Credit cards abroad

rickym

rickym

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Maybe some financial institutions have worked out the 'service thing'?

Halifax are offering the Clarity Credit Card with no fees for overseas use. May give this a whirl? Always annoys me when the bank charges for me to use my own money.

Any other good spending abroard cards?
 
I am afraid that I have always just assumed that it will cost. I go back to the days when you had to speak to your bank in the UK, find out which was their local agent, Tell them which proof of identity you would have and go in the next day to draw your cash. The hole in the wall may be pricey but it is a hell of a lot easier.
 
rickym said:
Maybe some financial institutions have worked out the 'service thing'?

Halifax are offering the Clarity Credit Card with no fees for overseas use. May give this a whirl? Always annoys me when the bank charges for me to use my own money.

Any other good spending abroard cards?
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We have the Halifax Clarity card, also use Fairfx eurocard for getting money out of the hole in the wall, both are very good.
 
If you have Nationwide flex account they now do a "select" Visa card - commission free on overseas purchases and 0.5% cash reward for sterling purchases - just got mine.
 
Nationwide select credit card, free to use for purchases and good exchange rate.

We're considering a prepay card for hole in the wall withdrawals, is there any great difference between them all?
 
No credit card is going to give you a good deal for a foreign currency transaction - IIRC the exchange rates are set by Visa / MC and not particularly favourable. I believe Amex have better rates but I may be out of date on both of those.

If this is a regular requirement then you'll be better off with an account in the currency you are spending.
 
bedouin said:
No credit card is going to give you a good deal for a foreign currency transaction - IIRC the exchange rates are set by Visa / MC and not particularly favourable. I believe Amex have better rates but I may be out of date on both of those.
Click to expand...

I believe that you are right, however whenever I've used my nationwide credit card I've had favourable rates. For example I used my nationwide select credit card in Lidl in Crete yesterday and the exchange rate was €1.19 to the pound. I've just checked the exchange rate today - €1.19 to the pound. Admittedly it could have been better yesterday when I used it but it's unlikely to have been much different.

No charges either.
 
...nationwide credit card I've had favourable rates....

Back in the good-old-days of the free nationwide card, I was once obliged to get €600 out in a single day, so i used the N/wide card and my Barclays switchcard within three minutes of each other; in addition to the two seperate fees they added, Barclays also gave me a poorer exchange rate, it cost me over £13 more to get €300 of MY money out of Barclays than from Nationwide.
 
Lots of fee-free CREDIT cards - Santander Zero, Nationwide Visa Select, Halifax.

Have found of the only 2 networks available, Mastercard seems to give the better rate than Visa cf mid-market bank exchange rate.

Drawing one's own cash is more difficult, you have prepay cards, which all charge by sell/buy rates, some by commission. Nationwide Flex are the least chiselling debit card and ALL the big 5 banks are virtual crooks on both credit and debit card transfers.
 
Since this thread started I've done a bit research to try to reduce the amount we are charged for accessing our money abroad. I'm happy with my credit card which is used for supermarket shopping but drawing from ATMs always seems a bit expensive.

I've looked at the two most popular pre-pay cards (CaxtonFX and FairFX) and compared them to my nationwide flex account debit card. The costs of all three are largely similar. Nationwide gives a better exchange rate but by the time it has charged its percentage and fee for withdrawal, its exchange rate ends up pretty much the same as that offered by the pre-pay cards.

I seem to be banging on about Nationwide a bit here but for my money, that's what I'll continue using.
 
As always it would seem that a bit of competition works wonders. Spending on credit cards you can get a good deal, no fees and a good exchange rate. Getting your hands on your own cash you get shafted either way!

Lots of good comments and advice!
 
One of the problems of credit cards in Greece is that many of the businesses are not set up to deal with them, so using them for a normal transaction is not possible; it really is mainly a cash economy. Hence our use of Caxton in order to get our money with no charges; we need cheap access to bundles of cash! Another point is that Caxton oftent takes up to 3 days to process the money through to our bank account despite crediting the card almost immediately.
 
If you are in an large towns frequented by UK tourists you can often find ATMs that will give out sterling which you can exchange inside the bank or elsewhere at a far better rate than the card company and some cards do not charge, not considering it an overseas transaction.
 
Credit Cards Abroad

I have a Nationwide Credit Card for commission free purchases abroad. However, my boat is currently on the Greek island of Leros, and many local retailers will only accept cash.

To get cash from ATM's I use a N&P (Norwich & Peterborough) Debit Card. This also has no commission charges, and the Visa exchange rate is quite reasonable.
To get a N&P debit card it is necessary to pay a minimum of £500 monthly into the account.
 
FairFX pre-loaded currency card

The Old Guvnor and I each have a FairFX card which we have been using for two years and we are quite happy with the system. By having a card each we still have funds available should one get stolen.

It is also very useful at keeping a check on your spending, and it's pleasant to come back from holiday and not be faced with a big credit card bill.
 
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