Greed since Santander took over

saintwarwick

I have been a customer of Alliance & Leicester for over 20 years. Previously when I have bought foreign currency on my debit card ( so I am spending my own money) I haven't been charged a commission fee. When I bought euros in May this year I was charged a 2% commission by my bank. I have complained to them but they say this is ''in accordance with their fee structure''
I have never been charged this before Santander took over

Inactive

Is your Debit Card a visa based one?...if so, you will get charged, it seems that only Maestro do not make a charge.

Extant

Inactive wrote: »

Is your Debit Card a visa based one?...if so, you will get charged, it seems that only Maestro do not make a charge.

Visa does not charge for foreign currency purchases. This is either a merchant or bank issue.

Inactive

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Visa does not charge for foreign currency purchases. This is either a merchant or bank issue.

Strange that all banks and building societies that use Visa Debit Cards make a charge, those that use Maestro do not, as far as I can tell, certainly I do not get charged when using my HSBC Maestro Card.

I am talking about currency purchased online via the likes of Travelex etc.

glider3560

I was under the same impression as BarclaysManager, there is no charge from Visa but rather this is the banks trying to get you to use their currency service. I believe there is no charge on Maestro as they aren't allowed to make the charge.

However Visa do charge for transactions carried out in other currencies (i.e. when abroad).

Extant

Inactive wrote: »

Strange that all banks and building societies that use Visa Debit Cards make a charge, those that use Maestro do not, as far as I can tell, certainly I do not get charged when using my HSBC Maestro Card.

I am talking about currency purchased online via the likes of Travelex etc.

I've just purchased rubles and not been charged.

Both Visa and Mastercard carry interchange fees, but these are not always passed on, and are not always present, depending on how the transaction is processed. On top of that, they're not typically as high as 2%, so I'm going with banks levying a charge to cover interchange fees and profit at the same time.

Inactive

BarclaysManager wrote: »

I've just purchased rubles and not been charged.

You will be " Russian " off anytime soon then..

masonic

saintwarwick wrote: »

I have never been charged this before Santander took over

I'm not sure how you've gotten away with this so long. A&L has levied a charge for foreign currency purchases on debit card since at least 2006.

masonic

Inactive wrote: »

Is your Debit Card a visa based one?...if so, you will get charged, it seems that only Maestro do not make a charge.

Halifax debit cards are Visa and they don't make a charge.

Inactive

masonic wrote: »

Halifax debit cards are Visa and they don't make a charge.

Thanks for that ..interesting.

Extant

Inactive wrote: »

Thanks for that ..interesting.

As I said, there are interchange fees for both Mastercard and Visa networks, but it's up to the bank as to whether the customer "pays" them - and it's not really paying, since the quoted 2% is nowhere near the actual cost.