Beware – Travelex and Cahoot

bug_bloke

I have recently purchased foreign currency online using my Cahoot DEBIT card from Travelex.co.uk. Debit cards don’t charge when getting money from a cash point but for some reason the Cahoot Visa Debit charges when purchasing currency.

I wasn’t aware of this and now I have quite a hefty charge. If I had known I would have withdrawn the money normally and bought the currency with cash.

Has anyone else had experience of this hidden charge? Is there anything I can do about it, or do I just learn my lesson and not do it again.

johnmoney05

I did check before...if you check carefully, Travelex.co.uk do warn in their website the bank will charge if you use Visa debit card. As I know...only HSBC, swtich debit card will not charge....(but I checked it months ago...I assumpted the terms and conditions are still the same...)

moonrakerz

I think this is standard practice if you try to buy "cash" with your debit card. I was told in my local Travel Agent that the charge is 3%, so I went to the cash machine and got my Euros for free.

Woby_Tide

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,170,000 for buying currency debit card. (0.42 seconds

It is quite common that some banks do charge for foreigncurrency transactions. always check before as a lot of the above links confirm that all banks have different criteria(and it's likely that it was Travelex that added the charge not your bank)

hammy_the_hammer

once upon a time ( when i could still be bothered ) i used to point this out when people said travelex was the cheapest way to purchase currency on here...as the same thing gets posted nearly every day i lost interest .....this topic should be a 'sticky' on here

pin

Details of charges:

http://www.cahoot.co.uk/rates_fees/rates_fees.html#current

Read T&Cs first.