...e-martin-lewis

dl

David Lock

OK - so back to basics.

So you need to settle a hotel bills for 1000 pesos. You hand over your debit card which is linked to a euro account. What happens then? Who decides what?

dl

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Looks good but it's still a credit card so you're charged Mastercards cash withdrawals interest rate as well as their exchange rate, so you need to be on the ball paying your bill or that cheap cash at the ATM can become quite expensive, and that's if it's actually cheap in the first place.

Good for those who like to use cards but again a lot of places add up to 3% on credit card transactions as do many many ATM's, so you could be thinking your getting a good deal but your not really.

Out here ATM's charge as much as 10% as well as screwing you on the rate, I doubt it's only Croatia that does it as these are German and Austrian banks.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Definitely pay in the local currency

Also see this for your other question
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynami...ncy_conversion

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

It's not a credit card. It's a top-up card. Top it up with your money and go and spend it abroad as you would with any normal debit card here in the UK. If you get low on funds, transfer more over immediately via the app.

Shockin

Ive used the Revolut card now for the last 2 years when I go abroad, the rates are excellent, the phone app is great and allows you to do instant transfers and exchange currencies between cards and accounts.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I think if its a bad card it will give you a worse rate then they will charge about 4% comission and there is a flat £5 transaction fee charge. If you make lots of little payments it will cost a fortune but if you make the odd large transaction it wont be so bad.

I was in the USA and I wanted to use my post office credit card but they had started to introduce chip and pin and I disnt know the number so I used my debit card as the stuff i was buying was too much of a bargain. I spent £330 and the charges were only £23

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

It says in there guff that it's mastercard, I didn't see anything about it being a debit card, so are you sure this is the same as a debit card and not subject to credit card type charges.

hedgecutter

iTrader: (5)

I have a Nationwide flexplus; it costs £ 10 per month, about to go up to 13. For that I get free cash withdrawals world wide at atms, UK and Europe breakdown, free European travel insurance, phone cover for family worldwide and something like 3% interest up to 2.5K. It used to cover all white goods for 2 years, backdated 2 years, but that is finished. Travel insurance and breakdown would cost me £400/500 alone a year, so a good deal

AS Performance

iTrader: (4)

same thing we always use for non Sterling transactions, loan rates dont bother me as its always cleared in full every month...........

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

Another vote here for Revolut.
I've been using it since it first came out. All my friends and relatives have it, because after seeing mine, they had to have one too.
What I find best, is the live inter-bank exchange rate. You simply cannot get a better rate than that.
I load up in £'s and convert to €'s when the exchange rate is good.
You can hold currency in pounds, dollars or euro's, and you can use it in any country that accepts Mastercard, at the current interbank rate.

PaulC72

I use my nationwide credit card when abroad and it allows me to buy in either sterling or local currency I get a great Euro rate as they are not stingy like when trying to transfer and no charges have ever been applied to my card - in fact I cannot understand why they let me keep it as they never make any money from me apart from the minor rate difference which on a few hundred quid isn't worth anything really.

BMWhere?

You probably find the report is to do with the choice of currency to pay with when you pay with a card in a shop.

For a few years now, many shops will give you an option to pay in the local currency or your home currency, the default option often being your home currency.

The exchange rate for this is set by the bank of the shop that the terminal is connected to. They can book directly from your card in pounds as if the transaction was in the UK, so you won't incur any foreign currency charges that may be applicable on your card.

The downside though, is they set quite a bad exchange rate to cover the risk of any exchange rate fluctuations over the time the transaction is cleared between the two banks.

If you pay in local currency, you're own bank is not worried about exchange rate fluctuations, so they will give you the best possible rate at the time the payment is cleared between the two banks which will is most cases be less than the rate the foreign bank was offering, so from a purely exchange rate point of view, it will nearly always be cheaper to pay in the local currency and let your bank set the exchange rate.

Saying that, it also depends a certain amount on other charges that your card provider may apply. For example, they may apply a % charge on all foreign currency transactions which may actually cost you more than the poor exchange rate offered if you pay in your home currency, so always check the small print about what charges are applicable when using your card abroad.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Which is why I have a debit card and withdraw £250 cash @ my banks exchange rate and take the £3.00 per transaction hit... living in a foreign country I've found this is the cheapest way to get money without going through 3rd parties... which I'm not comfortable doing, and no worries about interest being applied on uncleared balance.

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tra...e-wifi-2653592

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Reading that though... yet again it's another one full of sneaky little fees, load fees and 5.75% if you don't have enough on your card at some point £2 a month inactivity fee... I just can't be doing with having to constantly be "on It" so as to avoid getting shafted somewhere along the line.

But each to their own.

dpb

Depends where you go but where we been in Africa they quite happy take your pound notes , which we took with us .
Getting local currency total lottery , bank turned out to be same as venders on the street , just you had wait and fill in forms !


Best reason for place we went most frequently - Air conditioning ( Zambia )


Have used credit card in hotel SA , and got scammed later down the line . Thankfully , I guess , mastercard doesn't work through most southern Africa

urban

iTrader: (1)

That's ****.
If you want a card that doesn't charge foreign currency fees then the post office credit card is perfect, and there are no hidden inactivity fees.

If you're happy to have a prepaid credit card with zero fees, the you've got several options already posted

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

I'll get my coat