Bureaux De Change vs Nationwide Debit Card

carolinehulse84

Hi all,

I'm off to Orlando in November for two weeks and following advice from this website I have decided to open a Nationwide account and then use my debit card abroad as there is no charges/loading etc. However, now I have realised that there may well in fact be charges as the banks over in the US my charge me a fee for using my card as my card at the cash machines as my card will be from a different bank than the banks over there. Therefore do you think I would be still better using my Nationwide card or should I just change my money with a Bureaux De Change in the usual way?

Obviously at least if I use the Nationwide card any money that I do not spend won't have to be changed back so I guess I benefit from not having to change my money back at a rubbish rate. I just don't know what to do? I hope that this has made sense.

Thanks
Caroline

dzug

You should (and that's only should) not get charged at a bank ATM in Florida. Visa's standard merchant agreement forbids it. Only your home bank may charge.

In some states of the US (but not, on the last list I saw, Florida) the Visa merchants agreement has been declared anti-competitive, so banks are free to charge if they wish. Now it's possible some banks may ignore the agreement, or that Florida has joined the list, but that's the situation as I understand it.

In any case the ATM charge is going to be way less than the exchange rate loss on changing currency, unless you are in the habit of making small, frequent withdrawals.

GlennTheBaker

Go for the Nationwide card and do a bit of research to find which banks in the USA don't charge for ATM withdrawals. I seem to remember Bank Of America being mentioned on here before but do a search of this forum to be certain.

carolinehulse84

Thanks for this - this has been very helpful. I think I will go for the Nationwide card!

hammy_the_hammer

bank of america do not charge ....it's the only one i use . i would appreciate anyone else confirming other US banks that they have used the nationwide card at in the last year or so that don't levy a charge