Buying in dollars?

killiegirl_2

I'm going to New York next month, and was wondering which credit card I should get to get the best exchange rate and/or cashback? Thanks!

omega27

Everyone will probably say Nationwide, but I rather like Amex Platinum's 2% cashback & decent US Exchange rates.

jonesMUFCforever

You might get a slightly better rate for USD travellers cheques than for cash, some banks etc now supply without commission.
By buying t/c before you go you know exactly how much money you have to spend, most shops etc will acept them and you can still take your credit cards with you as backup.
Eric

Reaper

I suggest you start by clicking here to read Martin's article on the subject.

Galstonian

Why you would use a card which charges a 2.73% foreign transaction fee (i.e. Amex Platinum) to obtain a 2% rebate is beyond me.

Nationwide would have been a no-brainer when the intro offer included 1% cashback for 6 months and no foreign transaction loading as standard. I think it is still the front runner even though cahcback has been reduced.

I just got back from the US and was getting a rate of just over $1.87 to the £1 on my NW card (plus I stll get 0.5% cachback on these purchases). Compare that to the Post Office (which many people seem to think is a good deal) at a rate of $1.8/£1 with "no commission".

omega27

Galstonian wrote:

Why you would use a card which charges a 2.73% foreign transaction fee (i.e. Amex Platinum) to obtain a 2% rebate is beyond me.

They don't seem to charge on a couple of www transactions eg: £87.38 = 158.55 USD. That's 1.8145. TravelEX was 1.8280 at the time, that's not a 2.73% difference! It's about 65p, but I make £1.74 in cashback :-)

I think their rates in Europe aren't great (translated to US$ then GB£..) but for the USA it's great! I've been assured by CS that they use the same rate for online & in-person transactions in the US.

ronnie_2

Hi, can highly recommend getting yourself a us dollar debit visa card from lloydstsb. No exchange charges at all!!!

Just a one off $50 charge, although if your a good customer you might just be able to blag your way to having this zerod

click here

and remember keep your plastic safe whereever you go!

Reaper

Er - that's not a one off charge:

We currently make a charge of US $50/€50 for providing access to all the benefits of this account, including the Debit Card, which is available to all account holders subject to status. The charge is payable when the account is opened and on the anniversary of that date each year.

Or your could use a Nationwide credit card/debit card which is free.

Galstonian

The 2.73% is from the T&C, it is not usually displayed on statements, the conversion masks it. Why you were not charged (assuming you were not) is open for debate - did they forget? do you have different T&C?

ronnie_2

Reaper wrote:

Er - that's not a one off charge:

but does the charge get taken each time round, (if it does i would perhaps give the offshore dept a phone, easily removed)