Spending Overseas: The cheapest way to pay Article Discussion Area

cornishgiant_2

I'm off to the canaries next week and have recently taen out both the Capital ONE and American Express cash back cards.

I have contacted both companies who tell me that the money spent abroad does count toward the cash back. Since this is 4 & 5% respectively ad the charges are 2.75% it would seem that by using them, I am "quids in".

Have I missed anything? Anyone else out there tried it?

Anne_Elize

ernie-money wrote: »

If I go for the Nationwide option, do you have to maintain a balance in that account, or have regular payments going in, in order to qualify for a debit card - I couldn't find this information anywhere!
Thanks a lot to anyone that can help!

I suggest you phone Nationwide and tell them you'd like to open a current account and that you intend to switch, but you'd rather not do the switch immediately. They will open the current account and send you the debit card. Pay money into your new current account ready to spend overseas.

Then, you can decide at a later date if you want to actually switch to Nationwide or not. Personally I think they're worth switching to, but you may not want the bother.

Tazness

Well I post on another thread about 'loaded cards' as I did not know if you could do it in dollars..
Im more confused than ever now after reading this thread .
So it looks like the loaded cards dont really give you any discount - saving on the exchange rate and I should get a card.
Im thinking that I should get the Nation wide card - looks like the debit one is still best? as there are charges on the credit card?
Get the partner to get the SAGA one as a back up - as they are old enough and Im not :~)

I'm getting the feeling its hit and miss..

electric_fish

Not exactly a question about the cheapest way to pay abroad but I wanted to transfer about €100 to my brother and have just had to pay Nationwide £20 for the privilege via a SWIFT/IBAN transfer.

I wondered if this seems a bit excessive and what the rates were for other banks?

Also you have to go into a branch or post a form to do this, you can't do it online...

dzug

electric_fish wrote: »

Not exactly a question about the cheapest way to pay abroad but I wanted to transfer about €100 to my brother and have just had to pay Nationwide £20 for the privilege via a SWIFT/IBAN transfer.

I wondered if this seems a bit excessive and what the rates were for other banks?

Also you have to go into a branch or post a form to do this, you can't do it online...

That's a fairly typical rate - and it's rare to be able to do it online.

You can do it a bit cheaper (A&L are about £15 I think) but not much

msLucindaa

Hi Everyone,

I'm going travelling for the first time and have a couple of questions that may seem really obvious to money savvy folk so apologies in advance!

Firstly I've taken out a Nationwide flexi account to use abroad but was a little worried about the sudden card refusals people have been experiencing, that were listed when I follwed the link below from a previous post (by pin 27/06.07) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=614646&highlight=Nationwide Does anyone have any further info about this issue?

Also, is it possible to but flights over the internet with a debit card or do most flight suppliers require a credit card? (I was considering getting a post office CC but may not if my debit's just as good!)

And last but not least I noticed a post saying that if you pre put credit onto a credit card it may be recognised as unusual activity and problems may ensue. I don't like the idea of worrying about paying a monthly bill while i'm away so my nogvices reaction was to have the money there before I use it. is this naive?

Really appreciate any advice! :-)

feelgood2k

Does anyone know if you can get foreign currency (at the same commission free/wholesale rate) from ATM's in the UK (using Nationwide's VISA debit card)?

You see, I'm going to a 3rd world country and need some foreign currency to take out with me (at least to pay for visa permits on entry).

buda

As always, best way to not get hit for spending charges abroad is spending your own money instead of the bank's

I went backpacking for 9 months and just kept topping up my Visa and Mastercard so that it was always in credit. I could then withdraw cash from ATMs anywhere in the world, S America, Australia, Asia, Russia (they all accept Visa/Mastercard... AmEx a little less common) with no penalty and no interest charge.

Debit card fee loading is a rip-off and credit card rates on cash advances too.

feelgood2k

I've gone for the Nationwide VISA debit card - currently the Top Debit Card to Spend with Overseas as it "...doesnt load anywhere in the world, is free of interest (unless you're overdrawn) and doesn't charge for withdrawing cash.".

By the way I found this about Halifax's ATMs now offering foreign currency in the UK, so will be interested to see if I get the same rate as an ATM abroad with this card.
http://www.fairinvestment.co.uk/banking-news-Halifax-launches-UK's-first-foreign-currency-ATMs-488.html

helenrowland

I am waiting for my debit card o arrive from nationwide as i am off to oz on sunday. if it does not arrive i hve been looking at other options - the cash passport from travelex.
Does anyone know if these are good value? Do they give as good a rate as getting proper cash?
Any thoughts gratefully received !
Thanks, Helen