Travel Money Maximiser Discussion Area

csider

I used my Saga credit card to buy foreign currency (from Saga Finance). I expected a charge for this but not a handling charge as well. In total this came to over £10!!

brownfrog

dzug wrote: »

Not sure if I'm looking at the same thing, but lastminute.com seem to charge a fairly standard 2.75% foreign currency fee.

Not according to Moneysupermarket - there's no 'foreign transaction fee' for cash withdrawals. The 2.75% is only charged on purchases, not cash withdrawals.

dzug wrote: »

BTW the 2.75% generally IS the exchange rate commission when using debit/credit cards - you are not charged twice.

That's not exactly right - you can be charged a cash withdrawal fee, and also be charged a 'loading fee' (the 2.75% - there shouldn't be any exchange rate fees on electronic transactions, but the banks spotted another way to make money), which can apply both to cash withdrawals and purchases. The Nationwide card is one of the few that doesn't charge this fee. I rang Barclays, and they confirmed that if you use their card, you get both fees applied. That's probably what happened to csider - they rack up!

dzug

brownfrog wrote: »

Not according to Moneysupermarket - there's no 'foreign transaction fee' for cash withdrawals. The 2.75% is only charged on purchases, not cash withdrawals.



That's not exactly right - you can be charged a cash withdrawal fee, and also be charged a 'loading fee' (the 2.75% - there shouldn't be any exchange rate fees on electronic transactions, but the banks spotted another way to make money), which can apply both to cash withdrawals and purchases. The Nationwide card is one of the few that doesn't charge this fee. I rang Barclays, and they confirmed that if you use their card, you get both fees applied. That's probably what happened to csider - they rack up!

According to Moneysupermarket, maybe, but according to lastminute.com's own website, they charge 2.75%.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten the cash withdrawal fee on some debit cards - 2% for Barclays (with a max and a min so it will vary according to the amount) as well as the 2.75% exchange loading.

brownfrog

Yep, you're right - went to apply, and up came the 2.75%. The only one I've found so far without all these sneaky charges is the Ice Cash2Go card, which is also available in dollars and euros as well as sterling. Unfortunately, they're replacing that, and haven't got the new ones yet, so I might have to resort to travellers' cheques after all.

Dot

I have been in the States from 7th to 17th November and missed getting money exchanged before I went. However, I set off armed with $50 left from last trip, GBP and my Nationwide Visa and Flexaccount debit cards. I was being offered between $1.92 and $1.96 in the States for cash so used Visa and when I checked my statement was pleasantly surprised at it showing $2.10 dropping to $2.048 by yesterday (your checker is showing $2.04 top rate today and I think it was not much different when I left) - and no charges.

Thank you MSE for your Nationwide suggestion as otherwise I would have been using my NatWest cards...................

Dot

underdone

I was looking for a means of doing a large money transfer to the states for a property.

Interestingly, if you go to www.no1currency.com there is a link at the bottom of the page for a company called xchange business which I assume is a sister company.

I have been speaking to them the last couple of days getting things sorted. They literally wipe the floor with anything else I've seen. Many thanks to you guys for pointing me in the right direction!!!!:beer: :T :rotfl:

Cheers!

piggeh

Off to Vegas in December but I only have a cash card. Makes ordering anything online quite costly and so I need to get some from a high street branch. Which is currently best value? And Does a cashcard (Cirrus) work in the US?

Thanks.

jahyra

I tried to order Eastern Carribean Dollars today for Thursday.

They wont send them to the branch for me to collect for cash. they will only send if I pay by Lloyds account, and they can guarantee that I pick them up tomorrow if that is how I pay.

problem, I dont have a lloyds account.... so despite the fact that I can give them cash in 10 minutes time, they wont give me the dollars for 3 working days.......

to summarise, they can send them to the branch for next day delivery, but only if I use a Lloyds account.......cash is not acceptable??? Thats mad.

Hubbles101

Hi all,

Does anyone know if you can claim back tax on goods bought in the USA? I heard somewhere that you could claim back state tax eg florida would be around 6%. Sorry to wander slightly from thread but this too saves you money..no response on the florida thread.. ta hub x

henrypartridge

Contrary to info in list on the maximiser, I bought euros at M and S and was charged £1.75 debit fee on my Halifax bank statement. (It was Visa debit.) No mention on the paperwork from Marksies.