cards from hell

diane_diff

Mr Lewis
I am extremely disappointed with your website stating my bankers Halifax debit card is the card from hell to use while overseas.
This information is not totally correct as you can see from my comparison below, which reflect Barclays Bank is more expensive than Halifax . You have cost my family more money as we used my partners Barclays card to withdraw while in Spain , which in fact cost us more.
Your facts are not totally correct, as you do not mention Barclays being a costly affair – is this because you have some affiliate with Barclays Bank?
My bank – Halifax , is actually one of the cheapest, excluding Nationwide, to use abroad to withdraw money.
A family of 4 adults travelling in Europe can spend a large amount of money for food and entertainment, with numerous withdrawals to ensure we are not travelling with large amounts of cash on us can work out to be a significant difference in costs.
In my example below you can see 10 x withdrawals from Halifax would have cost me £48 in comparison to Barclays at £57.
The 2.75% load charged by the banks is cheaper than the exchange rates encountered when buying foreign currency in the UK – they obviously make something out of exchanging money for you in the Post Office, Travel Agents or banks.
People tend to believe in what you say and I feel you are mis-informing the general public with your statement. You need to add all bank cards to the cards from hell and not be selective in your approach – with the exception of Nationwide who do not charge.
I look forward tp hearing yourmopinion on my charges.
Regards
Diane

Debit cards

Halifax

RBS

Lloyds

Barclays

Abbey / Santander

fx load

2,75%

2.75%

2.99%

2.75%

2.75%

ATM fee

£ 1.50

2%

1.50%

2%

1.5%(min £1.99)

(min £2 - max £5)

(min £2 -max £4.50

(min£1.50-max £4.50)

£120 transaction

£ 3.30
£ 3.30
£ 3.59
£ 3.30
£ 3.30


£ 1.50
£ 2.40
£ 2.00
£ 2.40
£ 1.99
Total cost

£ 4.80
£ 5.70
£ 5.59
£ 5.70
£ 5.29

richardw

diane_diff wrote: »

The 2.75% load charged by the banks is cheaper than the exchange rates encountered when buying foreign currency in the UK

Doesn't it depend on the bureax de change?

_Andy_

"This website is based on journalistic research. It does not constitute financial advice. Any information should be considered in regard to specific circumstances. All tips are followed at your own risk and should be followed up with your own research "

dzug1

You have misread the article Ms Diane Diff. Go back and have a closer look at it.

The cards from hell are specifically those that add a fee for SPENDING overseas. Quite a few cards - in fact just about all - charge a fee (on top of the load) for withdrawing from an ATM.

If you had read it properly you would have seen Barclays charges.

I suggest you withdraw your unwarranted slur about affiliation.

I would agree that ANY card can be better than buying cash in the wrong place.

teallach

Why on earth would you check what something would have cost after you've paid for it and not before?

budgetflyer

I really dont see how the article can be critisised (if read in full)
however idiots usually blame others for their own stupidity, rather than accepting responsibility for their own errors.

There are links to tables with the FULL list of charges -Halifax and Barclays feature on both the CC table + the DEBIT card table for both spending + cash withdraw.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges


Because YOU chose the wrong MUGGER you possibly got a more severe mugging than what you could have.But by using either card , make no mistake, you were getting mugged .

If you had followed Martins advice then you would have used neither of these cards , and saved quite a lot more.

I too am a Halifax/BOS customer, among others and wouldn't dream of using any of their cards abroad.