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Foreign Cash on your Credit Card with no fees
jweiss
Posts: 3 Newbie
in Credit cards
I am preparing to go to Germany this weekend for the World Cup (no England tickets I'm afraid). As part of my preparation I researched the cheapest way to get cash and/or spend on a credit card whilst there. I left it too late to apply for the charge/commission free cards discussed in the article on this site, so started trawling through other cards I have applied for over the years (all balance transfers) to see whether any of would prove a good option.
One of the cards is the Marks & Spencer &MORE credit card. When I went to their website I followed a link for Travel Money and discovered that not only do they offer commission free currency at good rates, but you can also pay for it using the M&S &MORE credit card withouit it being treated as a cash advance and therefore giving up to 55 days interest free credit. Further if you order more than £500 worth of currency, it is delivered next working day free of charge.
The 1,000 Euro's I ordered were sold to me at a rate of €1.414, which is about 3% off market rate, but Lloyds TSB and The Post Office were able to €1.395 & €1.393 respectively (plus a delivery charge from LLoyds if I did not collect). So the overall saving was about £10-15 plus I get the benefit of not having to pay for it until July. If I had withdrawn it from a cash point using my Lloyds Debit Card they may have given me close to market rate, but would have charged me 2.75% commission, a 1.5% handling fee AND a £1 card fee!!
Clearly the Nationwide Debit Card is still the cheapest option for cash withdrawls and card payments, but the M&S card does provide a good alternative for those who do not wish to open a new bank account.
jweiss
One of the cards is the Marks & Spencer &MORE credit card. When I went to their website I followed a link for Travel Money and discovered that not only do they offer commission free currency at good rates, but you can also pay for it using the M&S &MORE credit card withouit it being treated as a cash advance and therefore giving up to 55 days interest free credit. Further if you order more than £500 worth of currency, it is delivered next working day free of charge.
The 1,000 Euro's I ordered were sold to me at a rate of €1.414, which is about 3% off market rate, but Lloyds TSB and The Post Office were able to €1.395 & €1.393 respectively (plus a delivery charge from LLoyds if I did not collect). So the overall saving was about £10-15 plus I get the benefit of not having to pay for it until July. If I had withdrawn it from a cash point using my Lloyds Debit Card they may have given me close to market rate, but would have charged me 2.75% commission, a 1.5% handling fee AND a £1 card fee!!
Clearly the Nationwide Debit Card is still the cheapest option for cash withdrawls and card payments, but the M&S card does provide a good alternative for those who do not wish to open a new bank account.
jweiss
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