Spending Overseas: The cheapest way to pay Article Discussion Area

stphnstevey

Have I got this right?

If I use my Nationwide Debit Card anywhere in the world
a) If I pay using my debit card in foreign currency, the exchange rate will be the best available, with no additional fees
b) If I draw cash from a cash machine in forign currency there will be no charge to withdraw it and the exchange rate will be the best available

emmemm

If you calculated how much cash you were likely to withdraw on a trip and then deposited that amount IN ADVANCE in your account for the "Abbey Zero" card then you would not incur interest charges, or would only be charged for any cash you withdrew in excess of what you had planned to do. Would that work?

cepheus

Am I correct in believing the Abbey CC will charge interest from day 1 for cash withdrawals, in which case by the time the Direct debit happens you will have incurred about 2% interest?

tonsk

emmemm wrote: »

If you calculated how much cash you were likely to withdraw on a trip and then deposited that amount IN ADVANCE in your account for the "Abbey Zero" card then you would not incur interest charges, or would only be charged for any cash you withdrew in excess of what you had planned to do. Would that work?

I would like to know if that works too! Sounds like a very good idea but they probably have it covered in the T&C's to stop it.


tonsk

cepheus

Actually Emmemms solution of paying the Abbey card in advance should work for foreign transactions as well. This would seem to be be best solution, since you get the guarantee that the CC offers yet no loading or interest. The only downside is the lost interest in your bank account due to upfront payment if going on holiday, but this should be minimal. You will have to plan ahead in this case!

whu

cepheus wrote: »

Am I correct in believing the Abbey CC will charge interest from day 1 for cash withdrawals, in which case by the time the Direct debit happens you will have incurred about 2% interest?

just spoken to Abbey and they say
you will pay interest from when you take money out until it is paid back although their is no transaction fee for actually using the ATM

Born2Save_3

Bump

Got a few answers myself though - Abbey zero is master card, the staff available terms and conditions do not appear to have anything preventing the pre-loading of the card for atm withdrawals- to be 100% sure someone needs to do this and report back - best to try for a small amount. The credit rating you require for this card is not extremely high, apparently.

In the process of applying for the card the full t&'s will be available on-line, plus they will be sent to you for acceptance before the card is issued.

If you have a savings account with abbey, you can keep money in there and then transfer an amount just larger then what you will withdraw, maybe 2/3 working days prior to the withdrawal. This should protect you, rather than doing it closer to the time of withdrawal. Of course, with experience you will see how long the transfer from an abbey savins account to the abbey credit card account actually takes. Again useful info to know, please post here if you know.

Does anyone have a link to mastercard website which tells you what exchange rates are given from GBP on a particular day ? Visa has one, which is mentioned earlier in this thread. Would be interesting to compare the 2 as Nationwide Flex (Blue card) is Visa and Abbey is mastercard. There may be some interesting differences. From my own research and experience, typically Visa's rates are very close to interbank and typically better then most banks TT rates for 2 currencies I have bought.

Born2Save wrote: »

I'm looking at applying for one of the new Abbey Zero cards and just wondered if anyone could shed light on the following possibility, which if works would seem to make it as good as a Nationwide Flex Debit Card (Visa is better as they seem to give better exchange rates than Cirrus/Mastercard)

If the Abbey Zero account was fully paid up and paid in excess, in other words you over pay whatever your bill was and was in credit - ie Abbey owe you money - this can be done on other cards. Then you use the card for an ATM withdrawal abroad, for an equivalent amount less than your amount in credit, then would interest be charged ? I don't see how it could be as you you are al ready in credit of excess of the amount withdrawn and allegedly there is no charge from Abbey for the use of the card abroad.

I will pose the question to Abbey CS, but it is not a typical question !

To really find out, it would be good if someone could try this for a small amount and see what happens. Also if you have another Abbey account it should be possible to move money quickly into your credit card account to avoid being charged too much interest.

I wonder if the Abbey zero card is Visa or Mastercard ? I use to have some links for Visa and Mastercard to see the exchange rates they would use for particular days and currencies, but these are no longer available. It was useful to compare these to the rates quoted after a withdrawal from and ATM and also with banks TT rates too. Nationwide Visa gave rates typically quite close to and better than some banks TT rates. Also, at weekends the rate seemed to have little change. So if there was a drop in GBP on Sunday you could potentially still get a better rate on a Sunday ATM withdrawal.

Also, are there any ways to get cash back on the application for the Abbey Zero card ? I notice that there are not any links that benefit MSE for this one, so presume there probably isn't. Quidco doesn't have anything I can see.

suman_das

I have been offered the Abbey Zero CC as I have Abbey mortgages.
If I do a balance transfer of say £2000 and continue to use my CC for purchases up to the credit limit, paying back only the minimum required, am I right to think that I would not pay any interest for the interest-free period (for BT and purchases) of the first six months? Or there is a loop-hole I cannot see?

Born2Save_3

Bump again - is this thread one way ?

Born2Save wrote: »

Bump

Got a few answers myself though - Abbey zero is master card, the staff available terms and conditions do not appear to have anything preventing the pre-loading of the card for atm withdrawals- to be 100% sure someone needs to do this and report back - best to try for a small amount. The credit rating you require for this card is not extremely high, apparently.

In the process of applying for the card the full t&'s will be available on-line, plus they will be sent to you for acceptance before the card is issued.

If you have a savings account with abbey, you can keep money in there and then transfer an amount just larger then what you will withdraw, maybe 2/3 working days prior to the withdrawal. This should protect you, rather than doing it closer to the time of withdrawal. Of course, with experience you will see how long the transfer from an abbey savins account to the abbey credit card account actually takes. Again useful info to know, please post here if you know.

Does anyone have a link to mastercard website which tells you what exchange rates are given from GBP on a particular day ? Visa has one, which is mentioned earlier in this thread. Would be interesting to compare the 2 as Nationwide Flex (Blue card) is Visa and Abbey is mastercard. There may be some interesting differences. From my own research and experience, typically Visa's rates are very close to interbank and typically better then most banks TT rates for 2 currencies I have bought.

cepheus

Does anyone have a link to mastercard website which tells you what exchange rates are given from GBP on a particular day ?

Not directly but according to http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070812210440AAB7GSE mastercard uses the exchange rates quoted at http://www.xe.com/ I cannot find actual buying and selling prices at present only mid prices, perhaps the market has to be open.

Edit Perhaps this conversion calculator is what we are looking for?

http://www.xe.com/tec/table.shtml