Debit Cards

AnnieD7

What is the best bank debit card to use in Spain please? I have a Nationwide FlexAccount card and a Halifax Reward current account card. I would like to know which (if either of these, or indeed any other bank's cards) would be cheapest to use for using ATM's and buying goods in shops. I have looked on this site but don't really understand what "load charges" means.

Thank You

Annie x

Bob_the_Saver

Metro Bank (London Branches)

bignred05

The best debit card for Spain is Santander, as long as your account is in credit
You can use any Santander ATM in Spain to withdraw Euro's, its free (no hidden charges) and the best thing is you get the "bank exchange rate" only recently i was getting 1.28 in Palma Nova (Majorca). The local exchange rate was 1.24

benjus

Metro Bank is excellent. Also consider the Gold Classic or Gold Light accounts. Both have no fees when used abroad and give you the Visa or Mastercard wholesale exchange rate, which is essentially the same rate that you see reported on sites like xe.com and not the kind of rate you get in a Bureau de Change.

Regarding the "load charges" there are two things you might be thinking of here:

• Exchange rate loading is when the bank takes a certain percentage off the wholesale rate as their fee
• Load fees apply to prepaid cards, not debit cards, and refer to changes for transferring money onto the prepaid card (i.e. loading the card with money).

benjus

bignred05 wrote: »

The best debit card for Spain is Santander, as long as your account is in credit
You can use any Santander ATM in Spain to withdraw Euro's, its free (no hidden charges) and the best thing is you get the "bank exchange rate" only recently i was getting 1.28 in Palma Nova (Majorca). The local exchange rate was 1.24

With a Metro Bank or N&P card you can use any Spanish bank's ATM to get money with a perfect exchange rate and no fees - you don't have to worry about finding a Santander ATM.

AnnieD7

Thanks everyone - just the advice I needed

Cheers

Annie x