Withdrawing cash whilst abroad.

BigAndy_79

Hi Guys,

I am hoping you can assist me with the answer to a quick question. I am currently on holiday in Barcelona and I was wondering which is the best option to select when withdrawing from ATM's, the equivilent in GBP or let the bank do the transaction by itself in local currency ? I presumed that I was best to select the former, although when I took out money later in the day yesterday it seemed to give me a more favourable outcome when selecting Euro exchange.

Perhaps I have answered the question to this myself, but I can remember reading questions like this being asked on here before and I was hoping that you guys might be able to clarify things for me a little.

Many thanks in advance,

Andy. :beer:

simonpearce

From http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

Q. If I spend abroad & they let me pay in pounds, is it worth it?

A. No. This is called dynamic currency exchange, and should be avoided. Often the rate you get will be appalling and someone’s making big money out of it. If you’ve got one of the specialist overseas cards you’ll get a much better rate paying in the foreign currency not pounds. And even if you’re using a normal card as you’ve no idea of the relative exchange rates they could be playing you for a fool; so it's always best to stick with paying in the foreign currency.

If you're travelling to Spain, watch out for this when withdrawing money from cash machines too. You will often be asked if you want to have your money converted into Sterling when withdrawing Euros from ATMs. The general rule is say no as you could get a worse rate than the one you’d be given by your own plastic provider.

Yet a few machines now tell you the commission/load they add to the currency, if this is less than your card's own load (eg it's 2.5% and your card is 2.75%) do opt to pay in pounds. However if you have one of the special cheap travel cards, they’re always unbeatable so select euros.

BigAndy_79

Really appreciate that Simon, thank you !

simonpearce

BigAndy_79 wrote: »

Really appreciate that Simon, thank you !

No probs - I just happened to have been reading the article a few minutes before

deva

Just- a quick note- lots of people thought there card wouldn't work when we were in Rhodes but they were trying to take out more than the daily maximum in one go (usually about £250)

missile

Also choose euros when paying by credit card. You will find many outlets may asume you prefer to pay in sterling.