Is Nationwide still the cheapest way to spend abroad?

TheShadow_2 · 13 February 2006 at 5:44PM

I currently have a nationwide card which i have been using for transactions when on holiday i generally use the card in ATM machines is this the cheapest way to spend abroad or am i cheaper getting currency before i go?

The card i have is there current account which is free for withdrawals. But i am unsure if they are giving you the optimum exchange rate.

someone · 13 February 2006 at 6:33PM

from nationwides website

When you use your Cash Card; FlexAccount Debit Card or Nationwide Credit Card to withdraw cash or make purchases abroad, Nationwide will not charge you a currency conversion fee. Your purchases and cash withdrawals will be converted to sterling at a rate set by VISA. Card providers have the option of adding a percentage to that exchange rate. This is a currency conversion fee.

It is important that you always pay for your purchases abroad in the local currency and not sterling. This is because some shops may use higher exchange rates and charge commission to convert your purchases into sterling.

If you use your FlexAccount Cheque Guarantee Card to withdraw cash abroad, you will not be charged a currency conversion fee at CIRRUS machines. Unlike most financial organisations, Nationwide will not charge you for using your card abroad.*

* Nationwide will not charge members for using any cash machines, but the machine provider may make charges over which we have no control.

You get the same rate that visa charges all backs as they dont knock anything off, there use to be something on visas website that you could print out that showed there rates for today and a convertion table

pin · 13 February 2006 at 10:07PM

You are doing the right thing by getting the money from the ATM when abroad.

ioscorpio · 13 February 2006 at 10:18PM

http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_ex_rates.jsp

This is for the debit card which is a Visa card, the cash card is a Cirrus card

someone · 13 February 2006 at 11:50PM

iomexico wrote:

http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_ex_rates.jsp

This is for the debit card which is a Visa card, the cash card is a Cirrus card

thats the site on visa that i was thinking of

grumbler · 14 February 2006 at 1:27PM

TheShadow wrote:

I currently have a nationwide card which i have been using for transactions when on holiday i generally use the card in ATM machines is this the cheapest way to spend abroad ...?

Yes, but be careful: DCC and ATMs abroad: for the attention of Nationwide card users

benjus · 14 February 2006 at 5:13PM

My wife is using our Flexaccount from abroad at the moment, so I decided to check the withdrawal rates against the published rates. The currency she is using is not on the Visa site linked above, so I got some interbank rates for the last week or so from this site: http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory. The Nationwide rate is about 1.67% over the interbank rate from that site (e.g. 11 Feb: Interbank rate: 14.05380 to £1, NW rate: 13.823 to £1). Trying a few different dates produced a similar figure.

1.67% isn't much, but I thought that Nationwide charged the exact Interbank rate... can anyone explain what's going on? Is the interbank rate is not the same as the Visa rate?

benjus · 14 February 2006 at 5:24PM

I just re-read post #2 more carefully, and it looks like the ATM provider must be slapping an extra charge on.

grumbler · 15 February 2006 at 12:12PM

Some other possible reasons:

1. Interbank rate fluctuates during a day. This fluctuations can be quite big for some currencies. Oanda shows average rate.
2. Date of the transaction in the statement is not alwas the same date the card was used, particularly when the card is used abroad.

Is Nationwide still the cheapest way to spend abroad?

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