Check if your card charges foreign transaction fees

[The Wino]

Banks have to make money.
If they don't, they go out of business.
All transactions have a cost, someone somewhere has to pay.

Any bank that is offering a 'free' service, is simply taking from Peter to pay Paul.
If you are the recipient, you will be paying for the service at some point in the chain.

As I've said before anyone that thinks their bank does not change for currency conversion is nieve.
The only question is how much they are charging, and some banks really do rip off their loyal customers.

The way they operate in the UK of course; s to charge businesses for their accounts and they charge their customers. People are often surprised that banks often charge businesses more to bank cash than they would paying to take a credit card payment.

 

[Brendan + Kath]

Luckily we still have our Santander zero credit card but I don’t think they offer any fee free credit cards to new customers now.

Most things you can get away with debit cards and things like Revolut and Starling but booking flights and I think most car hire still want a credit card.

The Santander debit card is still free to use in Spain at ATMs

 

[Clive Mott]

Did some maths here in Spain where at every card transaction you can pay in pounds or euros, and the till slip gives you both prices at that moment. Then looked at what exchange rate HSBC use for transaction, then added the HSBC fee of 2.99% and guess what? Works out the same. Then looked at what exchange rate tbose offering Fee Free transactions use, guess what? works out the same. Makes b all difference.

 

[carolyn]

The Santander debit card is still free to use in Spain at ATMs

I know. I have a Santander account. I was talking about credit cards. It’s only guaranteed to be free at Santander banks though.
It’s only free everywhere if its a Spanish Santander card.

 

[Anneg]

Both First Direct Debit and Nationwide Flex Debit - no charges

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[jongood]

I have a Santander debit card for use in Santander ATMs in Spain (including the Canaries) and Portugal. There are no ATM charges and it has a good exchange rate (MSE approved!). The basic Santander bank account is free to open and operate.

Not in my experience, it doesn't. I was in a spot and needed some cash but hadn't got my revolut card with me so I pulled some out of a Spanish santander Atm. When I later compared it was significantly worse than a purchase I made with my Santander Zero card a few hours earlier

 

[carolyn]

Not in my experience, it doesn't. I was in a spot and needed some cash but hadn't got my revolut card with me so I pulled some out of a Spanish santander Atm. When I later compared it was significantly worse than a purchase I made with my Santander Zero card a few hours earlier

I know there was something funny a few years back when Santander took over another bank. I think it was Banco Popular and although the ATMs were rebranded on the outside they still saw the cards incorrectly and charged. People appealed and got their charges refunded in the UK. It was on Martin Lewis. No idea if it was ever sorted. It was thousands of ATMs.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

I had an issue with my clarity card in spain . Not being accepted so tried my tesco club card credit card and it was accepted. It turns out to be very slightly better in an exchange rate and no additional charges being a club card member otherwise it's 2.7% extra charge per transaction. It appears to be accepted almostceverywhere in Spain Aldi .lidll petrol stations etc.

 

[Brains]

Did some maths here in Spain where at every card transaction you can pay in pounds or euros, and the till slip gives you both prices at that moment. Then looked at what exchange rate HSBC use for transaction, then added the HSBC fee of 2.99% and guess what? Works out the same. Then looked at what exchange rate tbose offering Fee Free transactions use, guess what? works out the same. Makes b all difference.

That is exactly what I would expect.

As I've said over and over, "There is no such thing as 'free' foreign exchange".

If there was, then anywhere that was offering it would be inundated with people wanting to exchange money.
The FCC & Fraud squad would also be paying and urgent visit, as the only reason genuine free exchange would be offered is if someone was money laundering.

 

[lorger]

We use Monzo for every day use, Revoult for our Fulli tag and back up if required. We also have a Halifax clarity card for fuel if it’s unmanned and they want to take a large amount until proper amount is billed, then we have our Nationwide card too.

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[Rodders1234]

Starling current account for us, no transaction fees and a good exchange rate.

 

[wram49]

Both First Direct Debit and Nationwide Flex Debit - no charges

Don't know about First Direct but the Nationwide Flex has charges, it's the Flex plus account that is free

Fees for using your card in a foreign currency | Nationwide

Compare fees and charges for using your Nationwide debit and credit cards to make purchases or withdraw cash in a foreign or non-sterling currency.

www.nationwide.co.uk

 

[nerka]

Go about half way down the page, put in your card details to find out how much your bank are charging you for spending abroad.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/#debit

I use a currency card it’s connected to my bank it’s excellent and shows all savings,cast me £25 a year I’ve saved over £600 since 2022

 

[Jacasino]

I had an issue with my clarity card in spain . Not being accepted so tried my tesco club card credit card and it was accepted. It turns out to be very slightly better in an exchange rate and no additional charges being a club card member otherwise it's 2.7% extra charge per transaction. It appears to be accepted almostceverywhere in Spain Aldi .lidll petrol stations etc.

You have to have a Tesco Clubcard Plus card (£7.99 per month) to avoid the 2.7% charge, I use an ordinary (no monthly charge) Tesco Clubcard for business, just driven to and from Barcelona using it, was expecting it to hurt but now the bills come - ouch!
With the lower Eurotunnel voucher values, it’s time to switch card providers I think.

 

[nev robinson]

Go about half way down the page, put in your card details to find out how much your bank are charging you for spending abroad.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/#debit

We have a Halifax clarity card no charges at all.

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[OldCodger]

We use a Wise Bank account in Europe. You have both Pound and Euro “sub accounts”. No charges for using it. If you have forgotten to move pounds to euros then it automatically takes from you GBP amounts once EUR is spent. Simples.

It’s a charge card only so if we need credit we use our Halifax Clarity card.

 

[Jerrywh]

Did some maths here in Spain where at every card transaction you can pay in pounds or euros, and the till slip gives you both prices at that moment. Then looked at what exchange rate HSBC use for transaction, then added the HSBC fee of 2.99% and guess what? Works out the same. Then looked at what exchange rate tbose offering Fee Free transactions use, guess what? works out the same. Makes b all difference.

It really does.
For example Starling, of which the moneysaving website says "Good news – this is one of the best cards for spending overseas. You get perfect exchange rates with no fees on spending."
Starling use the mastercard interbank rate and pass it on in full.
Pretty sure they will beat HSBC every time...
(retired forex specialist speaking).

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

You have to have a Tesco Clubcard Plus card (£7.99 per month) to avoid the 2.7% charge, I use an ordinary (no monthly charge) Tesco Clubcard for business, just driven to and from Barcelona using it, was expecting it to hurt but now the bills come - ouch!
With the lower Eurotunnel voucher values, it’s time to switch card providers I think.

Still getting 1.19 to 1.2 on the tesco card and 1.2 on the clarity.

 

[Madcaravanner]

Revolut as main card, Nationwide credit card as back up. The NW is the only card that doesn't have fees abroad although it does charge for cash withdrawals

We also have Chase Cards which also do not charge except for cash Transactions
AND Santander do not charge for cash AS LONG AS you use a Santander ES machine outside a bank not a stand alone machine as these are NOT operated by Santander even though they are flashed as Santander (got caught by that a couple of years ago )

 

[carolyn]

We also have Chase Cards which also do not charge except for cash Transactions
AND Santander do not charge for cash AS LONG AS you use a Santander ES machine outside a bank not a stand alone machine as these are NOT operated by Santander even though they are flashed as Santander (got caught by that a couple of years ago )

I got caught as well when we were at Cabopino last year. Very annoying. Added that to my list of reasons why we didn’t like it there!

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[vanphil]

I have used a Currensea card for the last few years. Linked to my current account, no fees and almost perfect exchange rates. You get an email seconds after your purchase showing the cost in GB pounds. Works everywhere in the world.

 

[Madcaravanner]

I have used a Currensea card for the last few years. Linked to my current account, no fees and almost perfect exchange rates. You get an email seconds after your purchase showing the cost in GB pounds. Works everywhere in the world.

Yes although both Revolut and Chase use push notifications rather than email very similar both have identical exchange rates which are ALWAYS better thank Santander or Nationwide

 

[Jacasino]

Still getting 1.19 to 1.2 on the tesco card and 1.2 on the clarity.

Do you mean you get a 1.19 - 1.2 exchange rate, I was talking about the transaction fee of 2.75% for standard Tesco Clubcard Credit Cards

 

[Bessy765]

We use our Chase cards, no fees and very good exchange rates.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Do you mean you get a 1.19 - 1.2 exchange rate, I was talking about the transaction fee of 2.75% for standard Tesco Clubcard Credit Cards

Yes thats the current rate its better than changing cash £ to euros .It seems to be included there are no additional charges other than the value shown in £ for the spend in euros.

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[Bessy765]

We use our Chase cards, no fees and very good exchange rates.

Used today E1.1907

 

[Jacasino]

Yes thats the current rate its better than changing cash £ to euros .It seems to be included there are no additional charges other than the value shown in £ for the spend in euros.

They have charged me 2.75% and that came to over £60.00, I’ll drop them a line

 

[datadezign]

Barclays Reward card and have been using this for the past couple of years.

Note no hidden charges that I am aware of. No fees and the exchange rate is calculated at the Std Visa competitive rate at the time of the transaction. This was a ‘WHICH recommended BEST BUY!!

USE THIS Credit Card for Cash Withdrawals and Purchases

Barclaycard Rewards Visa Credit Card

Which Recommended BEST BUY

ATM Cash Withdrawal Fees: NONE

Exchange Rate: Std Visa Competitive Rate

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

They have charged me 2.75% and that came to over £60.00, I’ll drop them a line

That equates to a spend of some 2600 euros plus?

 

[OldCodger]

They have charged me 2.75% and that came to over £60.00, I’ll drop them a line

On my wise card right now if I change £1000 into Euro I’ll actually get €1,180.87 the fee is £3.29, the rate of exchange offered is €1.1848

I can then spend the money in Euros with no further charges. I can withdraw up to £200 a month for free.

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