Questions about Halifax Easycash (basic acc)

trading3

I signed up online for the Halifax easycash on Sunday but havent received any email or post, how long will it take? is this normal?

With easycash can I do international transfer (at the decent rate of 9.50) via the online banking?

Thanks

benjus

I've never actually used it (£9.50 with a pretty bad exchange rate may be better than most other banks, but I'd rather use a cheaper method) but yes, I do have that option available on my EasyCash account.

trading3

At 9.50 its the cheapest rate I've seen, wire transfer rates should usually be pretty good depending on the pair, some of place I go I send in GBP, usually will be using for 2-5k transfers. I'll keep the rest of my accounting with Santander for the free OD, presumably they wont object to me having my DD and SO elsewhere, or perhaps this is reason for the delay, banks jealous over where you keep your accounts.

noh

banks jealous over where you keep your accounts

.

Yeah, they get well jel.

benjus

trading3 wrote: »

At 9.50 its the cheapest rate I've seen, wire transfer rates should usually be pretty good depending on the pair.

For an occasional transfer it's not too bad, and it's probably the cheapest way of sending directly from a bank account. .

However, the exchange rate appears to be about 3.7% worse than the spot rate, which is a fairly high spread. For a transfer of £2k you'd get about €85 more by using an FX broker, and it would probably arrive faster.

http://www.fxcompared.com/Content/money-transfer-from-UK-France-below-3000-amount-2000

trading3

Well in my case I'll send the payment in GBP, and have it settled in the remote country. So 9.50 is a bargain compared to the other banks, and the in-land rate in Thailand (for TT) is way above whatever Hifx, Caxton, UKForex etc etc.. can offer.

zurpher

You both seem to be experts. Therefore I post my similarly phrased question here too.

I've booked a flight from Germany to the UK, the price of the flight was quoted in Euro. I know that MasterCard and Visa credit cards offer relatively fair exchange rates. I'm not so sure if the same applies to the Halifax VISA Electron card.

A quick look at the Halifax Easycash website did not offer any information on exchange rates imposed. In fact, I even could not find the Easycash terms and conditions.

http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccount...unts/easycash/

Has anyone had experience with using the Halifax VISA Electron card in a foreign currency and can comment on the exchange rate issue. I hope the charges won't be as high as the €9-10 saved by using this card.

To put is short:

What's the foreign exchange rates when online shopping the Halifax VISA Electron card?

noh

What's the foreign exchange rates when online shopping the Halifax VISA Electron card?

From
http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/rates-rewards-fees/#International_payment_fees

"Buying goods and services in a foreign currency

When you use your debit card abroad to pay for goods and services, or to withdraw cash at cash machines, the exchange rate we use will be the Visa Reference Exchange Rate. We will charge a conversion fee of 2.75% of the amount of the transaction and a fee of £1.50 for each payment."

Visa exchange rate on a given date can be found here:-

http://www.visaeurope.com/en/cardholders/exchange_rates.aspx

Put 2.75% in the conversion fee box and add £1.50 to the result given.