Withdrawing money abroad

MissAnj

Guest
I was just wondering which is the cheapest way to withdraw money abroad now?

For our last trip we had the fabulous Nationwide account that allowed free withdrawals but since they have have started charging I was just wondering how the many travellers on this forum access their money without paying too much in fees and commissions etc...

Is a pre-pay cash card the way forward now? and which is the best one?!!

Thanks
 
hi. use an hsbc premier card they dont charge. worse was last winter came across several banks that wouldnt take sterling cash. ok in tourist area but in the quiet area many were struggling. cash normally works best .specialy if you long term as if your card gets eaten in a foreign machine you could be left stranded. had my cards stolen one year.luckily friends were round to help out. never use travellers cheques too expensive.
 
Depends where you live. If in the North West within the catchment area of the Cumberland B S open a Current account with them and it's better than the Nationwide as they allow withdrawals worldwide.

The area includes southern Scotland Cumberland & Lancashire. If you live outside the area I don't believe you can join them.
 
We use the Halifax clarity credit card, we are charged just over 125 per year on cash withdrawls abroad but no other charges. Providing you can get internet access you can pay it off within a day. I got 500€ out & paid it off as soon as I could see how much it was & it cost 15 pence.

Post Office credit card lets you pre load the card with cash before you go & you can then get cash out at no charge.
 
After our Nationwide Card want belly up we opened a Santander Zero Credit Card but after we used it in Lanzarote earlier this year we found they only give you the tourist exchange rate not the International Bank exchange rate which is higher, so it's no better than using your normal Credit Card, we get 1% Cash back on our Capital One credit card so we'll use that in future.
 
I called the Nationwide the other day as we used to use the Flex account as well. They offered me their credit card which they boasted was free like the old debit card. Firstly I would never ever want a credit card but the rate is not as good and this often seems to be the case with Credit Cards. Im just going to stick with the Nationwide Debit card. Ok so Ill pay a little to use it but the rate is better than most other cards and I know it works everywhere.
 
Looking at the details of using my Halifax Claritycredit card getting cash:

Date March 15 2011 500€ @ an exchange rate of 1.15 cost £433.21 +0.15pence charged after paying it off 3 days later. Also got £5 reward back for having more than £300 transactions in the month.

Exchange rate on the day 1.14880 (from HISTORICAL EXCHANGE RATES)
 
Our Norwich & Peterborough account allows us commission free use of the debit card abroad so long as the account is used a minimum of 5 times a month.

Regards Nolly.
 
Kontiki said:
Looking at the details of using my Halifax Claritycredit card getting cash:

Date March 15 2011 500€ @ an exchange rate of 1.15 cost £433.21 +0.15pence charged after paying it off 3 days later. Also got £5 reward back for having more than £300 transactions in the month.

Exchange rate on the day 1.14880 (from HISTORICAL EXCHANGE RATES)
Click to expand...

Up until now we have relied on the Nationwide Debit Card (which was free untill last November) but, after reading your post I have ordered a Halifax Clarity Credit Card. It beats even the pre-loaded cards, which charge over £1 per cash withdrawal. Thanks.
 
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You need to make sure that you get the 12.9% APR rate for the Clarity card, it does say that the
'Rates from 12.9% APR variable to 21.9% APR variable depending on individual circumstances'
I don't think that it's a problem unless you have a bad credit rating.
 
When my application was accepted the APR was listed as 12.9%, so they must like me!
 
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