halifax clarity mastercard to purchase euros in england or spain via atm?

moneysavinggirl40

Does anyone know if this is possible? I have seen that mastercard foreign exchange rate is better than anything out there at the moment. Is it possible to draw euros out at atm in england? or should i wait till spain, plan to pay off immediately wi fi online banking to avoid incurring interest charges.

dzug1

There are a few ATMs in England that dispense euros - mostly at airports and ferry terminals


But you would not get the MasterCard foreign exchange rate doing this, but that set by the owner of the machine.


If you need some before you go find some other way of getting them - otherwise wait until Spain

NiftyDigits

moneysavinggirl40 wrote: »

Does anyone know if this is possible? I have seen that mastercard foreign exchange rate is better than anything out there at the moment. Is it possible to draw euros out at atm in england? or should i wait till spain, plan to pay off immediately wi fi online banking to avoid incurring interest charges.

If you know approx. how much you are going to withdraw, you can set up a payment to the CC for a specific date, to prevent concerning yourself with payments whilst you are on holiday.

So if you think that you will withdraw the equivalent of £400 during the first week, set up a Faster payment to the CC for the end of that week. It doesn't matter if you are a few £s over or under. You can fix that when you are back at home.
The important thing is that it reduces the amount of Interest that you pay and avoids the pre-loading of the card.

moneysavinggirl40

such a brilliant idea to set up cc payment, i have heard ppl get blocked cards when they go abroad, bit worried using a card, i have always taken cash euros, but the mastercard exchange rate is good so would like to get my moneys worth.

moneysavinggirl40

all sound advice, will look at that mastercard exchange rate, obviously i'm reading it wrong. 1.26 is best i have seen. as i understand the clarity cards only drawbacks are the charges not being able to draw out from atm's without mastercard sign/ones that say they will charge. and of course the interest on drawing money out, which i will minimise by setting a payment with amount of money drawn with added extra asap.

penguingirl

Also remember that it is against the t&cs of the card to have it in credit (so adding 'a bit extra' probably would result in this). There have been threads on here about people who have had their cards cancelled because of this.

The best thing to do is to only withdraw cash as and when you need it, and pay with cc wherever possible (always pay in euros, not £ abroad if they ask). When the transaction hits your account, pay it asap. The amount of interest will be tiny (pence) for a few days.

dzug1

adindas wrote: »

I do not think the foreign exchange rate is better. The master card exchange rate is global irrespectively where the transaction occur. You have base currency (in your case £) and then the foreign currency you want to get. You could see it from their website.
https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion

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In practical terms the foreign exchange rate IS better - because Halifax Clarity use the Mastercard rate but most other providers doctor it before they charge you.


OK the MasterCard rate may be universal but that's academic if your provider messes about with it.

zerog

A lot of misunderstandings in this thread.

The rate as shown on xe.com and truefx.com is the rate at which large financial organisations are currently exchanging money. This only happens when there is a buyer and seller.

Mastercard is both a buyer and seller, but nets off their positions at the end of the day. The rate you get with mastercard depends on whether cardholders in the UK have converted more pounds to euros, or cardholders in the eurozone have converted more euros to pounds, and also on when Mastercard's bankers have decided to do exchanges (which will happen when they have an excess of one currency and a shortage of another, and also depends on rate movements).

In general, the Mastercard rate for GBP to EUR tends to be better than the actual forex market rate of the day. Mastercard does not charge the banks anything on foreign transactions (except transaction fees which are charged on all transactions) but the banks have decided to charge you 3%.

AFAIK, there is only one ATM in London (at Natwest Bishopsgate) which will dispense EUR and charge your card in EUR. All other ATMs, such as the Raphaels Bank ones which have recently popped up in London stations, will charge your card in GBP, but they will tell you how much beforehand - so there will be no charge from the bank.

msallen

If you intend to withdraw from an ATM and them immediately pay off your CC account, why not just use a Debit Card that doesn't add FX fees or charges for overseas transactions. Personally I use the N&P one, but I believe Metro Bank also do one (Europe only) too.

moneysavinggirl40

zerog wrote: »

Mastercard does not charge the banks anything on foreign transactions (except transaction fees which are charged on all transactions) but the banks have decided to charge you 3%.

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Am I right in saying a mastercard clarity credit card holder will not be charged this 3% fee? Or is this charge from the atm's in europe?

dzug1

moneysavinggirl40 wrote: »

Am I right in saying a mastercard clarity credit card holder will not be charged this 3% fee? Or is this charge from the atm's in europe?

This is a charge levied by most UK banks - but not Halifax with Clarity


It's not an ATM charge, but a bank charge.