Travel specialist card vs National card

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Mikkelzzz3
Mikkelzzz3 Posts: 21 Forumite
in Credit cards
Hi all. I have the Aqua Reward card. I go to Denmark once a month, where I also have a debit card issued by a danish bank, and the currency in crowns.

I usually have most of my funds here in UK, but so far I have always just used my danish card when in Denmark.

Considering I won't withdraw any money, would the Aqua Reward card give me the exact same price as using my danish card?
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 35,242 Forumite
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    It will give you the Mastercard exchange rate, with no fees.
  • Mikkelzzz3
    Mikkelzzz3 Posts: 21 Forumite
    edited 10 September 2017 at 6:44PM
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    Okay. So I suppose using my danish card is better. According to mastercard online currency converter, 1000 dkk would get me, 123,66£.

    Using my danish banks currency converter 123,66£ would get me 1109,13 dkk.

    1000 dkk is 111,49£, so the mastercard is noticeable more expensive costing 12.17£ more. So Mastercard charges 10.91578% commissions. Stunningly high.

    I would not have expected the difference this big, as I thought with a 0% credit card, and Mastercards "low" exchange rate, should give me the perfect conversion rate.

    Thanks for reminding me that it uses the mastercard exchange.
  • bigadaj
    bigadaj Posts: 11,531 Forumite
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    Your calculations don't sound right, there may be a difference but it would be nowhere near that high.
  • Mikkelzzz3
    Mikkelzzz3 Posts: 21 Forumite
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    I am definitely right though.

    1: went to Mastercard currency converter, typed 1000 dkk, and it showed me what I would get in pound.

    2: Then I went to my danish banks currency converter, and typed in the same amount of pound Mastercard showed, and it showed me the 1109 dkk for the same amount of pound.,

    So my calculations are right.
  • Nebulous2
    Nebulous2 Posts: 5,116 Forumite
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    You can't possibly be right - unless your bank is trading currency at a significant loss. Mastercard rate gives 1000 kroner for £123.66, as you said.

    The mid-market forex rate, which no-one actually gets, is 1000 kroner for £122.60 Less than that is not likely to be possible without breaking the bank.

    What you must be looking at with your bank is how many kroner they want to give you £123.66, which is something quite different.
  • bigadaj
    bigadaj Posts: 11,531 Forumite
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    Mikkelzzz3 wrote: »
    I am definitely right though.

    1: went to Mastercard currency converter, typed 1000 dkk, and it showed me what I would get in pound.

    2: Then I went to my danish banks currency converter, and typed in the same amount of pound Mastercard showed, and it showed me the 1109 dkk for the same amount of pound.,

    So my calculations are right.

    Danske bank calculator shows very much the opposite, are you calculating the inverse somewhere?
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,575 Forumite
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    Mikkelzzz3 wrote: »
    I am definitely right though.
    Obviously not, but you need to give a link to the Danish bank's currency calculator and other details for us to see why.

    Is the source of the DKK on your debit card Danish, or transferred from a GBP account? If the latter, how transferred?
    Evolution, not revolution
  • Roger1
    Roger1 Posts: 1,603 Forumite
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    i don't follow the OP's theory, but using MSE's Travelmoneymax @ 08:59 this morning, I get these results for spending 1,000 DKK:
    • £117.54 using Nationwide FlexPlus Visa debit card for cash in ATM
    • £117.54 with Nationwide Select Visa credit card purchase
    • £122.77 with Halifax Clarity MC credit card purchase
    • £122.77 with Santander Zero MC credit card purchase
    • £122.77 using Aqua Reward MC credit card purchase

    On this limited example, Visa beats MC, but FlexPlus may not be available to everybody.

    Aqua Reward beats the other MasterCards as it earns 0.5% cashbasck.
  • SnowTiger
    SnowTiger Posts: 4,461 Forumite
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    Roger1 wrote: »
    i don't follow the OP's theory, but using MSE's Travelmoneymax @ 08:59 this morning, I get these results for spending 1,000 DKK:
    • £117.54 using Nationwide FlexPlus Visa debit card for cash in ATM
    • £117.54 with Nationwide Select Visa credit card purchase
    • £122.77 with Halifax Clarity MC credit card purchase
    • £122.77 with Santander Zero MC credit card purchase
    • £122.77 using Aqua Reward MC credit card purchase

    On this limited example, Visa beats MC, but FlexPlus may not be available to everybody.

    Aqua Reward beats the other MasterCards as it earns 0.5% cashbasck.

    Are those figures from the app? I couldn't find them at http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/, which suggests Halifax's Clarity as the best card.

    Visa's exchange rate for Danish Krone yesterday would have bought 1,000 Danish Krone for £123.69.
  • Roger1
    Roger1 Posts: 1,603 Forumite
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    SnowTiger wrote: »
    Are those figures from the app?
    Yes, on my mobile.
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