Getting Cash Abroad

[Kontiki]

We have in the past always used the Nationwide Flex card to withdraw cash anywhere in Europe. Now they have decided to start charging I've had to lok elsewhere. They are charging £1 per transaction +2% so to get £100 it will now cost you £3
I found that the Halifax Clarity credit card will allow you to withdraw cash abroad without any charges & as long as you make sure that the balance of the card is paid on time you aren't charged anything. Set it up today & made sure that the balance is automatically paid in full when due.
It sounded to good to be true so I also called the Halifax helpline & the guy I spoke to confirmed that as long the balance is paid in full at the end of the month you don't pay any interest or charges.

 

[Nosha]

Thank you for that, I also use a N/Wide card; they are now saying they will give old users free holiday insurance, which if this year is anything to go by is worth £35 per couple for 3 weeks.

 

[Kontiki]

Nationwide are supposed to be giving you a few 'free' extras, but you have to put £1000 a month into the account. Also if you read the small print regarding the holiday insurance - only for 30 days - extra payment needed for some existing conditions - etc. so for me it's useless. We usually go for 2-3 month trips, I've so many medical problems that it would cost a fortune to get insurance & we couldn't afford to go.
I think that there were a lot of people using the Flex card just for their holiday cash but not as their current account. We are slowly switching our accounts to the Halifax as they seem to be offering us the best deals at the moment.

 

[oddjob]

Try this Totally free abroad

The Santander Zero Credit Card
oddjob

 

[oldpolicehouse]

Hello
I use a travelex cash passport.This is not a credit card but a prepaid card.Available in several currencies but I just have the euro card.You can check the balance and charge it up online. They are usually the best exchange rate.Withdrawals are free from any visa ATM. I travel in Europe a lot and find this card very convenient.And you don't have a nasty credit card bill when you come home.
Cheers

 

[barnybg]

Mistaken information ?

Are you sure the Nationwide has changed the way they do business ? I know one of the account cards would be 'payed to use' but the other which i have used and still use,a debit visa card (and i'm in Bulgaria) is still free at the ATM,with a limit amount of withdrawel.
I would think that the Nationwide would and will lose alot of customers and business if they do start charging,as thats why i tranferred my bank monies from Barclays to them !! and so did ALL the expats and travellers in Bulgaria and further afield,i know as i am a forum member on a few expat sites from all over.
So ,i am sure you are mistaken,i would double check,as this type of statement came out,a few months back on these other forums,its either a misunderstanding or a scare tactic by other card/bank business's.
If you do enquire,or you ask about setting up a Nationwide account,please state it is the ONLY reason you are doing so,is to use your 'flexable friend' in foreign countries for FREE,and to ask the particular branch to pass the message on,up the tree of management etc .

 

[Kontiki]

Here is a link to the changes to the Flex card FlexAccount changes

When I asked in the branch about the changes they said they thought it was because a lot of people were using the Flex just for getting cash abroad but not using the Flex for their main current account. The Credit Agricole one does have charges just for having an account which looks like it doubles to €55 a year if you don't use the account so hardly free.

Nationwide used to give you almost the commercial rate when using the Flex, the Halifax says it will give you the best daily rate so until I use it I can't check against the best rate.

 

[oddjob]

If you consider 27.9% pa interest on cash withdrawals free, then you are right!!

Yep used it for over 2 years ,in bars ,restaurant's ,bought fuel,Cigs ,ATM's and in gift shops ,in Spain ,portugal ,and the U.K.not a pence or cent in interest,
maybe because i settle my bill in full every month,
I wonder why its called a zero card makes you think done it??
oddjob

 

[Kontiki]

Personally we would never have anything to do with Santander, took over a year to get mine & the wifes ISA's sorted out with them. Only good thing I can say about them is their complaints department do seem to get things done (eventually ). In our local branch they seem useless, trying to get to see somebody who can do anything seemed impossible.
Found this though & it seems to suggest that you do pay charges Use an ATM Abroad

 

[oddjob]

God this is hard work,
Its a zero credit card ,not a visa debit ,the op asking about money exchange not getting out his ISAS, I'm sorry it took you a year to get your Isa's ,take it up with Anne Robinson,I have a business account and my wife and i both have savings accounts and never had a problem ,maybe just fortunate .
Not even on commission for this so I'll leave it there.....



0% foreign exchange fee
0% cash advance fee
No annual fee
Oddjob

 

[Daveandjacqui]

just enter the debate ,I have a post office credit card with no fee when used abroad (i think , waiting on next statement!). Not sure on exchange rate though ,which is where they usually make their money

Dave

 

[Kontiki]

Not disputing what you say Oddjob, if you say you don't pay any charges at all. Just looked on the Santander website The Santander Zero Credit Card
At the bottom it says
1 Some independent ATM providers may charge a fee for cash withdrawals. Cash Transactions charged at a standard rate of 27.9% APR. Interest charged on all cash transactions from date of transaction.


I always thought that most credit cards charged you interest from the day you took money out & even if you paid it on the due date you were still charged the interest.



If you feel strongly that having a discussion that is hopefully for the benefit of helping others save money too much of an effort then don't bother replying. My only intention was to inform others who might not have noticed the T&C for the Flex card would effect them.

 

[bevo]

nationwide flex account

got my letter today from nationwide.
from the 1st of november 2% charge plus £1 for cash as well.
£3 per hundred pounds drawn out.
mines going in the bin when we get back from spain.
i'll check out the post office and the fx card.
ain't life a bitch

 

[Kontiki]

I was wrong

Halifax Clarity credit card came today, I was really annoyed & will now cancel it. Reading the information with it & talking to somebody on the phone it appears that they charge you interest from the day you take money out until it is paid off. Sorry for the wrong information but I specifically asked both in the branch & when I spoke to somebody on the phone if I paid any interest or charges & was told definitely not .

Here is a link to the Money saving expert regarding which card to use. Cheap Travel Money: NEW top card for spending abroad...

Strangely reading the MSE info Halifax Clarity credit card comes out as the best We are going over to France end of Sept. for about a month & as the charges for the Flex card don't start until November maybe I'll forget stocking up with wine & fill the van with Euro's anybody want to buy some, you can have as many as you want at the rate of £1 = 1€

Will now look at some of the other suggestions.

 

[jann]

Nationwide charges

the charges start in November so OK for a while

 

[John H]

We have used the Nationwide Debit Card for several years because we spend around half the year or more abroad. The bad news is that the new charges from 1st November will cost us around 3 cents on the exchange rate. At today's rate of 1.22 euros to the pound, this would mean that we are in reality getting 1.19. The good news is that this rate is much better than we were getting last time we went to euroland (I think it was around 1.08). It is also worth remembering that the costs with Nationwide are less than all the other banks/building societies and less than changing cash with the post office etc. On the other hand, the way forward seems to be the pre-paid card (such as Fairfx) which gives you the same commercial rate as Nationwide but doesn't charge anything on top (Fairfx does, however, charge 1.5 euros every time you withdraw cash from an ATM machine - but this is less than Nationwide). If these pre-paid can be topped up over the internet then I can see that all those of us who spend a lot of time abroad will be using them a lot more than our Nationwide cards in future.

 

[vindiboy]

got my letter today from nationwide.
from the 1st of november 2% charge plus £1 for cash as well.
£3 per hundred pounds drawn out.
mines going in the bin when we get back from spain.
i'll check out the post office and the fx card.
ain't life a bitch

I got the same letter today, they list eight other money suppliers , Lloyds, Barclays Co-Op etc.. and in their chart they will still be the be cheapest to use , [ if you want to believe them ] I have had very good service from Nationwide to date so will stick with them at least for the present.

 

[John H]

Thanks John, I forgot about the 1.50 euro ATM charge, but it's still very good and we will be sticking with ours.

I'll be sticking with Nationwide until 1st November because until then it remains the best option - but after that I think it'll be the pre-paid cards for me - assuming, that is, they are easy to top-up on-line. Do you know whether they are or not?

 

[symbolrate]

post office credit card

We have in the past always used the Nationwide Flex card to withdraw cash anywhere in Europe. Now they have decided to start charging I've had to lok elsewhere. They are charging £1 per transaction +2% so to get £100 it will now cost you £3
I found that the Halifax Clarity credit card will allow you to withdraw cash abroad without any charges & as long as you make sure that the balance of the card is paid on time you aren't charged anything. Set it up today & made sure that the balance is automatically paid in full when due.
It sounded to good to be true so I also called the Halifax helpline & the guy I spoke to confirmed that as long the balance is paid in full at the end of the month you don't pay any interest or charges.

Hello all, Can speak from experience over the last year and I do a substantial amount of travelling in Europe as well as staying for many months at a time in our little house in Italy.

Like most people we have used various credit cards even though we have a bank account in Italy. It is easier with credit card most of the time. One credit card that does NOT charge you abroad is the UK Post Office credit card, run by the Bank of Ireland. The main advantages are no charge for purchases at home or abroad but also no charge for drawing cash if you actually have a positive balance by putting money in ahead of using it.

The other MAJOR reason why we only use this card now, almost as a current account is that you get the commercial rate of exchange which is usually about 5-10% better than what the Post Office or other beuraux de change will give you at the counter. You can check the current rate at OANDA - Forex Trading and Exchange Rates Services

For example, these are the rates at the moment and if you used the PO credit card these are the rates you will find on your statement.
Real-time exchange rates
USD GBP EUR JPY
USD 1.0000 1.5509 1.2734 0.01172
GBP 0.6448 1.0000 0.8211 0.00756
EUR 0.7853 1.2179 1.0000 0.00920
JPY 85.347 132.359 108.677 1.0000

I can assure you we would not go back to any other card now. We just carry this one.

Francis

 

[Kontiki]

Does the Post Office allow you to pre-load the card? I asked the Halifax about this as we had done it years ago with other credit cards & they said it wasn't possible, they also said even if our account was in credit we would still have to pay interest until the payment date.

I am still trying to find out some of the information about the Halifax card & maybe get it confirmed in writing, it does give you £5 cash back if you spend over £300 in a month. I asked does this apply to getting cash out, the person I spoke to said yes then she wasn't sure so she checked with her supervisor & confirmed that it still counted as a purchase
The interest rate is currently 12.9% APR & from what I understand works out slightly over 1% per month. I don't know what date my cut off for the card is yet or the payment date but if I draw cash out ideally I want it as near as possible before the cut off so I will only have to pay about 2 weeks interest. The way it would then work if the information I have been given is correct I could draw out £300 just before the end of the months cut off, for this Halifax would credit me with £5 & I would have to pay about £1.50 in interest charges so I do make £3.50 on the deal

As I said I'm not convinced that this would happen, but will stick with Nationwide until after 1st November then see what's around.