Post Office Credit Card vs Nationwide

Ding~dong_5

Thanks gt94, hadn't realized their surcharge wasn't going up to 1% til July.

Hippey......... the Tesco Visa card applied around a 3% surcharge (as most other cards do) which is what I'd expect......... and they include this in the exchange rate upfront. This is the reason I've been using the Nationwide card for some years now, and was disappointed when I heard they were going to start applying the 1% Visa surcharge.

But my comparison between the Post Office (which is still meant to be completely fee-free) & Nationwide cards didn't turn out as I expected, so until I try again I'm not sure which card will be the best to use outside Europe.

Regards.

Pete

Budner

The Post Office give MasterCard rate of the day for their credit card, it's not them who set the rate. Presume most other card issuers do this also? There is no charges for using a PO card in foreign currency, either loading or otherwise. I use it all the time, best CC I've used

Ding~dong_5

Fair enough, but how do you explain the better rate on the Nationwide card ? Are Visa rates better than Mastercard ? And bearing in mind the new Nationwide fee of 0.84%, this equates to around 1.5% difference........

Confused........... I am.

Regards.

Pete

King_Of_Fools

Ding~dong wrote: »

Fair enough, but how do you explain the better rate on the Nationwide card ? Are Visa rates better than Mastercard?

Well, bearing in mind that Nationwide said that Mastercard do not charge a separate fee whereas Visa do, one might ask how come Mastercard can afford to not charge a fee unless Mastercard have loaded it into their exchange rates.

chattychappy

Ding~dong wrote: »

Fair enough, but how do you explain the better rate on the Nationwide card ?

I've had different rates applied by Nationwide even on the same day. Could be a time zone thing... (ie not really the same day)?? Or the date the transaction is processed is not the date shown on the statement.

Anyway I'm overseas at the moment and using both Abbey Zero and Nationwide. I'll report back anything useful beyond what you have discovered.

Ding~dong_5

OK, had 2 more transactions thru from New York earlier in the week with the opposite results from last time...

Nationwide Visa $ @ 1.57776
P/Office M/Card $ @ 1.58785

So this would tend to suggest my previous comparison from Seattle was possibly due to currency fluctuations. Think I will try them both again somewhere else, and if the Post Office card is better, it's goodbye Nationwide from me.......

Regards.

Pete