MSE News: Metro Bank to charge for debit card use outside Europe

System

I seriously doubt it as many of their customers will be using them solely for foreign usage and nothing else.

Also, it's not like they have a large ATM network for tourists to use. They have a handful of branches and i've not seen any remote ATMs with their branding.

apcd2 wrote: »

This should have been relatively revenue neutral. While Metro will have been paying for their customers withdrawing money abroad they will also have been collecting the fees for foreign users of their cash machines. As a London centric bank they may even have come out ahead due to the large number of tourists in London.

apcd2

Heng_Leng wrote: »

I seriously doubt it as many of their customers will be using them solely for foreign usage and nothing else.

Also, it's not like they have a large ATM network for tourists to use. They have a handful of branches and i've not seen any remote ATMs with their branding.

While I'm sure some of their customers only use them for foreign withdrawals Metro Bank won't have suffered to anything like the same extent as Nationwide or others in the past. The requirement to open an account in branch and the small geographical spread of those branches will have put off a lot of people. Even this site has been extremely reserved in it's promotion of Metro Bank debit/credit cards because of these restrictions.

There may only be a handful of branches but most of the central London branches are in very desirable locations. Whilst maybe not enough to offset the fees Metro Bank has to pay for its customers they will have brought in a reasonable income.

Pincher

Card overload. Can't remember which does what.

I took out NOK2,000, Norwegian Krone cash at an airport ATM, using a Nationwide Select Credit card, which ended up as £203.24 plus £5.09 Cash Fee.

If I had done this with the Nationwide FlexDirect Visa Debit card, would the Cash Fee be free?

Also, does the Saga over 50 credit card offer more than the FlexDirect Visa Debit? Or just the same? Worldwide vs. just Europe?

huw01

Money_Doctor wrote: »

they probably did, a good perk, and plenty of money probably sitting on deposit as a result which now might move away.

Are the canaries included in their definition of Europe does anybody know?

Well according to their website it's anywhere within the Single European Payment Area.

Looking at good old wikipedia it's a bit more tricky to find where is in and out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

Isle of Man and Channel Islands off the travel list ! I'd say on first glance that the Canaries are in, but I could be wrong

reclusive46

huw01 wrote: »

Well according to their website it's anywhere within the Single European Payment Area.

Looking at good old wikipedia it's a bit more tricky to find where is in and out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

Isle of Man and Channel Islands off the travel list ! I'd say on first glance that the Canaries are in, but I could be wrong

You don't pay foreign transactions fees in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands on any UK card. Gibraltar is also free.

NFH

I would guess that as well as SEPA countries, it will include countries whose banking system is tied to a SEPA country. For example, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar use UK sort codes, and Monaco uses the French banking system. I'm not sure about Andorra though. Any territory that is an integral part of a SEPA country will be included, which of course includes the Canary Islands and French overseas departments.

[Deleted User]

I guess it was nice while it lasted, I managed to make good use of it in Mauritius 6 months ago. A pity though, because I moved our business account there recently just for this reason, because we make a lot of debit card payments to suppliers in the USA in USD.

arbitrabbit

Channel Islands and Isle of Man are anyway GBP transactions so won't incur a charge. Monaco and Gibraltar is explicitly on the list and yes, Canaries are part of SEPA and hence will be covered. Andorra is an oddity. While it is not part of SEPA, it depends on how MasterCard reports it to banks.

Also, looking at Metro's Twitter feed, it does appear that the issue was cost. The same thing happened to Nationwide and N&P - essentially loads of people open accounts with these banks and only ever use the account for travel whereas banks probably offer the benefit hoping that people will start using the account as their main account. When that doesn't happen, banks have to either impose funding or balance criteria to force people to use the account or scale the benefit back. Don't think the economics of such a benefit can ever work. It is easier on Credit where the interchange rates are higher and at least you pay interest if you make cash withdrawal, but I would be interested to see how long can Clarity maintain its position.

SaveTheEuro

h15t0r1an wrote: »

It was just the way that their promise of "no foreign exchange fees or loading" made me feel so positive about them . Now I don't feel particularly positive. I'll be open to other offers now.

Well put.


First Nationwide and now Metro. It may be the oldest ploy to offer something attractive to lure in customers and then withdraw that benefit, but it leaves customers with a negative feeling about that institution. Why should we trust them in future?

Archi_Bald

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

Why should we trust them in future?

What promise have they broken? When did they ever promise that their cards would be free forever? Why would you expect a business to continue to run a service that they cannot financially justify?