I am sorry but I do not have the faintest idea of the point you are making. If you withdraw sterling abroad from a local ATM you get hit with high commission charges or poor exchange rates or sometimes both. Much cheaper to get it at a competitive rate before you leave.
What I meant by contactless cards working everywhere was for shopping. I have cash euros, understandably since I live in France, but I have never needed cash, not in filling stations, shops, or toll gates, so I normally don't need ATMs.Not all the 'real' banks ATM's are few free in Spain so watch out, Santander in particular.
Just seen your last post so ignore that
My point was that if you withdraw euros in the eurozone and do not take any option to be charged in another currency, then you will not get hit by a poor exchange rate by the local ATM owner because you are not making any currency exchange locally, only your card issuer is making a currency exchange.
Darn, you said exactly what I tried to, in fewer and simpler words.
If I was withdrawing it would be in Euros of course. But the exchange after commission will be worse! I have checked you know to make sure!
I think you have a misconception here. If I withdraw 200 euros from an ATM in France, it may or may not offer me the chance to be billed in pounds. If it does offer that, I refuse. Then I am billed 200 euros, no more, no less. This goes back to my bank, say Halifax, as a bill for 200 euros, and Halifax convert that to pounds. The French bank does not do the conversion, the British one does that.
I agree all that. But my UK bank uses a poorer exchange rate (as do most of the rest) than I can get from the Post Office.
Lots of banks offer the interbank rate (commission free) to customers Metro bank, Starling etc, much better than drawing out euro's before you leave uk.
Mine doesn't, Revolut gives the interbank exchange rate at the time that I convert, Nationwide gives very close but at the time they receive the instruction from the foreign bank which is normally the day after.
But you pay £5 a month for Caxton Red ....What is the monthly cash withdrawal limit for Revolut when abroad ! 200 Euro's perhaps ??
I use Caxton Red. No monthly cash withdrawal limit, no bank charges unless imposed by issuing bank and same exchange rate as Revolute. Of course, people will use whatever method they have a preference for and threads like this will be repeated every year just like this one. The wheel goes round and round.
Santander ATMs are free in Spain if you have a UK Santander account and use a Santander card. You also get the bank rate exchange.Not all the 'real' banks ATM's are few free in Spain so watch out, Santander in particular.
Just seen your last post so ignore that
I was about to say the same, but that (for me) was back in 2006/7ish the last time we went to Europe. I had (still have) a "zero" card. (no longer available but existing ones still "work").
"Thank you Chinese Government". Cannot for the life of me understand why everyone tip-toe`s around the fact that what we are suffering was due to the Chinese Governments Failure to act sooner.
Of course not. I don't think there is any account that everyone would have.
That is correct ! You can also make a one off annual payment at a slightly reduced price. Its like I said, people will have there own preferences and claim their choice is better than anyone else's. My preference is Caxton, I've been using it for years, its covered by the F.C.A. and I can load different currencies on it that just sit there waiting for me to use them. Like others I am now finding many banks (Particularly Spain) are charging to make cash with drawels. Santander being the worst, although it depends where the branch is located. There are still some banks giving free withdrawals but these are becoming fewer & fewer and no doubt will be fewer still after next January.
Don't they charge the same fee to people from other countries even the locals? If so I don't see how it will make any difference.
I'm not making sense of your post ! ( cause I'm thick!) Caxton maxes no chargers for withdrawing cash or making Transactions abroad, if that helps. The great benefit of Caxton is you can buy your currency when the exchange rate is in your favour and the currency sits in your account until you draw upon it. So you don't have to use the exchange rate that's live when making a purchase.
The post originally was about the ATM charging to make a withdrawal not the card provider. If its an ATM that charges and if it's one that charges everyone no matter where they're from Brexit won't make any difference. As I said before it's strange that people expect ATM s to be free they obviously cost money to operate and it would I think be fairer to charge people who use one rather than spread the cost over everyone with a bank account. The charges made by card providers are a different matter.
But the op was talking about machines that charge not banks. We have the same account but if the ATM charges you still pay it same as you would at one in a small shop in the UK.
Yes! I have that account too and the greatest benefit IMO is the multi tip travel insurance. Their home insurance is great too.
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