cheapest way to withdraw cash abroad?

madbutcher

We are having a longer holiday next year, touring Spain and don't want to carry a lot of cash with us so we will have to withdraw from ATM's. We don't want to incur ATM and bank charges so are looking at maybe taking one of the cards that we can preload but are not entirely sure how these work. Questions are
1) Can we top one of these up on a monthly basis until we go, if so, would we incur any fees?
2) Can these be used in ATM's abroad to withdraw cash?
3) As we will probably only use this for this particular holiday will we incur any fees once we return?
We had thought of using a credit card but it seems as if we would be hit with a double whammy of ATM fees abroad then bank charges here in the UK from the credit card company

Gloomendoom

A Halifax Clarity credit card is hard to beat.

Just stick "Clarity" in the search box at the top of this board.

Oh, and read the travel money guide on the main site...

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/?_ga=1.263851148.1461632436.1434008647

NiftyDigits

Metro Bank debit card in in or around London.

zagfles

I've never known a Spanish ATM to charge. There might be some like here eg in shops etc.

Watch out for DCC though (never take the option to convert the currency). Get a Clarity or Metrobank card. If the Clarity pay it off regularly to minimise interest, but don't worry about the interest too much it's trivial compared to other methods of getting foreign cash.

ManAtHome

As above, Metro or Clarity - for Metro you need to have cash in the account, for Clarity set up your DD to pay the balance in full each month - there will be some interest, but most likely to knock a cent of the rate rather than the 4 or 5 from most other debit/credit cards.

You can get Visa rates with no additonal charges using a Santander 123 debit card in a Santander ATM - probably not as useful as the other 2 if you're travelling around, but if you already have a card, not bad as a backup. Don't use it for paying in shop/restaurants etc though!

Pre-load euro cards will cost when you load - roughly 3 cents off the current rate. You could be lucky and load when the pound is high, or unlucky and load when it's low...

Speaking of backup - 2 cards are better than one...

The DCC thing - ATMs will usually throw up a page after you've selected the amount in euros offering to convert the charge into pounds - wording varies but buttons offered will probably be either "No for euros"/"Yes for pounds" or "without conversion"/with conversion". As long as I can remember, bottom left button has been the "charge in euros/don't convert", but worth a careful read before pressing.