Pre-ordering Currency using a Visa Debit Card

angelavdavis

Hi Everyone,

I have previously pre-booked currency using my bank debit card (which at the time was a Maestro).

However, my bank has changed recently to Visa debit.

I have always avoided using a Visa debit card, even for preordered currency as when I tried to get currency over the counter using a Visa debit (ie not a cash advance but a withdrawal), the currency company warned me it would be charged as a cash advance, insisting that Visa was at fault for processing it as a cash advance - even though it is actually a debit.

I have then had to withdraw the money there and then and then return back to the currency counter and get it exchanged.

So, my question is, now I no longer have maestro, but want to use a Visa debit card, if I prebook using this card, will I be charged for a cash advance?

Anyone have any experience of this? I don't want to get stitched for cash advance charges. However, how can I prebook without entering card information at time of ordering?

Thanks

benjus

You should have been issued new T&C with your new card. Look through the fees/charges section carefully - it should be there somewhere.

The following banks definitely charge:

Santander
Alliance & Leicester
Barclays
Cahoot
Co-op
Lloyds TSB
Smile
Natwest
RBS

Backbiter

I've wondered about this. It does seem ludicrous that they treat purchase of foreign currency with a debit card differently to purchase of anything else, and impose steep charges. It appears to me that you can't benefit from the better exchange rates available online, as the debit card fees wipe out any adavantage of buying in cash from a high street travel agent or bank (not that banks are as competitive as travel agents in my experience).

ferf1223

Backbiter wrote: »

I've wondered about this. It does seem ludicrous that they treat purchase of foreign currency with a debit card differently to purchase of anything else

Though if you think about it - if you used that same debit card in an ATM overseas to withdraw cash (or if you used that debit card to purchase something online in that foreign currency), you would be hit with the same charges as they are applying when you buy that currency in the UK using your debit card.

And you're buying currency...you aren't buying a product or paying for a service.

So...in that way, it kind of makes sense...not saying it's nice, but still.

Backbiter

I disagree. Isn't a debit card a facility for removing cash directly from one's account to that of the payee? Not for borrowing temporarily until the bill is settled as with a credit card or charge card. By using a debit card you are simply authorising direct payment for something, whether it be a pair of shoes or currency. I don't see why it should be subject to additional fees, just because it's for currency.
It's different to using an overseas ATM.
If I go into Thomas Cook and pay for a holiday with a debit card, then I don't get charged. If I go there and pay for currency, I do. In both cases, it's Thomas Cook providing the goods. The bank is just providing payment.
If I use an overseas ATM the foreign bank and my bank are providing the service themselves, in addition to providing payment.

ferf1223

If you use your debit card online to pay for something in foreign currency, if your card is one that charges for such transactions, you'll be stung with those charges.

If your Thomas Cook holiday was, say, in EUR, you would get charged the foreign exchange loading.

Since you're buying something in a foreign currency (in this case, actual foreign currency)...it makes sense to me that if the bank charges for withdrawals and payments in a foreign currency - they would charge you to buy foreign currency.

I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it makes sense.

As for foreign bank charges - I haven't even mentioned those...all I've mentioned is the charge your bank would levy if you were to withdraw foreign currency from a foreign ATM...not sure why you've brought the foreign bank into it? Their charges are something else entirely.

Backbiter

I brought the foreign bank into it because, when you use an overseas ATM, you are using the services of a foreign bank, which in turn has agreements in place with your own bank to allow you to make withdrawals from it. All that is a service your bank provides that does not come free.

My Thomas Cook analogy is a fair one - it doesn't involve any foreign currency transactions or conversions on the part of your bank. All that is done by Thomas Cook, who charge you in sterling for their service. For the bank to treat it the same as a foreign currency transaction is simply wrong, as it isn't one.

dzug1

Backbiter wrote: »

. For the bank to treat it the same as a foreign currency transaction is simply wrong, as it isn't one.

It may or may not be 'wrong' (opinion), but it's what some of them do (fact).

If you don't like it change to a bank that doesn't charge - there are a few of them