Travel Money with Travelex - Charge for Visa?

jimbo_the_jetset

Just been reading the travel money article.

It says down near the bottom that some banks charge when you buy currency with your credit card (fair enough), but they also charge when using Visa Delta (debit) but not switch?

I'm wanting to order currency online through Travelex any ideas how to not get charged 2% by my bank for using my debit card?? Only have Visa Delta cards (3 bank accounts). I assume they take the money from your card details when you enter them online and you pick the cash up. Or are the card details just to hold your order, i.e. can I pay at the kiosk in cash?

Anyone else overcome this problem

jimbo_the_jetset

Sorry if this has been discussed in the main thread on the travel money maximiser. Bit hasty with my post maybe (angry about charges :mad: )

dzug

You can't pay in cash when you pick up. Well you can but you'll get an awfulexchange rate, not the good one for on-line transactions.

Some visa delta cards charge, some don't. It depends on which bank issued them. If you have 3 maybe you'll be lucky with one of them.

jimbo_the_jetset

Yeah but I think A&L, Barclays and Lloyds all do!!

Will have a look round at the high street prices and pay cash I think. I know I can get 1.42 at M&S comapred to 1.43 + charges at Travelex.

Plus I'll see if I can do a deal with a travel agent

JoseChungsDoomsday

the only 2 banks who don't charge for using their debit cards are nationwide and HBOS. I've yet to see another bank treate it as a normal transaction

monkeyspanner

LloydsTSB charge 1.5% on travelex by debit card which usually brings the exchange rate to about the same as LloydsTSB online exchange rate. If you need Euros or US$ you will probably get as good or better rate at one of the high street travel agents. e.g Euros travelex 1.4322 or 1.41 after 1.5%, 1.43 at our local agent today.

Crabman

Here's the excerpt from the Travel Money Maximiser...

Pay on a Switch card and there's no charge, yet if you pay for foreign currency on a credit card, or some bank’s Visa debit cards, it’s possible you’ll be charged an additional fee on top of what you pay the bureau de change. If possible avoid using the cards that charge and pay another way instead.

• [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Credit cards. All credit cards charge when you buy foreign currency, as this is treated as if you are withdrawing cash from an ATM. See a full table of these charges
  [/FONT]
• [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Visa Debit cards. If you have a ‘Visa Debit’ card (these used to be known as Delta), whether you’re charged depends on your bank, it will usually be around 2% with a minimum of £2.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Debit cards that DO charge a fee[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Abbey[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Alliance & Leicester[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Barclays[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Cahoot[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Co-op[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Lloyds TSB[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Smile[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Debit cards that DON'T charge a fee [/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Coventry BS[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]First Direct[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Halifax[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]HSBC[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Intelligent Finance[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Nationwide[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Natwest[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]RBS [/FONT]