Travelex debit card charges

loftus

Yep I think this is an "agree to disagree" situation. I see currency or travellers cheques as a purchase - I believe the only reason the banks that choose to charge do so is to try and get us to use their own exchange services - the reason we're not charged in Tesco is because the banks do not sell cornflakes!
And all the dictionary definitions I have seen of "advance" say that when related to money, it is supply on credit on expectation of future payments ie a loan. When I use a debit card I am not taking out a loan I am using my own funds.
Anyway I think it is a rip-off, you don't.

alared

I use my Halifax visa debit card and have never been charged any fee and wouldn`t expect to do so.

As far as I`m concerned I`m making a purchase from Travelex

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no different from making a purchase from Asda.

jonesMUFCforever

loftus wrote: »

Yep I think this is an "agree to disagree" situation. I see currency or travellers cheques as a purchase - I believe the only reason the banks that choose to charge do so is to try and get us to use their own exchange services - the reason we're not charged in Tesco is because the banks do not sell cornflakes!
And all the dictionary definitions I have seen of "advance" say that when related to money, it is supply on credit on expectation of future payments ie a loan. When I use a debit card I am not taking out a loan I am using my own funds.
Anyway I think it is a rip-off, you don't.

And if you are using your overdraft facility?

Aarggh! I've done it again.
Sorry no more this post is now locked!

MarkyMarkD

Yep, I agree to disagree.

But I find that attitude of anyone who believes that buying money is no different to buying goods fairly ridiculous.

Loftus is quite right that the banks object to you buying money from somewhere other than themselves, but more to the point buying cash (albeit in a foreign currency) is merely a means of obtaining a cash advance in a different form.

loftus

And I think thats where we disagree - the definition of an advance. I still think of it as being related to credit rather than spending my own money but I can see to you it means something different.
Oh well, if they are going to charge me for something, better this that I use infrequently rather than my day to day banking.

mrcol

A&l dont sell foreign currency so i was stuffed what ever i did.
I got charged £22:72 for changing £1500 into some cash but mainly travellers cheques. It would maybe have been cheaper to draw it out from the cash machine on holiday.
I am going on holiday twice next year, so to avoid charges of up to £50 i am in the process of changing bank accounts. I will not fall into that trap again.
I dont think that changing money is a cash advance from a current account, it is with a credit card when you dont have the money.
You pay commision on the cheques from travelex anyway, in total i have paid around £37 pounds in fees.
Choose a bank that will not charge.

jonesMUFCforever

A&L run the old Girobank so could you not cash money in Post Office and get your cash and Travellers cheques there. Do they not offer commission free travel money?

dzug

ejones999 wrote: »

A&L run the old Girobank so could you not cash money in Post Office and get your cash and Travellers cheques there. Do they not offer commission free travel money?

Yes they offer commission free currency but it is not charge free - 5 or 6% on the exchange rate to buy foreign currency, 8% to buy it back.

jcumpsty

Money Maximizer on the site lists Post office as 2.02 rate for Canadian Dollars. However I have just pre-booked some to be collected on Monday on their website.

The rate I got was 2.05...which is not too far from the top rate of 2.07.

AND the currency can be prebooked for collection at a post office branch and paid for in cash. So no debit card fees here!

dzug

jcumpsty wrote: »

Money Maximizer on the site lists Post office as 2.02 rate for Canadian Dollars. However I have just pre-booked some to be collected on Monday on their website.

The rate I got was 2.05...which is not too far from the top rate of 2.07.

AND the currency can be prebooked for collection at a post office branch and paid for in cash. So no debit card fees here!

I suspect Money maximiser is out of date rather than plain wrong - I wonder how often it's updated?