Spending money abroad

brisk

With the news that Nationwide are introducing charges for Flex Account holders for using the card abroad or to pay for things in a foreign currency, what's the cheapest way to live in Australia if all your money is in £?

Bank transfer into Australian $ account? Forex? Moneybookers? Continue to use Flex Account card?

CountryGoose

Full time living in OZ? If you want to fix your spends for the year you may want to consider an exchange rate contract for the year. You may win, you may lose, but at least you will have an idea of your budget.

If you are in OZ, you may find it hard to open new accounts in the UK. If you can, maybe a Metrobank account coupled with a good credit card would work for you if you don't want to fix.

It all depends if this is a fixed stay in Oz and how you want to manage your income in the longer term.

Gloomendoom

Barclays debit cards have reasonable rates at Westpac ATM's (2.75%)

Donnie

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Barclays debit cards have reasonable rates at Westpac ATM's (2.75%)

How is that reasonable, when even a prepaid card will offer you 1.5% and Metro Bank nothing at all?

brisk

I plan to be living out of the UK for a number of years - probably in Australia. I'll be living off savings which are in a UK bank account.

From November Nationwide will charge a 2% commission and further £1 on ATM use abroad.

Metrobank seems like a good idea but how safe is it putting my money in there? I've never heard of them before and they don't seem very big. Also where does it say that their current account won't charge a fee or conversion commission for a cash withdrawal abroad? I don't see that on their website.

benjus

brisk wrote: »

Metrobank seems like a good idea but how safe is it putting my money in there? I've never heard of them before and they don't seem very big. Also where does it say that their current account won't charge a fee or conversion commission for a cash withdrawal abroad? I don't see that on their website.

The website is a bit vague, but no mention of any charges:

If you make a debit card payment in a foreign currency, we will change the amount of the transaction to sterling on the date we pay it out of your account using the rate for the transaction which is set and provided to us by MasterCard.

I used a Metrobank card recently in Italy, and got the spot exchange rate with no charges or commission.

Metrobank is a completely new high street bank - they currently have 2 branches in London. All banks in the UK are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so unless you have more than £50000 in your current account you won't lose anything if they go bust.

brisk

Just found out that Metrobank only open face-to-face so that option is no good for me. What's the next best?

benjus

brisk wrote: »

Just found out that Metrobank only open face-to-face so that option is no good for me. What's the next best?

Don't think there is another current account that offers this.

The next best thing is the Halifax Clarity credit card, which does not charge for cash withdrawals abroad. It does charge interest though, so you need to pay off the card as soon as possible after making a cash transaction. The Santander Zero card is similar but has a higher interest rate.

You could get both Halifax Clarity and Santander Zero - keep the Santander card for purchases only and have it paid off by direct debit in full each month. Keep the Halifax card for cash withdrawals only and pay it off each time you use it (or as soon as possible after). That's probably the best combination of cost and convenience.

metrobus

Is there a monthly fee for the halifax clarity card ?

adindas

Nope. But check the interest rate for money withdrawal that you receive

ADINDAS

metrobus wrote: »

Is there a monthly fee for the halifax clarity card ?

brisk

I can't get a credit card because i'm not employed:(