Lloyds Avios credit card forex rate

adonis10

I do love the fact that Lloyds advertise this card as having no transaction fees yet make no mention of the fact that they use a far more inferior rate which effectively means they do place a charge upon the transaction!


920Euro purchase on 24 June which has been converted to £824 therefore 1GBP = E1.1165 whereas the rate on Oanda was 1.135705 which would have been £810, so an effective charge of £14 or 1.7%!


In hindsight, I dropped a massive ball by not using my Revolut card. A massive, massive ball.

stevenhp1987

Did you pay on the Amex or the MasterCard?

Amex converts to USD and then to GBP. The rates are usually worse than the MasterCard so it's generally more expensive than using a MasterCard.

They will be using the Amex/MasterCard exchange rates.

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/amex-rates - This is the only converter I can find, but it should be the same for Lloyds as it's the Amex rate.

The interbank rate used by Revolut will be similar to the MasterCard rate.

Lloyds T&C: http://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/terms-and-conditions/avios-rewards-terms.asp

Section B2.3 states that there is a 1.5% fee added on to Amex foreign spends.

Use the MasterCard when abroad in future?

adonis10

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

Did you pay on the Amex or the MasterCard?

Amex converts to USD and then to GBP. The rates are usually worse than the MasterCard so it's generally more expensive than using a MasterCard.

They will be using the Amex/MasterCard exchange rates.

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/amex-rates - This is the only converter I can find, but it should be the same for Lloyds as it's the Amex rate.

The interbank rate used by Revolut will be similar to the MasterCard rate.

Lloyds T&C: http://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/terms-and-conditions/avios-rewards-terms.asp

Section B2.3 states that there is a 1.5% fee added on to Amex foreign spends.

Use the MasterCard when abroad in future?

Used the Amex, so that would explain it. My fault for not reading the t&c's and/or using the Revolut card - I am usually far more on the ball with such things so must have had an off day!

stevenhp1987

adonis10 wrote: »

Used the Amex, so that would explain it. My fault for not reading the t&c's and/or using the Revolut card - I am usually far more on the ball with such things so must have had an off day!

If I were you, I'd complain. They do advertise foreign free spend so they'd probably refund it this one time if you complain and can show what the actual Amex rate was that day.

The MasterCard rate vs the Interbank rate (Revolut) are very similar. On a weekend, the MasterCard rate will beat Revolut hands down (Revolut adds a 0.5% fee on weekends).

Personally, the difference between the Lloyds MasterCard and Revolut will be pennies, so I'd pay with the Avios card and collect points!

adonis10

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

If I were you, I'd complain. They do advertise foreign free spend so they'd probably refund it this one time if you complain and can show what the actual Amex rate was that day.

The MasterCard rate vs the Interbank rate (Revolut) are very similar. On a weekend, the MasterCard rate will beat Revolut hands down (Revolut adds a 0.5% fee on weekends).

Personally, the difference between the Lloyds MasterCard and Revolut will be pennies, so I'd pay with the Avios card and collect points!

Not a bad idea, got to be worth a phone call.


Ah yes, I knew that about the Revolut on weekends but I always top up on a weekday so no fees should be added when simply using the card. However, if it is very similar to mc it may be worth my while using the latter for the points, albeit a very small amount.

System

Amex tend to be only competitive for USD.
If you use any other currency they convert via USD.

As for the complaints, they are passing on your spend via the Amex network (that you authorised) probably lower than their cost. Exactly what compensation do you consider due?

To correct your statement, you dropped the ball by using an Amex over a MasterCard.

Marchitiello

I have used the Avios MasterCard numerous time across the Euro Zone, Middle East and Africa an the exchange rates have always been great.

There was no charge on your transaction just the worst exchange rate of using Amex so nothing to complain

adonis10

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Amex tend to be only competitive for USD.
If you use any other currency they convert via USD.

As for the complaints, they are passing on your spend via the Amex network (that you authorised) probably lower than their cost. Exactly what compensation do you consider due?

To correct your statement, you dropped the ball by using an Amex over a MasterCard.

You are correct. I reconsidered a complaint as I was in the wrong. However, the transaction has hit my statement today and is in fact £810. The figure of £824 was what was showing as pending so not sure why there is a difference, but I'm not disappointed!

PeacefulWaters

adonis10 wrote: »

You are correct. I reconsidered a complaint as I was in the wrong. However, the transaction has hit my statement today and is in fact £810. The figure of £824 was what was showing as pending so not sure why there is a difference, but I'm not disappointed!

Sterling had a good day.