Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

jonesjw

Cornishsurfer wrote: »

So what is the best way of getting cash abroad? All credit and debit cards now appear to be bad news as regards ATMs.

I understand Metro bank offer free cash withdrawals on their debit card. I shall probably visit Borehamwood within the next few days to open an account. [Norwich & Peterborough is the other alternative.
Then I shall close my Nationwide current account and the savings account. Serves them right for offering a deal to suck me in, then "hoiking it away".

I have also applied for a Halifax Clarity Credit card, which seems cheaper than using the Nationwide Card.

CountryGoose

jonesjw wrote: »

I understand Metro bank offer free cash withdrawals on their debit card. I shall probably visit Borehamwood within the next few days to open an account. [Norwich & Peterborough is the other alternative.
Then I shall close my Nationwide current account and the savings account. Serves them right for offering a deal to suck me in, then "hoiking it away".

I have also applied for a Halifax Clarity Credit card, which seems cheaper than using the Nationwide Card.

Oh not - don't close your account! Keep it running with pennies in it. Send 10p every week and then an order to ship 50p back. They'll spend a fortune on statements........

And I would recommend just using the Clarity Card, if you are accepted with 12.9% APR. You can wring an extra 1% of saving out of the system by loading up an account with a debit card - but can you really be bothered? With the credit card you don't need to worry about being overdrawn, just don't bust your limit.

Snapelover

adindas wrote: »

For purchasing goods, Yes. But not for Cash Withdrawal. When you withdraw the money using Credit Card (NOT debit Card) you, the bank actually lend yiou money and for this you need to pay the interest.

The same thing if you withdrawa cash in the UK using your credit card rather then Debot card

ADINDAS

So what's the best advice - to pay the credit card bill as soon as it is received?

adindas

Yes If you have Halifax Clarity Card or Santander Zero.


ADINDAS

Snapelover wrote: »

So what's the best advice - to pay the credit card bill as soon as it is received?

Snapelover

adindas wrote: »

For purchasing goods, Yes. But not for Cash Withdrawal. When you withdraw the money using Credit Card (NOT debit Card) you, the bank actually lend yiou money and for this you need to pay the interest.

The same thing if you withdrawa cash in the UK using your credit card rather then Debot card

ADINDAS

Maybe Martin needs to reword the write up about this as he mentions " as long as you repay in full". Maybe he should also say that it's best to pay the balance as soon as you receive your credit card to avoid paying more interest on cash withdrawals than necessary.

mark101

jonesjw wrote: »

I understand Metro bank offer free cash withdrawals on their debit card. I shall probably visit Borehamwood within the next few days to open an account. [Norwich & Peterborough is the other alternative.
Then I shall close my Nationwide current account and the savings account. Serves them right for offering a deal to suck me in, then "hoiking it away".

I have also applied for a Halifax Clarity Credit card, which seems cheaper than using the Nationwide Card.

Can someone confirm the metro card pls. So my understanding is that it is as it once used to be with the nationwide debit card? Before all the charges etc. So I withdraw £100 get the best rate and total bill is £100.

dzug1

mark101 wrote: »

Can someone confirm the metro card pls. So my understanding is that it is as it once used to be with the nationwide debit card? Before all the charges etc. So I withdraw £100 get the best rate and total bill is £100.

correct ........

Nessie23

mark101 wrote: »

Can someone confirm the metro card pls. So my understanding is that it is as it once used to be with the nationwide debit card? Before all the charges etc. So I withdraw £100 get the best rate and total bill is £100.

Hi apologies cross-posting but this might be of use here.

Before I closed my Nationwide account I did a little experiment. In October I withdrew 10€ in a Spanish cash point with Nationwide and Metro Bank and the result was as follows:

Nationwide debit card (Visa debit): £8.69
Metrobank debit card (Mastercard debit): £8.69

Oanada also gave 0.869 for the interbank exchange rate on that day. So it would appear that with Metro Bank you also get the interbank exchange rate.

I was expecting some kind of differences between Visa and Mastercard, but as you can (on this occasion ;-) it was exactly the same.

Nessie

rl1

Is the Metro bank debit card widely accepted by ATMs in Europe. I am also looking for an alternative to the Nationwide Card. Could this be the answer?

Baldur

Nessie23 wrote: »

I was expecting some kind of differences between Visa and Mastercard, but as you can see it was exactly the same.

The Mastercard and VISA exchange rates show differences in their rates** - remember that transactions, even carried out on the same day, are not necessarily going to be processed by Mastercard/VISA on that day or even the same day as each other.

**For example:

Mastercard GPB/Euro rates for 05/11/2010 = 1.1517

VISA GPB/Euro rates for 05/11/2010 = 1.141664592642661 (1/0.875914)