Best bank for free overseas transactions

desmond77

Hi all

I'm traveling for a long period of time outside the UK and am trying to figure out the best bank account for low ATM transaction fees. I'm currently with Santander/A&L, but they are useless!

I hear the Post Office do free transactions, but give you a lousy conversion rate to make up the difference? All the threads I've found on this are old, so any up to date information on which bank offers the best transaction fees overseas would be great.

Cheers

Lornholio

I'm interested in the exact same thing. I live in France 5-6 months out of the year but still need to withdraw some cash from my UK account while I'm there. My current RBS account charges £5 every time I use a foreign ATM and the foreign ATMs charge 2% on top of the amount withdrawn (if I'm reading my online statement correctly). we're only talking about £10 a month here but it adds up. I'm very careful with my money (never overdrawn, always pay off my credit card in full ahead of time) and currently have about 2K saved. Just looking to minimise these charges, and some sort of interest rate would be nice (still currently on a student account with no interest even though I've repeatedly told RBS I graduated in 2009). Any help?

Mikhail

WOW you have managed to find the forum, but not the article - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

simonne15_2

On advice from this site I have a new free Fairfx card which I preloaded before travelling and also activated it before leaving the UK. :j
Imagine my horror when making an online hotel booking, I was told when the hotel tried to debit it, for confirmation in case of no-show- that my card was declined.:mad:
After 3 emails to Fairfx using their 24hr/365 days a year response service but actually waiting more than 24hrs for replies....and being told incorrectly that there mustn't be sufficient funds in my account, I then phoned the customer service number on the back of the card- at typical international expense. I learned then that the Customer Service is provided by a completely different company- more confusion to deal with.
However the explanation is - and I quote Fairfx:
"The reason why the payments are failing is because the payment is being entered into a chip and pin reader without the card itself being present. This is a security measure recently introduced by Master-card in which we have no control over."
I think this fact should be loudly and clearly spelled out on the Fairfx information website and maybe Martin may wish to include that in the article on this site too. Paying with this card is supposed to save charges, whilst using it to draw cash from an ATM incurs a charge. But if we can't pay with it online that's a significant issue for its use.
Has anyone else heard this about Mastercards?
If you transfer funds from whichever bank you choose to use to load the card and you check what you really can- and can't- use it for then this card may be useful to you.:( Good luck with the trip.

callum9999

The only banks (to my knowledge) that offer such a thing are Norwich and Peterborough and Metro Bank (London only). Santander Zero involves jumping through hoops to get (£10k+ savings or a mortgage) but is another option.

The Post office credit card is fee free abroad (not aware of the conversion problems you listed?) along with Santander Zero and Halifax Clarity (and to a lesser extent, Nationwide if you use it in the UK enough beforehand).

labp04

Maybe for anyone spending long('ish) periods abroad MetroBank is a good option and worth making the trip to a branch from wherever you live in the UK. Certainly was for us. Have used the debit card extensively in Europe including Turkey without any problems so, in other words (and despite it's very different website!) all seems well and it does what it says on the tin.

desmond77

Hi everyone.

Thanks for all your replies, much appreciated. I actually have a Santander Zero card that I've never used - but it is a Credit Card, not a Debit Card, right? I'm a bit confused about the 27.9% Representative Variable rate on the cash withdrawals. Does this mean I pay £27.90 everytime I draw out £100 pounds? I'm sure it doesn't, but I can't find out how to calculate what I'd be paying.

I've been to the Metro Bank website and they don't seem to have any information on overseas transactions. I guess as I will be away for a while, it could be worth having that, but can't seem to see anything written there.

Thanks for any help.

desmond77

Just thought I'd bump this, can anyone explain to me how the 27.7% rate of interest works? Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions Links are fine.

ERICS_MUM

what about taking some of your money in travellers cheques ?

desmond77

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

what about taking some of your money in travellers cheques ?

That could work for the initial traveling, but in the long run, I need a bank account I can take money in and out of over the next year.

Cheers!

easilyparted

I suggest you try Fairbairn Private Bank, I have been using them for years and I think they are great. Not allowed to post website but search engine will find them.