Choose to paywithdraw cash in Eur or GBP in Spain?

Millennium

I am being offered the choice to pay for meals in Spanish restaurants or when withdrawing cash from ATM using my debit card in either EUR or GBP. Dos anyone know which is best to choose?
I am currently saying EUR as I am guessing that I will then be charged the conversion at my bank's rate rather than one chosen by the foreign bank.
Am I doing the right thing?
I was thinking of experimenting (EUR50 withdrawn from an ATM one way, EUR50 the other on the same day to see!) But how will I know which transaction is which?

GlennTheBaker

Who is your card issuer?

If its one that doesn't charge for overseas transactions (eg Nationwide, Post Office) then choose Euro everytime. For others, it probably won't make a massive difference as the card issuer will generally charge 2.75% commission on the transaction in Euro but the retailer will make something like 3% if you choose Sterling.

Millennium

Thanks for the reply. That's great.

It's Bank of Scotland.

I'm also experimenting with the PO (EUR) travellers cheque card, which is working fine in restaurants and shops.

I need to find out whether they advise withdrawal charges at ATMs like in the UK.

alanjuk

Euro's every time, earlier this year, (July) 300 euro drawn from the machine and if we had chosen GBP it worked out at £210.90 and when the nationwide statement was checked it had cost us £205.18 thats £5.72 difference or 2.8%

alanrowell

Pay in the local currency - if you want to know why look up "dynamic currency conversion" which basically means the merchant sets the exchange rate not the bank

Millennium

Thanks Alan

That answers it!

Jake'sGran

GlennTheBaker wrote:

Who is your card issuer?

If its one that doesn't charge for overseas transactions (eg Nationwide, Post Office) then choose Euro everytime. For others, it probably won't make a massive difference as the card issuer will generally charge 2.75% commission on the transaction in Euro but the retailer will make something like 3% if you choose Sterling.

I used my Nationwide card to pay my hotel bill on Friday and was surprised when the receptionist asked if I wanted to pay in Euros or Stg. As, in the past, this group, Melia Sol had automatically put the Euros on my card I was a bit puzzled. I told her to use Euros for the charge but they converted it at 1.43 so I did not get the advantage of the conversion being done at the interbank rate as in the past. They are always looking at ways to make more money!. The bill did say on it " 3% markup" but when I asked what this meant the lovely lady pretended not to hear me. Looks like another money saver method has bit the dust!

PPJ

Jake'sGran wrote:

I told her to use Euros for the charge but they converted it at 1.43 ...

It sounds like they ignored your instruction. They converted from Euros to Sterling at *their* rate, which (surprise surprise) was advantageous to them.

I'm sure this must be illegal, if you clearly told them.

Millennium

I've been to a couple more ATMs today (in Spain) and both myself and a friend have withdrawn cash. Ths machine was more 'open' and on the screen asking if we wanted to use GBP or EUR it told us what commission it would charge for the converstion and the exchange rate. Can't remember the exchange rate but the commision was 2.75%.

Jake'sGran

PPJ wrote:

It sounds like they ignored your instruction. They converted from Euros to Sterling at *their* rate, which (surprise surprise) was advantageous to them.

I'm sure this must be illegal, if you clearly told them.

She did do it in Euros but it was then immediately converted. Seems like they have a new system so giving me the choice was pointless. I did not get my points for the booking either. These can be accumulated for free accommodation. So, I have sent an email and also complained about the ROE and asked them why they now do it this way.
Silly me, I don't really think they are going to say "it's because we make more money".

peterbaker

Raise a dispute with Nationwide. You WILL get a refund. DCC is basically a VISA and foreign bank aided and abetted fraud which has been around for over 18 months and I have been complaining about it since I discovered I had been a victim. Some of the sharper operations are now however refining their systems to trick you better. Like the ATM experience you mentioned. Nationwide volunteered to me that Banco Santander are a main culprit.

Few have yet perked up the courage to say this is fraud (obtaining money by deception). I am one.

Nationwide are fully prepared to offer refunds even before the result of any formal investigation is known, but their commercial ties mean they can only now force refunds within the system for transactions up to 120 days old according to a set of VISA internal dispute rules.

Ryanair use DCC as a cover for some serious forex jiggery-pokery but don't even tell you they have charged you other than in the ticket currency (if you bought a ticket that was not GBP). That's apparently the subject of an ongoing major internal wrangle between Nationwide, a few other card providers versus the VISA network, foreign merchant banks like Bank of Ireland and Ryanair. See my other thread on that one.