Question about Barclaycard fees abroad

sturgeon

I've used the comparison on this site, which shows that the foreign fee for Barclaycard is 2.99%. It says, however, that it's 2.99% (min £2.99).

Where does that £2.99 fee come in? Surely it's not a standard minimum £2.99 fee on every transaction? I've made small purchases in duty free when going to spain before (where I am now) and definitely didn't see a £2.99 fee on those small purchases.

I want to ensure that if I make small payments ill only be paying a 2.99% fee and not £2.99 each time. It's that 'minimum £2.99' that's confusing me.

InsideInsurance

If you were going TO spain and buying in the airport shop then presumably that was a shop in the UK and therefore not a foreign transaction?

Have a look at your particular card. Certainly my Barclaycard is 2.99% but no minimum and the couple I checked on their website are the same as mine

reclusive46

The £2.99 minimum is just for cash withdrawals. There is no minimum charge on purchases.

grumbler

InsideInsurance wrote: »

If you were going TO spain and buying in the airport shop then presumably that was a shop in the UK and therefore not a foreign transaction?

If it was in Spain, duty free shops very like Dynamic Currency Conversion. In this case they charge you in ££ using their own extortionate exchange rate and Barclaycard don't charge anything on top.

And you can never trust MSE and have to double-check everything:

Charges
Cash fee: 2.99%, minimum £2.99 on sterling transactions only
...
Foreign usage
...
One or more of the following may apply
Non Sterling Transaction Fee: 2.99% of transaction (no minimum)
Cash fee: No fee on non-sterling transactions

guesswho2000

reclusive46 wrote: »

The £2.99 minimum is just for cash withdrawals. There is no minimum charge on purchases.

Only on sterling cash withdrawals, if you withdraw foreign cash, there's no minimum.

chattychappy

Barclaycard is now pretty good for getting cash out of foreign ATMs. True you pay the 2.99%, but they do treat it in a similar way as a purchase. Ie provided you pay off your balance in full by the due date then you won't get interest. Most other cards (including fee free cards such as Clarity) always charge interest - though of course this can be minimised by paying off promptly.

My Barclaycard lets me take out £500/day - more than some of my other cards.

Agree - look out for DCC. Always pay in the local currency. You even get DCC on some ATMs. Eg at Zurich last week at ATM was keen to offer me the option of processing the transaction in GBP rather than CHF.