Barclaycard aboard

Sncjw

Hi 

I took my Barclaycard abroad last year when i went to Bulgaria..this time I'm going to Rhodes. When we were away we only used it a couple of times for paying for a meal out and an excursion.  Is it widely accepted in Rhodes? 

We were taking euros for day to day spend and about 600 euros as I know the exchange rate isn't as good as lev. Also we are only going for a week this time. 

I know we will have to pay it back straight away once we get the statement as we are out the 0 percent deal. 

Thank you 

MattMattMattUK

Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards are accepted globally, the card issuer is irrelevant.

jbrassy

Sncjw said:

We were taking euros for day to day spend and about 600 euros as I know the exchange rate isn't as good as lev. 

What do you mean by the exchange rate not being as good? 

WillPS

MattMattMattUK said:

Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards are accepted globally, the card issuer is irrelevant.

Not true, or at least not until recently. Many German merchants will only accept V Pay and many Dutch merchants will only accept Maestro. It's a real pain.

Edit: these are being phased out now and replaced by Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards, but even so the point stands that you can't assume everywhere will accept Visa/Mastercard like you can in the UK. In some countries merchants will also be less likely to accept credit cards at all, even if they accept debit cards.

Amex is patchy even in the UK!

DullGreyGuy

WillPS said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards are accepted globally, the card issuer is irrelevant.

Not true, or at least not until recently. Many German merchants will only accept V Pay and many Dutch merchants will only accept Maestro. It's a real pain.

Edit: these are being phased out now and replaced by Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards, but even so the point stands that you can't assume everywhere will accept Visa/Mastercard like you can in the UK. In some countries merchants will also be less likely to accept credit cards at all, even if they accept debit cards.

Amex is patchy even in the UK!

Dutch will be changing soon as Mastercard is stopping issuing Maestro in the Netherlands https://www.betaalvereniging.nl/betaalproducten-en-diensten/pinnen/project-dca/ 

According to the article over 50% of stores POS can already accept the 2 message system used by Mastercard/Visa (Maestro and V Pay are a one message system) and those that cant are now having to change their terminals. 

Sncjw

jbrassy said:

Sncjw said:

We were taking euros for day to day spend and about 600 euros as I know the exchange rate isn't as good as lev. 

What do you mean by the exchange rate not being as good? 

Because the lev was 2.23 lev to the pound and the euros is 1.23 to the pound.

jbrassy

Sncjw said:

jbrassy said:

Sncjw said:

We were taking euros for day to day spend and about 600 euros as I know the exchange rate isn't as good as lev. 

What do you mean by the exchange rate not being as good? 

Because the lev was 2.23 lev to the pound and the euros is 1.23 to the pound.

Sncjw said:

jbrassy said:

Sncjw said:

We were taking euros for day to day spend and about 600 euros as I know the exchange rate isn't as good as lev. 

What do you mean by the exchange rate not being as good? 

Because the lev was 2.23 lev to the pound and the euros is 1.23 to the pound.

OK, I don't know why that would make a difference in terms of whether to use cash or card? Exchange rates are relative. It doesn't matter whether you go to Europe where the exchange rate is £1 = EUR 1.12  or Vietnam where £1 = VND 29216, the point is you should use the method which gives you the closest rate to the interbank rate. Using the Barclaycard is going to be the best way to do this rather than exchanging cash from a bureau de change. 

MattMattMattUK

WillPS said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards are accepted globally, the card issuer is irrelevant.

Not true, or at least not until recently. Many German merchants will only accept V Pay and many Dutch merchants will only accept Maestro. It's a real pain.

Edit: these are being phased out now and replaced by Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards, but even so the point stands that you can't assume everywhere will accept Visa/Mastercard like you can in the UK. In some countries merchants will also be less likely to accept credit cards at all, even if they accept debit cards.

Amex is patchy even in the UK!

I have travelled to Germany over fifty times in the last decade, not once have I had a Visa or Mastercard credit card refused.

Amex used to be in the UK, but it is a rarity for it to not be accepted these days.

etienneg

MattMattMattUK said:

WillPS said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards are accepted globally, the card issuer is irrelevant.

Not true, or at least not until recently. Many German merchants will only accept V Pay and many Dutch merchants will only accept Maestro. It's a real pain.

Edit: these are being phased out now and replaced by Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards, but even so the point stands that you can't assume everywhere will accept Visa/Mastercard like you can in the UK. In some countries merchants will also be less likely to accept credit cards at all, even if they accept debit cards.

Amex is patchy even in the UK!

I have travelled to Germany over fifty times in the last decade, not once have I had a Visa or Mastercard credit card refused.

Amex used to be in the UK, but it is a rarity for it to not be accepted these days.

Of course, it depends on your lifestyle and where you shop, but I would say it's NOT a rarity to find places where Amex is not accepted. I know that most supermarkets and B&Q now take Amex, but examples of places that I've found (in the last few months) don't are British Gas, Aviva, LV (and some other well known insurers), Asda Mobile, Screwfix, Marshall (VW and Land Rover main dealer in my area), ETB Tyres. Whilst not all of these are national companies, neither are they what I would call small, local independent retailers.

Only last weekend my wife and I attended an event held at the University of Stirling. (Scotland was in the UK last time I checked!) It's a long way to travel from the South of England for two days, so we stayed on for a few days and did some sightseeing in the area. The university (hotel, bar, restaurant) does not take Amex. Neither does Historic Scotland (the public body that cares for state-owned historic properties north of the border) - so Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, Dunblane Cathedral, Dunfirmline Abbey, etc.

As I said, so much depends on where you spend, but I have been surprised and disappointed at the number of well known names that don't take Amex (particularly insurance companies). If you have Amex, you certainly need a Visa/Mastercard alternative.

WillPS

MattMattMattUK said:

WillPS said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards are accepted globally, the card issuer is irrelevant.

Not true, or at least not until recently. Many German merchants will only accept V Pay and many Dutch merchants will only accept Maestro. It's a real pain.

Edit: these are being phased out now and replaced by Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards, but even so the point stands that you can't assume everywhere will accept Visa/Mastercard like you can in the UK. In some countries merchants will also be less likely to accept credit cards at all, even if they accept debit cards.

Amex is patchy even in the UK!

I have travelled to Germany over fifty times in the last decade, not once have I had a Visa or Mastercard credit card refused.

Amex used to be in the UK, but it is a rarity for it to not be accepted these days.

It happens. Of course, you're more likely to run in to issues with local independent merchants than large upmarket chains.

I've also seen reports of (I think) French toll roads accepting Visa but not Mastercard in the not distant past.

adindas

WillPS said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards are accepted globally, the card issuer is irrelevant.

Not true, or at least not until recently. Many German merchants will only accept V Pay and many Dutch merchants will only accept Maestro. It's a real pain.

Edit: these are being phased out now and replaced by Visa Debit and Mastercard Debit cards, but even so the point stands that you can't assume everywhere will accept Visa/Mastercard like you can in the UK. In some countries merchants will also be less likely to accept credit cards at all, even if they accept debit cards.

Amex is patchy even in the UK!

You might be right if you area talking about the merchants in Germany. For instance "some" of DB (German train) or local transport ticket machines, do not accept Master/Visa.

But with cash machines from the banks in Germany to be used by international travellers, located in the strategic areas such as main train stations, airport they all have Master/Visa logo in it where people could withdraw cash using Master/Visa network.