'Cash advance fee', When using Travelex online

munkee

I've just exchanged £300 sterling into Euro's, using Travelex.co.uk unbeatable currency exchange rates, they are the best out there, or they were, till now - Read on.

€435 the other day, cost me £300.89 - typically the rate went up to the highest in 12 months, two days later.. :mad:

I brought the money online using my Barclays Visa Debit Card, the money was in the account - So, can anyone tell me, why I was then charged £4.50, to do so..?

<Rant>

This £4.50 wasn't charged by Travelex, they have a small note on there site telling you about banks charging a Cash Advance Fee.

So, the email comes in from Travelex saying thanks for buy your currency from us and the charge would be £300.89

Only to find on my statement two days later - Travelex £305.39 - this made me think, Huh! £305.39 - £300.89 = £4.50!! Whats that?

So, Mad as hell, thinking that I had gotten the best rate ever, I rang up Barclays for an explanation of this fee.... They first of all told me that it was charged by Travelex, as thats how it appeared on my statement - then they told me it was charged by Visa, finally I got someone in the complaints department to admit it was charged by them - I knew it came from Barclays all along, as my girlfriend was charged £2.75 by Abbey national. After telling the complaints department this - is when they admitted a 2% fee on Cash Advances, when buying currency - minimum of £1.50 max charge of £4.50

This is just not acceptable!! - Travelex used to by the easiest and best way to purchase your travel currency, until now, with this extra charge you might as well head down the post office with your cash in hand.

Or to M&S, which are your best High St option.

The lady on the phone at Barclays refunded my £4.50 (this time) and suggested that I purchased Travel money by withdrawing the amount from a cash machine first, then buy it on the High St...

Grrrrr!

Does anyone here know when this fee started to happen?
As I'm pretty sure it didn't exist the last time I purchased money this way, in Nov 06.

Anyway, as you can tell I'm pretty annoyed at discovering this - and feel sorry for Travelex - they are a great company and now are going to suffer the consequences of banks scuppering us with this stupid charge, because we knowledgeable people no longer use our local banks for currency exchange..

</Rant>

GlennTheBaker

As you say, not the fault of Travelex - just another way for the likes of Barclays to screw a few quid out of you. Rather than stop using Travelex, just open an account with a bank/building society that doesn't impose this sort of charge. I've used my First Direct Maestro debit card and my Nationwide Visa debit card to purchase from Travelex and have never been charged any extra.

Tight_Git_3

I purchased £500 worth of US dollars via the internet with Travelex, picking them up from the Heathrow kiosk. This was mid November, and I got stung for £5 after using my Lloyds TSB debit card.

I never chased it, but wasn't best pleased as I have a platinum account with Lloyds, which allows me to take £500 a day from the hole in the wall without charge anyway, so what's the difference.....
I'll probably use M&S next time and pay with cash.

pin

Its not Travelex's fault, and they also make it clear:

"Please note: The purchase of travel money with a credit/debit card may incur a cash advance fee charged by your credit/debit card issuer. This fee would be levied irrespective of whether your travel money was purchased by phone, over the internet or over the counter. This is NOT charged by Travelex. Maestro/Switch cards do not incur a cash advance fee."

budgetflyer

Travelex are not the best online rate. They are the most convienient though. Thomas Global normally beat them.What I do is buy off travelex, then email them quoting Thomas Global rates.
They then send me a cheque for the difference per their best price guarantee (yes another one to exploite:p)
My guide explains EXACTLY how.

We arent talking fortunes, but more than enough to offset the Bank charges.
BTW my BOS visa debit DONT charge anything when using travelex

histon_iain

I too was once caught out by this, having used my Lloyds debit card to purchase money on-line from travelex.
A long discussion with Lloyds customer services followed and it basically came down to the fact that Lloyds were treating it as a cash advance and passed on the charges to me. The reason they treated this transaction like this and not a transaction to buy food in a supermarket, is that the goods I received from travelex were cash and they were also goods that lloyds could have supplied, whereas food is not cash and not something (to my knowledge) that the bank can supply.

JoseChungsDoomsday

Halifax dont charge you for buying the travel money in the uk

techno12

Wish I'd read this thread before buying my money!

Just found that Barclays have added £2 'fee' to my Travelex transaction. Of course, when I phoned them it was like speaking to the muppets. One guy just laughed at me and said "its only £2" and said the charge was definitely from Travelex, until I quoted an article from the Observer and he admitted "yes its from us". Another person just kept insisting it was Travelex's commission. Grr. Those idiots should be sacked as it's basic customer care and they're not able to provide it - a minute on Google told me what it was but they didn't know. Useless.

Additionally, I found the rates at street money changes at my destination (Prague) to be around 5% better than the best internet rates in the UK so I'll know next time. Also, there's a booth at Birmingham International Station which has the same if not better rates than Travelex's online ones (it's just before the monorail for the airport on the right) so I may use them next time for my initial cash and get the rest at my destination.

M4RKM

RBS / Natwest / Nationwide / Intelligent Finance / Halifax / HSBC / First Direct / Coventry Building Society, all do NOT charge any fee, when using a debit card to purchase foreign currency.

Abbey / A&L / Cahoot / Barclays / Co-op / Lloyds TSB / Smile - all charge a fee when using a debit card to purchase currency

EricMears

I've only just spotted this topic.

I've used Travelex for years - always paying with my RBS Highline (Maestro) Card and never paid charges.

In Jan 2007 I bought some dollars and paid with a Giro Visa-Delta card and the transaction was surcharged as described above. Travelex were unable to help but when I made a fuss with Giro Customer Services they insisted the charge was 'fixed' but made a 'goodwill payment' which effectively refunded it. Since then I've always used my Highline card for Travelex transactions.

Now the bad news ! This morning I've just received from RBS a Visa-Delta card as a 'replacement' for my 'Highline' card. The manager of my local RBS branch claims that all banks are phasing out Maestro cards & replacing with VD and that I shouldn't notice any difference. I have asked for an assurance that similar charges will not be applied in future &/or that RBS will refund them but she was unable to offer that guarantee. I've put my complaint in writing and asked her to refer it to her superiors.

From one of the replies in this topic it would appear that RBS might not be making these charges but of course I still object to the situation where they might arbitrarily decide to start.

gilesb

I came a cropper on this today. RBS now do charge since their debit cards became visa cards. The problem appears to be Visa requiring Travelex either to pay commission or treat it as a cash advance. I have a Maestro I could have used instead if Travelex had been more upfront in telling me it was a 'cash advance' .

Will matters differ now with Maestro becoming Mastercard debit?