Santander 123 exchange rate charges

George_Bush

Hi everyone.
Just wondering what peoples advice or opinions are on a situation I currently find myself in.
We recently made a transaction to Trailfinders for our honeymoon. As we are flying out of Dublin the total for the holiday is in euros. We proceeded to pay Trailfinders using my Santander 123 current account debit card. The transaction was made in euros. I checked my statement a few days later to find that the total amount in euros at an exchange rate of 0.79/GBP was not what I expected it to be. The total in sterling is actually £138 more than what it should be with the 0.79/GBP exchange rate. I now assume this is a charge for processing the payment in euros? Is there anything I can do to prevent this charge in future? Should Trailfinders not made me aware of this and actually processed on their end in sterling?
If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate that.
Kind regards

PeacefulWaters

They charge you for using your debit card in a foreign currency. See page 7.

http://www.santander.co.uk/csdlvlr/BlobServer?blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobkey=id&blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadervalue1=inline%3Bfilename%3DBANK0455JUL14HT_LOW.pdf&blobwhere=1314014383238&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition

Research "Halifax Clarity Credit Card" for next time.

Hominu

George_Bush wrote: »

Is there anything I can do to prevent this charge in future?

Yes, check the T&Cs of the card before using it! Travel friendly cards are on this site all the time, eg. Aqua.

George_Bush wrote: »

Should Trailfinders not made me aware of this

It's impossible for them to know how much your bank will charge you, so no.

George_Bush wrote: »

and actually processed on their end in sterling?

That could have worked out more expensive. (They or their bank could charge you a foreign usage fee and/or conversion fee higher than you were charged to convert the sterling back into their own currency)