The Cheapest Way to Spend Overseas Discussion Area

morosebill

The main point of my query was, do you get a better exchange rate at home eg. in the Post Office, or abroad - Thailand in my case, using ATM.?
I don't have a Nationwide card, but do have A&L debit card, and AMEX,Barclaycard and Saga credit cards
When I went to Prague recently, the exchange rate was much better over there than at home.

mrken30

nobody has mentioned citibank, they have euro and dollar accounts which are free if you keep £2000 in their savings account. You get free withdrawls in the US apart from the non bank ATM's (same as the UK) and they give good exchange rates from transfering from sterling account to say dollar account. One other useful thing is they have Citibank banks in a lot of major cities. These may not be able to help with all problems , but when in Italy they called the UK Citibank for me free of charge.

mrken30

I didn't see the previous Citibank post, but I forgot to mention I even have a dollar cheque book, which I have only used once or twice, but was useful for paying a guest house that charged extra for credit card \ debit card payments. I would also like to ask does the Nationwide Debit card swipe as a debit or credit card in the US?

farang_2

morosebill wrote:

The main point of my query was, do you get a better exchange rate at home eg. in the Post Office, or abroad - Thailand in my case, using ATM.?
I don't have a Nationwide card, but do have A&L debit card, and AMEX,Barclaycard and Saga credit cards
When I went to Prague recently, the exchange rate was much better over there than at home.

Whenever I go to Thailand (every 6 months) I ALLWAYS change my money there as the exchange rate is far better. I normally get sterling travellers cheques from Lloyds TSB (no fees due to my account, not my main one I hasten to add) but this does incur a 33 bhat fee for each cheque cashed in Thailand but compared to England it is still a better rate.

I am tempted by the Nationwide card but from all the discussions I still can not figure out if it is TOTALLY free to use.

pin

I am tempted by the Nationwide card but from all the discussions I still can not figure out if it is TOTALLY free to use.

Here we go again....

Nationwide Debit card for ATM's withdrawals and Nationwide Credit Card for purchases. Both are free to use (unless the retailer / ATM provider charges, but this is very rare). I've used both in MANY countries round the world, including Thailand and the rates I get are much better than any exchange booth (including the booths in Thailand).

roadsidetree

Hi,

I am planning a trip to India shortly. I read a post where the poster mentioned that some cash machines did not recognise Nationwide. Are there any other suggestions as far as India is concerned?

Many thanks

pin

roadsidetree wrote:

Hi,

I am planning a trip to India shortly. I read a post where the poster mentioned that some cash machines did not recognise Nationwide. Are there any other suggestions as far as India is concerned?

Many thanks

Used Nationwide in ATMs in Dehli, Mumbai and Gujrat without any problems.

bobloes

I feel a bit simple. I have never used my credit card to obtain cash because it was my understanding that interest was paid on the cash from the time it was withdrawn until the whole of any outstanding CC debt was paid off. The article re overseas spending appears to indicate that withdrawing cash and paying off the next bill in full does not attract any interest payment at all (on forexample Saga CC). This suggests that a CC should be used in preference to a debit card. I pay my CC bill in full every month. Have I been wrong all these years? Any (pedantic) clarification will ease my concern.

farang_2

pin wrote:

Here we go again....

Nationwide Debit card for ATM's withdrawals and Nationwide Credit Card for purchases. Both are free to use (unless the retailer / ATM provider charges, but this is very rare). I've used both in MANY countries round the world, including Thailand and the rates I get are much better than any exchange booth (including the booths in Thailand).

bobloes
It would appear that you need to be carefull which card you use.
Use a DEBIT card for CASH withdrawals and NOT a credit card.
Use a CREDIT card for PURCHASES.

mystic_trev

roadsidetree wrote:

Hi,

I am planning a trip to India shortly. I read a post where the poster mentioned that some cash machines did not recognise Nationwide. Are there any other suggestions as far as India is concerned?

Many thanks

That was probably me! Maybe I was unlucky, but three ATM'S around Churchgate (Mumbai) didn't accept it, altough the guy I was traveling with used his at a Bank near the Hilton and it was OK. I had a load of USD notes (from a trip to Thailand and Camdodia) I needed to use up, so I changed these for the rest of the trip and got a good exchange rate.