Using Cards Abroad/bank accounts

fawinds

Money sent on monday 15th February. Received at Citibank today. As for the link you supply it seems they have applied today's open rates both for the EUR and USD.

http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=GBPEUR&ss=FTStandard

http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=GBPUSD&ss=FTStandard

Mikhail was right to the extend I have been able to test myself.

bbxsa

Mikhail wrote: »

Only if you move between citibank accounts, if you make a deposit from elsewhere, e.g., Lloyds they apply interbank exchange rate. I've done it.

fawinds wrote: »

Mikhail was right to the extend I have been able to test myself.

Very interesting. Thanks for all the info. I have just sent Citibank some specific questions on this exchange rate / transfer issue and will post back what they say.

fawinds

bbxsa wrote: »

You can check the MastCard exchange rates.:
https:// www .mastercard.com/us/personal/en/cardholderservices/currencyconversion/index.html

Yes, I know that link and the rates there are not exactly what Metro Bank applies. I have euro transactions in my Metro bank account during the last few days and the rates do not match:

Metro bank rates applied to me:

10/Feb 1.17647058
10/Feb 1.17633219
14/Feb 1.18133490
15/Feb 1.18203309
16/Feb 1.18976799

Mastercard rates:

10/Feb 1.1784
14/Feb 1.1896
15/Feb 1.19007


Either Metro Bank uses its own exchange rates, there is a small hidden fee or the mastercard announced rates are an average for the day but the final rate applied depends on the time the banks receives the card transaction. I personally believe it is the latter as you can see two different transaction on my card on 10 February with a different rate applied to each.

rdwarrior

avqs43 wrote: »

I concluded that the best way to keep interest to a minimum was to withdraw the cash and then make a credit to the Zero account, thus eliminating the cash debt.

There's a trick Americans use to get out of the interest; perhaps it will work with british banks too. Make sure there's a balance (make a small purchase if necessary). Then send the bank a cheque that deliberately overpays. E.g. if your balance is $5, then send a cheque for $505, leaving a credit of $500. (The bank cannot take part of a cheque, so they must credit the full amount). Then immediately hit the ATM with your credit card. The interest will be zero, because you're only drawing down your credit. Will that work for the santander zero card?

Some banks mitigate that by issuing a cheque for the excess amount to zero the balance. All the banks have different policies. Some banks will issue checks to clear the balance only after the credit sits there for months. Other banks will do it quickly, which means your timing has to be precise.

Biggles

rdwarrior wrote: »

There's a trick Americans use to get out of the interest; perhaps it will work with british banks too

It's not just Americans, there are several threads here on this, it used to be quite a common practice, I did it myself as a matter of routine.

However, most (all?) banks have now changed their T&Cs to say that you can't keep a credit balance on your account and that they will refund it if you do so.

But this is insufficiently tested and I'm sure that, if your debit hit the card only just after your credit, you would get away with it.

On the other hand, if you credited the card only a few days after your debit your interest would be only a few pence anyway........

fawinds

bbxsa wrote: »

Very interesting. Thanks for all the info. I have just sent Citibank some specific questions on this exchange rate / transfer issue and will post back what they say.

Another test:

Sent £100.00 by BACS on Thursday. Money arrived today. Paid €118.70.

GBPEUR exchange opened today at 1.1870: http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=GBPEUR&ss=FTStandard&ftauth=1298270620644

Exchange rate applied if I had transferred the money from my Citibank sterling account: 1.1632

It seems pretty obvious to me now that for money received from another bank they apply the interbank exchange rate with 0% load.

bbxsa

I sent £1 from my RBS account on Thursday to my AUD savings account at Citibank and received A$1.60 today (21/Feb). GBPAUD is in the 1.6020 range so that seems about right too.

I have tried to ask Citibank via online banking what method/rate they apply to these transfers but so far have not received a clear answer. (They are only telling me the rate I can see for myself via a Citibank GBP->AUD online transfer). I have asked the question again more specifically so will let you know if/when I get a decent response.

Pedro1874

FRESTER wrote: »

Norwich and peterborough building society have a debit card with there current account which has a zero charge on all transactions abroad.
No charge for taking cash or using in shops etc.This begins from 1st Jan when they change there terms and conditions:j

I have just looked at the Debit card for the Norwich & Peterborough Building society. I have beeen told over the phone (and the website substantiates this) that if you open a "Gold Light" a/c and make 5 transactions per month you have NO charges whatsoever on overseas transactions or ATM withdrawals. You get the Visa exchange rate too. Sounds too good to be true. Can anyone verify this? I note that someone above has said they are "choosey".

lisyloo

You might get away with putting you car in credit on the other hand the credit might be refused/returned and your card stopped.
Depends on whether you want to take the chance of your card being stopped whilst on holiday.
Personally I wouldn't want to take that chance and would rather pay small charges and stick to the Ts&Cs.
I would advise talking a spare card anyway but certainly if you are planning on breaching Ts&Cs deliberately.

bbxsa

fawinds wrote: »

It seems pretty obvious to me now that for money received from another bank they apply the interbank exchange rate with 0% load.

I sent £100 from my RBS account to my Citibank AUD savings account and was credited with AUD 161.35 on 23/Feb. This seems like a fair rate.

But when I emailed to ask about their rate, they replied:
"Our FX rates are in tandem with the market rates. Please note that there will be a commission charge of approximately 2.5% on the value of the transfer. The commission will be included in the FX rate itself. These rates keep changing therefore the exchange rate that will be applied to the funds transfer depends only at the Fx rate which is available on our system at the time of transferring funds."

The rate seems too good for them to have taken 2.5% but I can not be certain.