Lloyds Platinum abroad?

Hillsofflowers29

Hello, this is my first post here 👋🏻 

We previously have used Halifax Clarity Credit Card and Chase Debit Card when abroad.

We have just got a new Lloyds Club Platinum account. I can see it says no fees abroad. But is this card really as good as the two above?

Thanks! 🌎 

CliveOfIndia

I'm not familiar with this card as such, but a quick Google suggests that it charges quite a hefty monthly fee - are the benefits you get actually worth the fee?

In terms of spending abroad, if it charges no FX fees then it's much the same as the others - except they don't charge a monthly account fee, so arguably it's not as good 

But also bear in mind whether you'll want to withdraw cash from an ATM.  Back in the day, Halifax Clarity was favourite as it didn't charge a fee - although you would get charged interest.  But since most debit cards at the time charged a fee, Clarity still worked out cheaper overall for most people.

These days there are several alternatives - Chase and Lloyds, as you say.  I believe Barclays Rewards is another favourite.

But if you're talking purely about foreign currency purchases, there's little to choose between them.

Hillsofflowers29

Thanks so much. The fee isn’t something we need to consider in this decision, I’m just not sure whether to keep our Chase account if this offers the same benefits when abroad. Many thanks 

retiredbanker1

I would assume that you would get the same exchange rates from across the Lloyds stable including Lloyds Bank, Halifax and MBNA/

Marchitiello

Hillsofflowers29 said:

Thanks so much. The fee isn’t something we need to consider in this decision, I’m just not sure whether to keep our Chase account if this offers the same benefits when abroad. Many thanks 

I would add some other considerations about Chase specifically:

I believe the Lloyds Pkatinum Debit Card is a Visa card whilst Chase is. MasterCard. When making purchases, you would be subject to either network exchange rates, and Mastercard has historically being slightly better.

also, although your card issuer may not charge you to use ATM abroad, some country have the ATM operators charging any other user than their own customers (USA, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Greece etc). Chase UK would offer you a unique selling point to be able to use the extensive Chase ATM network across virtually the whole of the USA (Hawaii and a couple of other states excluded), and if travelling there would ever be on the card, I would keep it as an option just for that (many on MSE would have multiple accounts, mostly dormant and used only for specific purposes or as general back up). I opened and keep my Santander Select account mostly to use Santander’s ATM for free in Mexico, South America, Portugal, Spain and the east coast of the USA (the initial reason I opened the account, many years before Chase UK).

I personally, always Travel with several Forex Fee Free options (at least a debit card each on the Visa and Mastercard network, same for Credit Cards, and within the Euro Zone, also my Amex Euro Card for the Points)

Marchitiello

retiredbanker1 said:

I would assume that you would get the same exchange rates from across the Lloyds stable including Lloyds Bank, Halifax and MBNA/

I believe for Purchases they use the Network rates, whilst for ATM withdrawals, they may apply their bank rates. 

Hillsofflowers29

Thank you for your advice.