Most efficient way of extracting cash abroad

Biggles

ManAtHome wrote: »

Bit of rounding from Halifax - when I used the Nationwide Flex, rates were always to 4 decimal places - looks like some you win, some you lose (no complaints with Clarity rates or service though).

They don't round for the calculation, it's only the amount displayed that's rounded.

benjus

Some figures from my Santander Zero credit card:

23 Mar 2011 - €50 = £43.63, so card rate 1.146; oanda rate 1.1494, difference 0.2%
24 Mar 2011 - €300 = £262.39, so card rate 1.143336; oanda rate 1.1520, difference 0.7%
29 Mar 2011 - €300 = £264.84, so card rate 1.132759; oanda rate 1.1375, difference 0.4%
06 Apr 2011 - €300 = £263.04, so card rate 1.14051; oanda rate 1.1404, difference 0.0097%

So I'm not seeing any spread of any significance at all. As far as I'm concerned the Santander Zero card is giving the interbank rate, and any small differences are probably due to rate fluctuations and the uncertainty over when exactly the transactions were converted into GBP.

ManAtHome

Biggles wrote: »

They don't round for the calculation, it's only the amount displayed that's rounded.

Cheers Biggles - tried the calculator instead of the head... Actual rates came out slightly better than I stated:
27/01 - 1.1606 (1.1573, Oanda Interbank)
02/02 - 1.1721 (1.1698)
05/02 - 1.1803 (1.1838)

cepheus

They look like great rates, I will have to get my Santander card working! I have an old Nationwide credit card already, I think this is effectively the same as Clarity.

Sorry Meant Nationwide changed!!!

stilltheone

I'm not sure why you are using oanda or quoting 'interbank' rates. The rates are supplied by Visa and Mastercard. Nothing to do with the banks.

stilltheone

cepheus wrote: »

They look like great rates, I will have to get my Santander card working! I have an old Halifax credit card already, I think this is effectively the same as Clarity.

What makes you think so??

mandy

I should realy know the answer to this but if asked at a cash machine abroad if i want to be charged in sterling or euros which is best.

Thanks

Baldur

cepheus wrote: »

I have an old Halifax credit card already, I think this is effectively the same as Clarity.

As the Clarity card was only introduced in July 2010, that's unlikely.

I have a Clarity Card, which is not the same as a Clarity Reward card (i.e. I don't receive the £5 reward for spending >£300 in a statement month, whereas holders of the 'Reward' version do), so an old Halifax CC is unlikely to offer the FX benefits of the Clarity cards.

benjus

stilltheone wrote: »

I'm not sure why you are using oanda or quoting 'interbank' rates. The rates are supplied by Visa and Mastercard. Nothing to do with the banks.

An FX transaction can be considered free if you would get the same amount you started with after converting it and then converting back again.

i.e. if you could do 100 GBP -> XXX EUR -> 100 GBP

Which means that you would need to get the market mid rate in each direction.

Obviously you can't do that in real life, but we're only interested in the GBP -> EUR part, so if we can do that at the market mid rate, it's effectively free. If we can't do it at the market mid rate, we can measure the difference to see how much the transfer is costing us. This approach works whether you are using these cards or changing money at the Post Office.

oanda is a convenient place to source the market mid rates to use as a reference.

stilltheone

mandy wrote: »

I should realy know the answer to this but if asked at a cash machine abroad if i want to be charged in sterling or euros which is best.

Thanks

Euros.....