Creation everday credit card for abroad

Kefra · 15 October 2016 at 9:34AM

Got approved a creation everyday credit card as i wanted something abroad friendly, for both withdrawls and spending.
Everything seemed great with creation, mastercard set the rate you get for both purchases and withdrawals. And there is a transaction fee on both spending and withdrawals.
I decided it would be cheapest to do 2 withdrawals on my holidays than switching most things like meals to reduce transaction fees.... First withdrawl fine (200eu/ £176) when i tried to take a second withdrawl of same amount my card was refused. Please be aware there is a £300 limit on cash withdrawals on the card (life of the card not just in a weeks period for instance) so i ended up having to switch purchases as could only withdraw the euro equivalent of £124!!...
Rendering card useless for further abroad holidays if i want to withdraw cash, fine if i want to switch a purchase.
This isnt clearly stated on terms and conditions so thought i would flag this up to money saving members.

eDicky · 15 October 2016 at 10:33AM

Kefra wrote: »

Please be aware there is a £300 limit on cash withdrawals on the card (life of the card not just in a weeks period for instance)

Is this what they they have told you? I don't have this card, but I was under the impression that the ATM withdrawal limit is £500 per week, £300 in a day. It would certainly be worth confirming...

Biggles · 15 October 2016 at 3:52PM

They seem remarkably coy about telling you on their website about any cash limits or, indeed, the exchange rate used for foreign currency transactions (except to say that it's a 'great foreign exchange rate', which rings bells to start with).

Kefra · 15 October 2016 at 9:15PM

Yeah, i called them when my card was rejected, they said unless i had my balance significantly increased (like by a few thousand) it would remain at £300 withdrawl limit. I asked if that was a daily amount and they said no, its max i can withdraw in cash with my credit limit (£1500).
Transaction fees are 2.99% on card spends and 2.99% or £5 on cash withdrawals which ever greater. They do refund foreign currence charges straight away though but other charges remain. Plus any cash withdrawn whether in uk or abraod is subject to daily interest until paid (i paid card of on return from holiday so minimal.charges)
The exchange rate you get is set by mastercard on the day the transaction is placed on acc this can vary greatly and to be honest you get a higher rate at local currency exchange places, well that was what i found anyway. I exchanged money before going at 1.18euro to £ and was getting like 1.05 to £ with card.
I dont recommend the card to be honest.

eDicky · 16 October 2016 at 3:04AM

Kefra wrote: »

Yeah, i called them when my card was rejected, they said unless i had my balance significantly increased (like by a few thousand) it would remain at £300 withdrawl limit. I asked if that was a daily amount and they said no, its max i can withdraw in cash with my credit limit (£1500).
Transaction fees are 2.99% on card spends and 2.99% or £5 on cash withdrawals which ever greater. They do refund foreign currence charges straight away though but other charges remain. Plus any cash withdrawn whether in uk or abraod is subject to daily interest until paid (i paid card of on return from holiday so minimal.charges)
The exchange rate you get is set by mastercard on the day the transaction is placed on acc this can vary greatly and to be honest you get a higher rate at local currency exchange places, well that was what i found anyway. I exchanged money than a before going at 1.18euro to £ and was getting like 1.05 to £ with card.
I dont recommend the card to be honest.

I'm afraid this hasn't clarified very much, and you appear to have made a serious mistake when using the card.

The straight MasterCard rate given by the Creation Everyday card is never worse than a local currency exchange for cash (on the same day) and can never have been as low as 1.05. You have fallen victim to DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) offered by the ATM or retailer and failed to decline it by selecting 'Without Conversion' or to be billed in euros instead of pounds, whereby MasterCard would do the conversion instead of the ATM or retailer. This applies to any UK card.

There are no transaction fees on ATM withdrawals or spends. Creation show the charges and then deduct them on the statement (probably to tie in with the accounting system for their other cards), so this can be disregarded. What are the 'other charges' that you say remain?

It's possible that ATM withdrawal limits are affected by a particular cardholder's credit limit, but surely they are not a 'lifetime of the card' limit (instead of daily/weekly limit) that you first implied?

Ben8282 · 16 October 2016 at 3:04AM

£300 is NOT the maximum cash withdrawal that you can make during the entire life of the card. That is plain silly.
From what you have written above I suspect that your cash withdrawal limit my have been set at 20% of your credit limit. That is unusual as where I have encountered this it has usually been 50% but this is the most plausible explanation I can think of.
I suspect that what you were actually told is that the cash withdrawal limit would not increase unless your credit limit, not your balance, increased.
You will be able to make further cash withdrawals as soon as you have repaid the original £300.

Kefra · 16 October 2016 at 10:09AM

Apologies, i ment credit limit, not balance increased.
I have contacted them again for clarity on the withdrawl limit. It is a % of my credit limit i can withdraw which results in the £300 max, if i have full available credit limit, the less available credit i have the less cash advance i can take.
As for when i did withdrawls, i did select without conversion as i was aware of this before using the card. But sadly the value of pound to euro fell quite badly while i was away that resulted in the 1.05 rate.. I tracked mastercard rates each day i was away and it was never more than 1.10 to £1. This is just bad luck, not creations fault though. And yes there local bureau in spain offering consistantly 1.08/1.09.
My main point im trying to make (albeit not very well) is that anyone wanting to use the creation card for use with cash withdrawls abroad, needs to be aware there is a limit on withdrawl amounts.

A_T · 16 October 2016 at 11:20AM

The sterling/euro rate has not dropped below 1.08 in the last year.

eDicky · 16 October 2016 at 3:15PM

Kefra wrote: »

Apologies, i ment credit limit, not balance increased.
I have contacted them again for clarity on the withdrawl limit. It is a % of my credit limit i can withdraw which results in the £300 max, if i have full available credit limit, the less available credit i have the less cash advance i can take.
As for when i did withdrawls, i did select without conversion as i was aware of this before using the card. But sadly the value of pound to euro fell quite badly while i was away that resulted in the 1.05 rate.. I tracked mastercard rates each day i was away and it was never more than 1.10 to £1. This is just bad luck, not creations fault though. And yes there local bureau in spain offering consistantly 1.08/1.09.
My main point im trying to make (albeit not very well) is that anyone wanting to use the creation card for use with cash withdrawls abroad, needs to be aware there is a limit on withdrawl amounts.

Thanks for your efforts to clarify the withdrawal limits, Creation's lack of precise information for users about this is perhaps the main drawback of the card.

The interbank exchange rate for £/€, which the daily MasterCard rate reflects, has not moved below 1.104 except briefly on the night of Oct 11/12 (1.096), so if your rate of 1.05 using Creation Everyday was not due to DCC it remains a mystery.

guesswho2000 · 18 October 2016 at 1:47PM

This card is a weird one, in that it seems to bill you an amount for the transaction, which is loaded, then apply a separate refund for the fee ("FOREIGN FEE SAVINGS" with a credit amount). It's all there though, if not very clear, eg from a recent statement -

10,000.00 ISK @ 146.9508 inc conversion fee of 2.99%
£68.05

Foreign Fee Savings
-£1.98

Total amount paid = £66.07, so ISK 151.354:GBP 1.00
MasterCard's currency converter says that GBP:ISK was 1:152.1149 on that date, so about 1% out (if I recall correctly, Mastercard converts at settlement date, not transaction date, and it says 1:151.194 on the following Monday, so that probably covers it).

Creation everday credit card for abroad

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