DCC and commission Spain

Nebulous2

I'm currently in Spain and took out 100 euros with my Clarity card on Tuesday, which cost £93.05.

Today I tried a Santander ATM and they offered me DCC, for £99 and some pence, which I declined. I then got a message saying the ATM owner would charge me 5 euros in commission if I proceeded, did I want to cancel?

That's the first time I've seen that in France or Spain.

I then went round the corner and found what I presume was a small local bank. Their DCC wording was quite confusing, but they were offering £94.64, which wasn't anything like as expensive as Santander. I rejected it and wasn't asked for a commission.

So watch yourselves out there folks, the landscape is changing and the big banks are just as likely to trip you up as anyone.

DesG

Thanks for the update, they really are trying every trick in the book to get their pound of flesh.

chattychappy

Spain does seem to be the worst... fortunately I almost never go there.

(Not that I'm dismissing an entire country on the basis of DCC woes.)

ricky_v

I found Sabadell charge 1.80 Euros (I cancelled), Caixa Bank is free but offers DCC (not sure how bad it is).

YorkshireBoy

ricky_v wrote: »

I found Sabadell charge 1.80 Euros (I cancelled), Caixa Bank is free but offers DCC (not sure how bad it is).

Recent experience? This thread reports a €3 fee being charged last month, albeit in the Balearics...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5690938

ricky_v

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Recent experience? This thread reports a €3 fee being charged last month, albeit in the Balearics...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5690938

Recently-ish, was in February, on the mainland. Would be a shame if they now charge

Nebulous2

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Recent experience? This thread reports a €3 fee being charged last month, albeit in the Balearics...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5690938

Thanks. I hadn't spotted that thread. I had no charges from Santander in Gran Canaria in March. So I'm of the view it has changed since then.

This time I've had no charge from Bankia, the fourth largest bank, nor from caja rural de Salamanca, which seems to be a small co-operative bank.

I'm no expert, but I would have thought the EU wouldn't allow charging foreign (EU) card-holders. Maybe it applies to all credit card withdrawals?

ricky_v

Nebulous2 wrote: »

I'm no expert, but I would have thought the EU wouldn't allow charging foreign (EU) card-holders. Maybe it applies to all credit card withdrawals?

The ATM provider can charge whatever they like, indeed some ATMs in this country charge to withdraw cash from a debit/credit card. Personally if I have no other choice but to pay the ATM charge then I'd simply take as much cash out of the ATM as I think I'll need or at the cash withdrawal limit to minimise the charge in percentage terms.

Nebulous2

ricky_v wrote: »

The ATM provider can charge whatever they like, indeed some ATMs in this country charge to withdraw cash from a debit/credit card. Personally if I have no other choice but to pay the ATM charge then I'd simply take as much cash out of the ATM as I think I'll need or at the cash withdrawal limit to minimise the charge in percentage terms.

That's not what I'm talking about. The suggestion was this was a charge levelled on foreign cards. I don't think that would be allowed if the cardholder is an EU citizen.

Look at the efforts to standardise roaming fees and bank charges.

ricky_v

Assuming there's an EU law which states that a Spanish ATM cannot charge more for a "foreign" card from another EU country (I don't think there is, I could be wrong though), for all we know the mad 5 Euro fees might be levied on Spanish credit cards, or other spanish cards which don't bank with the ATM operator, which would make the fee legal.

chattychappy

Nebulous2 wrote: »

I don't think that would be allowed if the cardholder is an EU citizen.

Look at the efforts to standardise roaming fees and bank charges.

In the case of roaming fees, I think it was almost an accident - something to do with distorting markets and competition, rather than standarising per se.

A lot of this stuff just doesn't seem to work very well. A Czech friend of mine has been trying to open a bank account here. Cannot because she can't show she lives in the UK. I would have thought it should be sufficient that she can show she lives in the EU.. if it's all meant to be one market!