Buying foreign currency with a credit / debi card - ripoff warning!

GSD4ME

My OH bought some currency at the Post Office last year, as the bank said they could not get the currency he wanted. ( The P.O. could though.) He paid by First Direct bank card, Switch or Maestro, I can't remember what it's called now.

The P.O. phoned the bank first and the bank made a charge. It is an appalling scam as he was using his Switch card in the same way as if he had paid for his car tax or T.V. licence at the P.O. and would not have been charged a fee then.

frivolous_fay

Just rang Thompson... the lady admitted that she did know VISA sometimes make charges, although she thought that 'most' banks didn't.

She asked if I was sure I hadn't been told, as she thought staff would normally warn customers. That said, she said it wasn't part of their trainign to do so.

Ho hum. I have the address of customer services and will be writing to them.

Save yourself 80p on the exchange rate, cost yourself £8! Ridiculous!

System

Its a standard Visa/Mastercard "cash advance" fee.

I understand that Nationwide does get charged through Visa but absorbs it for their current accounts

Switch/Maestro never have charged a cash advance fee.

The easy way around it at the post office, with banks that offer post office facilities e.g. smile, lloydstsb etc, is to withdraw the amount in cash over the counter, and pay for the currency with it.

Its indirect, but its free

humfer

I totted up what I had spent abroad a few months back which gave me a real shock. Which is why I now have a Nationwide card..

frivolous_fay

Ah well, stinky letter winging its way to Thomson...

M_Thomson

I understand what people are saying about the transaction being billed in Sterling, at the end of the day though, it is still getting cash out even in a different currency and you would be charged a cash advance fee if you withdrew sterling.

frivolous_fay

I don't mind that they DO it, I mind that they KNEW about it and didn't bother to tell me.

grumbler

M_Thomson wrote:

I understand what people are saying about the transaction being billed in Sterling, at the end of the day though, it is still getting cash out even in a different currency and you would be charged a cash advance fee if you withdrew sterling.

The main problem is that when buying foreign currency you are often (usually?) charged this fee even when paying by a debit card ...

M_Thomson

grumbler wrote:

The main problem is that when buying foreign currency you are often (usually?) charged this fee even when paying by a debit card ...

The same would happen if you went to the counter of a bank which is not your own bank. If you withdrew cash from the counter of a different bank, you would be charged a fee for using your debit card.

Astaroth

If you buy foreign currancy with your credit card you will normally be charged the same as a cash advance (as that is what it is basically anyway, just happens to be cash in a different currency) and so not only is their the handling fee but often the higher interest rate.

Was surprised at the Natwest the other week when I went to buy my travellers cheques as whilst they are like most places and dont charge commission for buying foreign currency they dont even charge for buying stirling travellers cheques where as most "commission free" places charge 1%