Credit Cards Abroad Article Discussion Area

Ant1

janpe wrote:

Having checked my NatWest Mastercard after making purchases abroad I can't find any evidence of a 75p. loading on any purchases. For example an article bought for 103.87 EUR at exchange rate 1.427570 is charged on the bill at £72.76 There are no other charges on the bill so where does the loading chage come in?

From what I understand the 75p charge per purchase is only when using the NatWest Maestro debit card.

Ant

Smiley_Mum

Going away in the Summer. Am planning on getting a Nationwide Credit card for most of the spending and taking a bit of cash with me. I have an excellent credit rating and wondered when taking out a Nationwide credit card, what the average limit would be. I'm hoping to get at least £2K-£3K. Any info appreciated. I know every case is different but I just wondered what the average sort of limit they offer is. I did take out a Liverpool Victoria card and then they changed the conditions so that is useless now for overseas spending. Thanks for any info.

TimC

Hi - I obviously don't know what the average is, and whether my credit rating is "excellent" or not. I applied for a Nationwide Cash Reward card two weeks ago - process very quick (although still waiting for the PIN) - got the Gold Card too (their decision you can't request it online), and a credit limit of £4,500 which whilst not very generous, is plenty for our holiday in August and any personal spending I may do on business trips in the meantime.

I recall Barclaycard giving me £3,000 two years ago as I had no history with them - after three months of using the card they increased it to £10,000 - perhaps Nationwide will do the same.

My only concern is, unless I start using it over here there will be no spending pattern and it could get refused when the time comes to pay the hotel bill - we booked direct so still have that to pay. Will it make a difference if I tell Nationwide the likely expenditure? On the other hand, because of this site, they are probably more than used to people doing exactly this, and are currently running TV adverts describing this advantage on their products.

pin

When ever I go abroad I give Nationwide a quick call to say that I will be abroad (giving the country) and a rough time line that I will be abroad. They make a note of this on my account. As a result I've never had an issue with my transactions abroad being "referred".

Also very useful feature about the "Gold" card is that if you lose it / or it is stolen abroad Nationwide will courier out a new card to you (note, this only applies if the card is lost/stolen while abroad).

TimC

pin wrote:

When ever I go abroad I give Nationwide a quick call to say that I will be abroad (giving the country) and a rough time line that I will be abroad. They make a note of this on my account. As a result I've never had an issue with my transactions abroad being "referred".

Also very useful feature about the "Gold" card is that if you lose it / or it is stolen abroad Nationwide will courier out a new card to you (note, this only applies if the card is lost/stolen while abroad).

Good tips - thanks very much. I wasn't aware of the courier service on the Gold Card - hopefully I won't need it!

seaweed5254

Hi All,

I will be going to France and Italy in July. I only have a barclaycard, barclays debit card, and egg card. i know i cannot touch my egg card bec of the BT I did. Is it ok to use my barclaycard for all my holidayt expenses ? or do i apply for nationwide ? I just made an application for sainsbury's and i'm afraid that if i apply with nationwide, i will be refused again.

pin

Nationwide is the best card, because it doesn't do foreign loading.

What about getting a Nationwide cash card rather than credit card if you are worried about getting rejected, and then apply for a Nationwide credit card sometime in the future?

johnlaws

I have noticed a disturbing trend emerging when using my Nationwide Debit/Credit cards abroad. They automatically convert the amount to GBP (presumably at a rate advantageous to themselves) thus negating the reason for having a N'wide card. Some will charge in Euros if pushed, others say it can't be done and I've even been asked if I want to be charged in € or GBP. What is going n here?

grumbler

johnlaws wrote:

...What is going n here?

This is called Direct Currency Conversion. For more information see
How can I avoid DCC when using Visa abroad?
credit card exchange rate in Spain
DCC and ATMs abroad: for the attention of Nationwide card users

Lychee

Seem to vaguely remember reading something about this before but can't find a thread...

For Nationwide CC, would it be possible to have a second cardholder who is not permanently a UK resident?