using alliance & leciester debit card in spain

cazwiz

I am going to fureteventura in december. I usually take travellers cqs and euros. If I pay for most things with my alliance & Lec card would it save me money. I have looked and terms and conditions but they also seems gobble de goock to me. Any advice would be appreinceted. :beer:

HGLTsuperstar

Golden rule, you will be charged on all foreign currency transactions, UNLESS YOU GET A NATIONWIDE CARD!!! GET ONE NOW!!!

robdog

As HGTL says you will pay a charge for using the ATMs, but you will get the commercial exchange rate when using your A & L debit card. You may find it inconvenient to move all your funds to Nationwide and your D/D etc. so for the small amount of saving on each transaction, it may not be worth the hassle.

grumbler

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/currentaccounts/index.asp?page=all-rates&RateTable=curracc&ct=curraccrates

Cash withdrawals abroad - Subject to a 1.5% (minimum £1.50) cash advance charge, in addition to a conversion fee of 2.75% of the sterling value of the transaction
Card transactions abroad - Subject to a conversion of 2.75% of the sterling value of the transaction

robdog wrote:

... You may find it inconvenient to move all your funds to Nationwide and your D/D etc. so for the small amount of saving on each transaction...

Why move? Just open another account and keep the old one ...

GlennTheBaker

robdog wrote:

As HGTL says you will pay a charge for using the ATMs, but you will get the commercial exchange rate when using your A & L debit card. You may find it inconvenient to move all your funds to Nationwide and your D/D etc. so for the small amount of saving on each transaction, it may not be worth the hassle.

This is how the banks make money - customer apathy! Do as grumbler says, open a Nationwide FlexAccount and just use it for holiday spending, leaving your A&L account as it is.

al_yrpal

Its drawing money from most ATM's that the Nationwide is good for. Most credit cards of the VISA variety give a jolly conversion fro € to £, so if your card is a VISA there would be no real advantage.

GlennTheBaker

al_yrpal wrote:

Its drawing money from most ATM's that the Nationwide is good for. Most credit cards of the VISA variety give a jolly conversion fro € to £, so if your card is a VISA there would be no real advantage.

Most (all?) VISA cards adjust the exchange rate for a foreign transaction by around 2.75% in their favour. The exception to this is Nationwide who do not add on any charges for foreign transactions.

leeegglestone

This Nationwide Card, doesnt charge you for using it in ATMs?

what about if you use a nationwide card to purchase, trips or goods etc? do u not get a charge then either+does it give you a good exchange rate?

grumbler

leeegglestone wrote:

This Nationwide Card, doesnt charge you for using it in ATMs?

what about if you use a nationwide card to purchase, trips or goods etc? do u not get a charge then either+does it give you a good exchange rate?

The cheapest way to spend overseas: save 6% - Martin's article.

All Visa cards use Visa currency exchange rate that is very close to interbank rate (for the latter one see for example http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory). Most of cards charge 2.75% currency conversion fee for all foreign transactions. Nationwide (and a few other cards) use the same rate and don't charge 2.75%. Also unlike most cards Nationwide don't charge fixed fee (usually £1.50) for withdrawing cash abroad.