Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

pcyuljr

dzug1 wrote: »

The value of the notes you are given is always a potential problem, even with ATMs. The way round it is to buy over the counter (=more expensive) and hope that they have suitable notes to give you

You could make a small profit on the FairFx Anywhere card, yes. It's £1.50 per transaction in the UK. But you'd have to find an ATM dispensing £5 notes or land up with an annoying balance you can't do anything with.

Sort of. But if I put £500 on the card, I get £5 bonus so a total of £505.


If I didn't spend it, I would come home and want to withdraw it. No bank transfer allowed so would have to use an ATM, thus incur the £1.50 fee.

If I can withdraw a max of £250 per transaction, then i would have as follows;

1) £505 - £250 - £1.50 = £253.50

2) £253.50 - £250 - £1.50 = £2 left

So I would only have £2 left on the card at the end, which is free anyway to use next time.

It's a good back up fund giving a good exchange rate, all for free.

TakeThis

KTF wrote: »

I thought it was Clarify v Santander Zero, not Clarity v Metro.

My reply was to heloid, who clearly states Metro Bank.

Never mind, not a problem. Just didn't want people to be confused about the Metro Bank offering. It's even better than the Halifax Clarity when you take into account the 12 month interest free period.

TakeThis

pcyuljr wrote: »

Thanks for your contribution......but for some really annoying reason you're wrong, as per below, the fee was $2 even withdrawing from an ATM in Blackburn area.

Debit Credit
2010-06-20 $24.09 Card Load
2010-06-24 $327.09
2010-06-24 $2.00 Fin: E00620700000000,PRESTONWAY,BLACKBURN
(transaction fee for £220.00)

The card is in dollars, every transaction (load and withdrawal) on it shows in dollars, regardless of where the transaction occurs. That is the point of a dollar card.

Come on now, it is you who is mixing the currency cards in your post.

Because your idea would certainly not work in the way that you described with a US$ card.
Simply because you would lose out on US$9 to US$17(dependent on whether you take £500 that you actually pay or £505 as your point of reference)) in the initial currency exchange. Then you would incur another 1.4% exchange fee on top of the US$2 ATM withdrawal fee for each withdrawal back in the UK.
So your figures are well out in that case. You'll end up with the equivalent of approx. £484 after all of your shenanigans. £16 of your money down the drain and the £5 bonus thrown away. £21 gone for nothing. Still a good idea?

So if now you claim to be writing about the Anywhere card, we use £s here thank you.

dzug1

pcyuljr wrote: »

Thanks for your contribution......but for some really annoying reason you're wrong, as per below, the fee was $2 even withdrawing from an ATM in Blackburn area.

Debit Credit
2010-06-20 $24.09 Card Load
2010-06-24 $327.09
2010-06-24 $2.00 Fin: E00620700000000,PRESTONWAY,BLACKBURN
(transaction fee for £220.00)

The card is in dollars, every transaction (load and withdrawal) on it shows in dollars, regardless of where the transaction occurs. That is the point of a dollar card.

Sorry - I thought you were talking about an anywhere card. The principle is the same though. Even less can you take out the exact value left on the card - you don't (in ££) know exactly what it is and it's even less likely to be a round sum

If you are leaving the bits there for a future trip - no problems

TakeThis

dzug1 wrote: »

Sorry - I thought you were talking about an anywhere card. The principle is the same though. Even less can you take out the exact value left on the card - you don't (in ££) know exactly what it is and it's even less likely to be a round sum

If you are leaving the bits there for a future trip - no problems

As you can see from my illustration, his figures are askew anyway.
No chance of him coming out ahead with the US$ card.

pcyuljr

TakeThis wrote: »

Come on now, it is you who is mixing the currency cards in your post.

Because your idea would certainly not work in the way that you described with a US$ card.
Simply because you would lose out on US$9 to US$17(dependent on whether you take £500 that you actually pay or £505 as your point of reference)) in the initial currency exchange. Then you would incur another 1.4% exchange fee on top of the US$2 ATM withdrawal fee for each withdrawal back in the UK.
So your figures are well out in that case. You'll end up with the equivalent of approx. £484 after all of your shenanigans. £16 of your money down the drain and the £5 bonus thrown away. £21 gone for nothing. Still a good idea?

So if now you claim to be writing about the Anywhere card, we use £s here thank you.

I'll give you that, it is getting confusing with the switching of currencies!

However, I still think you are wrong.

Lets clarify. I would put £500 (as I live in England) on a $ dollar card (as I'm visiting the States). I (think?) would get a £5 bonus for putting this one. This would translate as about $770.

From their FAQs

'We do not charge any monthly or quarterly fees or any fees for checking your on-line balance and statements. The $ and € cards incur fees for ATM withdrawals at $2.00 and €1.50 respectively. The £ card incurs 1.4% cost on all transactions and an additional £1 for overseas ATM withdrawals. UK ATM withdrawals for the £ card incur a £1.50 charge but do not incur 1.4% on top of this. Please refer to our terms and conditions for detailed information regarding fees.'

As such, withdrawing at ATM on the $ card does NOT incur the 1.4% fee, just the $2 fee. This is irrelevent of where the transaction occurs. Obviously I am subject to the FairFX exchange rate of withdrawing dollars out as pounds at a UK cashpoint, but this should be as competitive as anywhere, as thats the whole point of using FairFX

You with me?

TakeThis

pcyuljr wrote: »

I'll give you that, it is getting confusing with the switching of currencies!

However, I still think you are wrong.

Lets clarify. I would put £500 (as I live in England) on a $ dollar card (as I'm visiting the States). I (think?) would get a £5 bonus for putting this one. This would translate as about $770.

From their FAQs

'We do not charge any monthly or quarterly fees or any fees for checking your on-line balance and statements. The $ and € cards incur fees for ATM withdrawals at $2.00 and €1.50 respectively. The £ card incurs 1.4% cost on all transactions and an additional £1 for overseas ATM withdrawals. UK ATM withdrawals for the £ card incur a £1.50 charge but do not incur 1.4% on top of this. Please refer to our terms and conditions for detailed information regarding fees.'

As such, withdrawing at ATM on the $ card does NOT incur the 1.4% fee, just the $2 fee. This is irrelevent of where the transaction occurs. Obviously I am subject to the FairFX exchange rate of withdrawing dollars out as pounds at a UK cashpoint, but this should be as competitive as anywhere, as thats the whole point of using FairFX

You with me?

Me wrong? Close to impossible.

My figures took into account you getting £505 worth of US$.

In real terms, you pay for US$785.55, but actually receive US$776.44(there is that US$9 that I mentioned earlier). Not terrible. But, when you come to withdraw in the UK, you will be in a currency outside the card's currency, so will be subjected to 1.4% forex fee(against the Mastercard wholesale rate) plus the US$2.

FX Fee (when card used out of card currency) 1.40% for Euro, US Dollar and £ Anywhere Cards

You have to wake up early to catch me out.

No problem. We are all learning.

pcyuljr

TakeThis wrote: »

Me wrong? Close to impossible.

My figures took into account you getting £505 worth of US$.

In real terms, you pay for US$785.55, but actually receive US$776.44(there is that US$9 that I mentioned earlier). Not terrible. But, when you come to withdraw in the UK, you will be in a currency outside the card's currency, so will be subjected to 1.4% forex fee(against the Mastercard wholesale rate) plus the US$2.

You have to wake up early to catch me out.

No problem. We are all learning.

Hmmm, I'm getting up earlier and earlier here, so lets see. The bold below is from the boxes on the 'What It Costs' section on the Fair FX website.

Sterling ATM Transaction Fee €1.50 for the Euro card and $2.00 for the US Dollar card and £1.50 for the £ Anywhere Card (some ATMs may apply an additional surcharge).

Now this is what I would be doing, withdrawing off the dollar card at an English ATM. The only charges stated are the $2. This also appears to be backed up with what I posted earlier showing my transaction in Blackburn when withdrawing my left over Florida cash. No 1.4% was shown, but I accept this may be in built into the exchange rate given (I got £220 for my $327. Can't recall what the exchange rate was last June)

FX Fee (when card used out of card currency) 1.40% for Euro, US Dollar and £ Anywhere Cards

I do also see this, which you posted earlier. However we interpret this in different ways. I take it to mean if I use the Dollar card to make a payment (to a shop/restaurant) in a different country, not for withdrawing from an ATM.

It would be odd for them to quote a charge for ATM usage and not mention the 1.40% charge until in a separate box at the bottom. For example, further info on the page states

'Sterling Point Of Sale Transaction Fee Zero fees for the Euro and US Dollar cards. A 1.4% transaction fee for the Anywhere Card applies to all transactions placed in Sterling.'

Although nothing to do with our debate, I have posted it to show that in this box they expressly mention a 1.4% charge.

So they give fee's for the specific Sterling ATM Transactions and state that for the Dollar Card this charge is $2. For such a specific transaction they would surely have stated that it is $2 plus 1.4% if that was what it was.

You with me?

TakeThis

pcyuljr wrote: »

Hmmm, I'm getting up earlier and earlier here, so lets see. The bold below is from the boxes on the 'What It Costs' section on the Fair FX website.

Sterling ATM Transaction Fee €1.50 for the Euro card and $2.00 for the US Dollar card and £1.50 for the £ Anywhere Card (some ATMs may apply an additional surcharge).

Now this is what I would be doing, withdrawing off the dollar card at an English ATM. The only charges stated are the $2. This also appears to be backed up with what I posted earlier showing my transaction in Blackburn when withdrawing my left over Florida cash. No 1.4% was shown, but I accept this may be in built into the exchange rate given (I got £220 for my $327. Can't recall what the exchange rate was last June)

FX Fee (when card used out of card currency) 1.40% for Euro, US Dollar and £ Anywhere Cards

I do also see this, which you posted earlier. However we interpret this in different ways. I take it to mean if I use the Dollar card to make a payment (to a shop/restaurant) in a different country, not for withdrawing from an ATM.

It would be odd for them to quote a charge for ATM usage and not mention the 1.40% charge until in a separate box at the bottom. For example, further info on the page states

'Sterling Point Of Sale Transaction Fee Zero fees for the Euro and US Dollar cards. A 1.4% transaction fee for the Anywhere Card applies to all transactions placed in Sterling.'

Although nothing to do with our debate, I have posted it to show that in this box they expressly mention a 1.4% charge.

So they give fee's for the specific Sterling ATM Transactions and state that for the Dollar Card this charge is $2. For such a specific transaction they would surely have stated that it is $2 plus 1.4% if that was what it was.

You with me?

No, I'm still with me. Looks as if you will have to stay up all night.

Whilst you may be confused by the wording, I can assure you that my explanation is correct.
Rather than spend more time writing another long winded explanation, I suggest that you give FairFx a call to confirm.

But for the sake of clarity....

Sterling ATM Transaction Fee: €1.50 for the Euro card and $2.00 for the US Dollar card and £1.50 for the £ Anywhere Card (some ATMs may apply an additional surcharge).
This lists UK ATM fees specifically

'Sterling Point Of Sale Transaction Fee: Zero fees for the Euro and US Dollar cards. A 1.4% transaction fee for the Anywhere Card applies to all transactions placed in Sterling.'
This lists UK POS fee specifically

FX Fee: (when card used out of card currency) 1.40% for Euro, US Dollar and £ Anywhere Cards
This lists Forex fees specifically

Yours is both a 'Sterling ATM Transaction' and is out of currency, so both apply. You with me now?

I will accept your conceding in the form of you clicking the Thank You buttons in all of my posts in this thread.
If you are right, then I will thank you. Make the call if you still feel it necessary.

How say you?

pcyuljr

It's a deal.

I have fired an e-mail off to Fairfx.

Lets see what the reply is. You have convinced me more with your last post. But I still feel, deep in my bowels, that I am right. (May just be the dodgy curry from last night though).