Mbna charges for euro transaction

jlg1

Hi everyone,

Basically I booked a holiday is Southern Ireland (I live in N Ireland) was quoted 538.50 euro and charged that for the holiday by the holiday firm - for a week booked a house for family) .

When I checked my MBNA statement I noticed I was billed £489.50 sterling - (should really have been roughly £468.50 or so given the exchange rate)....

On 15.06.11 (payment date) rate which was 0.87 it appears I have paid at least £20 more for this transaction?

I phoned MBNA - girl said there are no charges for this transaction i.e, paying in euro for the house - she advised to contact the holiday firm we were renting from. Phoned them they said its up to the bank, "we deal in euro's and charged you 538.50 euro".

Phoned MBNA back who then said "oh but there is a charge of 2.99% on this transaction" I argued that I had just been told (10 mins earlier) there was no charge - then she said its 2.65% for Southern Ireland?

Can anyone tell me which is it and what the score is with this?

I was also told I will have to wait until my statement comes out (2/7/11) before I can find out what exchange rate I was charged and that this will also include the euro transaction fee?

Confused to say the least? I now wish I'd stuck the money in the bank and paid by debit card.....:mad:

So this isnt considered a purchase? I never purchase anything in euro's so this is new to me......

Any tips welcome?

Thanks

James

Biggles

Like most credit - and debit - cards, there is a built-in foreign exchange charge, with MBNA it's 2.99% for any transaction in foreign currency.

You debit card would almost certainly have charged as much, maybe more.

SecLender

It's a puchase in a foreign currency so for most cards, debit or credit, you would have to pay fees.

For future reference, there are some cards that don't charge fees

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money