Connect card fee for Travelex FX purchase

bankemployee101

yorkshireblonde wrote: »

Does anyone know if Lloyds do the same for their debit cards and charge? Was going to use my bank card to order currency to pick up. But may have to change my strategy.

Hi there, it may be worth having a look at this page
http://www.lloydstsb.com/rates_and_charges/current_account_charges.asp#cashpoint
Hope this helps

Mooksville

First post!

Annoyingly, yes, Lloyd's TSB debit cards also charge 1.5% (max £4.50!) for use at Travelex.

I've just had two overseas weddings in short succession and thought the Travelex rate (ordered online and collected at Gatwick) was pretty good - not when you factor in the Lloyd's charges.

The first purchase went so smoothly that I went ahead with the second one (didn't check my statement inbetween) - I will not be using them again because of this.

Steve_xx

I wonder if it is possible to avoid these charges by using a Visa Electron card?

I'm unsure why Visa would levy this charge. I'm wondering if it may be because if you use your debit card for a general purchase then Visa may levy a fee on the supplier of the goods? Perhaps they cannot or don't levy this fee on money traders and therefore have decided to levy the cardholder? Can anyone clarify if this is the case?

M4RKM

i've just copied and pasted this from a little popup on the travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com page

Pay on a Switch card and there's no charge, yet if you pay for foreign currency on a credit card, or some bank’s Visa debit cards, it’s possible you’ll be charged an additional fee on top of what you pay the bureau de change. If possible avoid using the cards that charge and pay another way instead.

Credit cards. All credit cards charge when you buy foreign currency, as this is treated as if you are withdrawing cash from an ATM, plus you could be charged interest from the day you make the purchase, even if you repay it in full at the end of the month. See a full table of these charges

Visa Debit cards. If you have a Visa Debit card (these used to be known as Delta), whether you’re charged depends on your bank, it will usually be around 2.5% with a minimum of £3.

Debit cards that DO charge a fee

Abbey
Alliance & Leicester
Barclays
Cahoot
Co-op
Lloyds TSB
Smile

Debit cards that DON'T charge a fee

Coventry BS
First Direct
Halifax
HSBC
Intelligent Finance
Nationwide
Natwest
RBS


--

so the information is on this website!!!

research, research, research!

Mooksville

markymoo wrote: »

so the information is on this website!!!

research, research, research!

I appreciate the info is out there - but the web (and this site) are pretty big places!

I also appreciate that it's on the LTSB pages as linked in a post above, but I don't think that I should have to check these things every time I make a purchase by card.

I use my visa dozens of times a week - buying CDs off Play (via quidco), at the supermarket, post office (to get cash back), cinema etc. To me, paying a third party (Travelex) for a transaction was no different than any of the above so I didn't expect to be charged.

In my opinion, this is the reason for the charge - I believe this is a 'stealth' charge - one that doesn't really have any serious associated administrative cost for the bank, but it is levied against a transaction that people only do a few times a year (if that) and therefore they can get away with it. If you won't buy your travel money through the bank and pay them their commission/exchange rate mark-up, they'll simply take a cut from your purchase elsewhere.

Also, I'm slightly disappointed that it isn't mentioned on the Money maximiser (where Travelex finishes quite high up and is recommended for it's "free" service). I think it should say that most people will encounter a charge through using this site which could diminish any exchange rate saving.

benjus

Mooksville wrote: »

Also, I'm slightly disappointed that it isn't mentioned on the Money maximiser (where Travelex finishes quite high up and is recommended for it's "free" service). I think it should say that most people will encounter a charge through using this site which could diminish any exchange rate saving.

The information that markymoo posted was from the Money maximiser!

Unfortunately the link seems to be missed by a lot of people...

M4RKM

benjus wrote: »

The information that markymoo posted was from the Money maximiser!

Unfortunately the link seems to be missed by a lot of people...

I was just about to say that.. thanks!

Mooksville

Fair play, I've just found the link referred to above. Disappointment withdrawn...

In my defence I've used the money maximiser a number of times, I searched the page yesterday before and after reading Markymoo's post and I only spotted it this morning after further scrutiny - if I can't spot when searching for it I would imagine a few other people might struggle as well.

Given that the affect of a debit card charge negates the exchange rate savings using the money maximiser, I might suggest it has a greater prominence on the page (much like the huge warnings relating to withdrawing cash from an ISA rather than transferring them via the institution).

benjus

Personally I'd like to see the Money maximiser revamped so that you tell it the type of debit card you have and it will give you options including all the charges you will have to pay, and also tell you how much it would cost to withdraw the money using ATMs at the destination so that you can compare this option with obtaining cash beforehand.

Of course, that would require rather more maintenance to keep it up to date.

born2bongo

I double checked some of those listed that are supposed not to charge. I can't find any details on their web sites, and on the one occasion I engaged in a 'Chat', the salesperson didn't know.

Just to be clear. Most of them say they charge for using the card abroad, either in a cash machine or point of sale. This is about specifically using the card in this country, to purchase foreign money.

I have a Nationwide current account which doesn't charge for anything. They've behaved really badly over a period of years in other respects and I am keen to ditch them. Maybe I'll just get my revenge by leaving £1 in the account until I want to go on holiday, then transferring cash in to cover it, and taking anything left out again when I get back home.