Are all zero-fee travel cards equal?

zagfles

johnmoney05 wrote: »

I think this Barclays platinum travel credit card is good?

Reading the T&Cs of this, if I've understood correctly, you need to especially careful to avoid DCC at ATMs with this card.

If you get it wrong not only will you get ripped off by DCC, you'll also end up paying the Barclaycard sterling cash fee of £2.99/2.99%, plus immediate interest on the cash advance at 27.9% APR :eek: So could be a very costly mistake!

legalfreak

zagfles wrote: »

Reading the T&Cs of this, if I've understood correctly, you need to especially careful to avoid DCC at ATMs with this card.

If you get it wrong not only will you get ripped off by DCC, you'll also end up paying the Barclaycard sterling cash fee of £2.99/2.99%, plus immediate interest on the cash advance at 27.9% APR :eek: So could be a very costly mistake!

Presumably you are referring to this:

'For Sterling cash transactions and balance transfers on promotional rates, we charge
interest on all amounts from the date they’re added to your account to the date you pay
them off. This will always apply, even if you pay your total outstanding balance in full by
the payment due date.'

Yes, but remember that if you pay off the transactions asap/immediately then surely your interest is minimmal?

catwoman73

^The debit card gave "commission free" ATM withdrawals, and the credit card gave "commission free" purchases. In either case, I got a better deal with a bureau de change^

If they were doing that, then they were selling money at a loss, as the cards like Halifax Clarity that people are talking about on here, use the official bank exchange rate, which is the best you can get.

Why would they do that? Money laundering?

johnmoney05

zagfles wrote: »

Reading the T&Cs of this, if I've understood correctly, you need to especially careful to avoid DCC at ATMs with this card.

If you get it wrong not only will you get ripped off by DCC, you'll also end up paying the Barclaycard sterling cash fee of £2.99/2.99%, plus immediate interest on the cash advance at 27.9% APR :eek: So could be a very costly mistake!

Probably you should read it carfully again. :rotfl:

"No non-sterling transaction fees on your foreign spend and ATM withdrawals until 31 August 2022"

And I hope you understand what non-sterling and foreign meant.

zagfles

legalfreak wrote: »

Presumably you are referring to this:

'For Sterling cash transactions and balance transfers on promotional rates, we charge
interest on all amounts from the date they’re added to your account to the date you pay
them off. This will always apply, even if you pay your total outstanding balance in full by
the payment due date.'

Yes, but remember that if you pay off the transactions asap/immediately then surely your interest is minimmal?

Well yes if you realise you've done it. You'd also need to pay off the entire previous statement balance if you hadn't already. (payments always go to statemented items before unstatemented, even if you have a DD). And you pay the "cash fee" regardless.

I'm talking about a mistake here, if you use it properly it's not a problem, it's just a mistake could be costly.

zagfles

johnmoney05 wrote: »

Probably you should read it carfully again. :rotfl:

"No non-sterling transaction fees on your foreign spend and ATM withdrawals until 31 August 2022"

And I hope you understand what non-sterling and foreign meant.

Maybe you should google what DCC (dynamic currency conversion) means. It means your transaction is a sterling transaction because the ATM has converted it to sterling and presented it to Barclaycard as a sterling amount.

System

adindas wrote: »

Maestro is also used nationwide as the only acceptable card payment method in the vast majority of ticket machines for public transports in Germany.

I have seen numerous times clueless tourists trying to insert their credit cards several times in the ticket machines to purchase public transport ticket holding other people on the queue.

It is very inefficient as these clueless tourists will not give up easily and will try several times before realising it that it does not work. Also if people can not buy the ticket and under time pressure they might be travelling illegally without ticket.

Hardly 'travelling illegally'

The reason Maestro is so heavily accepted in Germany, the Netherlands & neighbours is that their domestic debit systems were co-branded with Maestro (much like UK Switch & Irish Laser) to make them SEPA compliant.

johnmoney05

zagfles wrote: »

Maybe you should google what DCC (dynamic currency conversion) means. It means your transaction is a sterling transaction because the ATM has converted it to sterling and presented it to Barclaycard as a sterling amount.

Well, read carefully again! "No non-sterling transaction fees on your foreign spend and ATM withdrawals until 31 August 2022"

Why do you choose the sterling rather than the local currency when you are abroad? I am sure you don't need to google it, right?

zagfles

johnmoney05 wrote: »

Well, read carefully again! "No non-sterling transaction fees on your foreign spend and ATM withdrawals until 31 August 2022"

You try reading carefully. Nothing about no sterling transaction fees on foreign ATM withdrawals, is there, eh?

Why do you choose the sterling rather than the local currency when you are abroad?

Err, I don't. Try reading what I wrote. Carefully.

yessuz

I have a Revolut card for a yer now. it is bloody awesome!

But it was better when it was unlimited cashing out. now you are limited to 200£ a month.

but in addition to that, you get IBAN EURO bank account!

highly recommended