Which bank card with free ATM use in the med and world wide

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Artic Warrior

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Hi All,

We are uk citezens,

We are moving aboard full time this november and are sorting out all the those last things to do,
we are based in eastern Turkey at the mo heading up to Istanbul then down through Greece as of next year.
Question is,
What banks are free or low charges to withdraw from,
Nationwide say they still have an account that does this, and im im wondering what other people are doing these days to keep it cheaper

Cheers peeps
 
The Nationwide Flex account now charges for withdrawals from the ATM. I've done quite a bit of research into the cheapest way to access our money, including looking at the prepay cards like Caxton FX etc. I've stuck with my nationwide debit card for ATM withdrawals as the charges are comparable to the costs of other ways of accessing money. I use a Nationwide credit card for major purchases and supermarket shopping as there are no fees and the exchange rate is always favourable.
 
Last time I checked Halifax did an account that promised free withdrawals, so probably worth checking with them. I have a Santander Zero account which gives me free withdrawals, but that is no longer available to new customers.
 
Last time I compared them I think the Post Office mastercard was similar in value to the Nationwide credit card, but that does not help you when it comes to cash withdrawals. Having looked into it a few years ago I could not find anything that stood out from the crowd for cash withdrawals, so we use our normal bank cards (nat west and lloyds) at ATM's and take the hit, working on the basis that on a not unlimited budget a banks profit is a taverna's loss.

Unlike you though we are only part timers, so normally we arrive with pockets stuffed with euro's enough to last us a month or more, which means in our typical 3-4 month aboard we end up making 10-12 withdrawals of e300 at a cost of c£3.70 each time, and use the credit card where possible. It's fun to watch the faces in the Greek supermarkets when you want to pay by card.

I think this year we might keep a 'get me home' float under the mattress.

I'm sure someone more canny than I will have some more relevant advice shortly.

Steve

See, it's happened already. I'm off to check out Halifax!
 
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see i travel over land a lot as well and its the same problem,,,
it was good with natiowide but then they stopped it,
but so they reckon they are still doing it but have re named it,
I will open one and seeeeee what happens
 
I have a Citibank account with an associated euro/dollar account. This allows me to withdraw money free of charge from an ATM and also make bank transfers to boatyards etc. free of charge. The exchange rate is not quite as good as a specialist FX company but is far better than the High Street.
 
Last time I checked Nationwide only did the free withdrawals card if you also have some sort of current account with them. Halifax seems to be best now - free withdrawals, no probs. We also have a Caxton card - wish we'd put more money on it before the pound went down ...
Check with Martin's Money Saver website to confirm latest situation.
 
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CaxtonFX works like a dream for us. We can load it online and then walk up to the nearest ATM and withdraw it. The only cost is their less than ideal exchange rate but they are very up-front about what exchange rate you'll pay at the time you load the card. I'm sure if you tried hard you could find a slightly cheaper alternative but for sheer convenience it's hard to beat CaxtonFX.

BTW. We're in Greece. :cool:
 
We use a Nationwide Flex card, Halifax Clarity card and a Fairfx card, I like the Fairfx card because you know what the exchange rate is before you top it up like the Caxton card. It is worthwhile having atleast 2 card providers you can use in case one is lost or problems with the account
 
Norman_E said:
Last time I checked Halifax did an account that promised free withdrawals, so probably worth checking with them. I have a Santander Zero account which gives me free withdrawals, but that is no longer available to new customers.
Click to expand...

I will check with santandare as ive been a customers for years,,,,funny ive not looked at theirs yet as ive got it in my head
that they charge the earth for every other service they provide
 
Artic Warrior said:
Hi Nornabiron,

Ive just came back from nationwide yesterday and looking at the broshure now and its showing that the Flex plus account is free use abroad with Atm,,,, weird
Click to expand...


Yes you are quite right. The Flex Plus account was introduced just a week or so ago and it does offer fee-free cash withdrawals worldwide, BUT it charges £10 per month to operate the account.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/flexplus/default.htm

I'll stick to my Nationwide credit card & Caxton FX euro card
 
For the record our experience of Santander Zero is that you will pay a % handling charge from Visa when you use the card to purchase goods and a standing %, that I cannot recall, when you use non Santander ATM's. Santander claim not to charge any fees, but they do pass on local and Visa charges so their claim of "no fees" appears to be only half true at best. We complained about this last year on the grounds of them giving us misleading information when we set up the account and they "awarded" us with a £25 payment into our account with receiving any agreement to accept it from us. We decided to drop the issue as we were unlikely to be successful.
Now on looking into their 123 account I see that in the supporting literature they are still claiming that they do not charge any fees! Misleading at least I would think, unless someone else knows better?
 
I’ve been looking into the options for how to get cash while abroad. The best option I’ve found seems to be the Halifax Clarity Credit Card, which moneysupermarket claims is not only best for buying stuff but also for cash transactions (which goes against everything I’ve been told, ever). So I did some calculations and they seem to agree. Can anyone find where I’m being an idiot?

All of these calculations assume you get the best advertised interest rate on the credit card, and that you pay it off in full each month.

The items for comparison:
Travelex Cash before leaving the country, close to the best rate I could find:
http://www.travelex.co.uk/uk/
Rate = 1.1547
No fees after that

FairFX Currency Card:
https://www.fairfx.com
Rate = 1.1575
1.5 euro charge per withdrawl
(ignoring one off set up fee as does not apply over £500)

Halifax Clarity Credit Card:
http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/low-rate-no-fee/clarity-card/
Rate = mastercard rate = 1.1849
https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/index.html
No fee to withdraw
1.017% monthly interest on cash withdrawls.

So for a 50 euro purchase:
Travelex = 50 / rate = £43.30
FairFX = 51.50 / rate = £44.49
Halifax = 50 / rate * interest = £42.63

For a 500 euro purchase:
Travelex = 500 / rate = £433.01
FairFX = 501.50 / rate = £433.26
Halifax = 500 / rate * interest = £426.27

The only bit I can see being dodgy is the mastercard rate. The website isn’t massively clear (maybe that’s the buy rate, not the sell rate?), so I took a look at the VISA one which allows you to simulate a transaction.

http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp

They give a rate of 1 euro = £0.8562, which is 1.168. So that value for each transaction is:

50 euros = £43.24
500 euros = £432.43

Not quite as good as the Halifax, but still better than the alternatives.

Anyone got any thoughts?
 
NornaBiron said:
The Nationwide Flex account now charges for withdrawals from the ATM. I've done quite a bit of research into the cheapest way to access our money, including looking at the prepay cards like Caxton FX etc. I've stuck with my nationwide debit card for ATM withdrawals as the charges are comparable to the costs of other ways of accessing money. I use a Nationwide credit card for major purchases and supermarket shopping as there are no fees and the exchange rate is always favourable.
Click to expand...

I came to the same conclusion.
 
NornaBiron said:
The Nationwide Flex account now charges for withdrawals from the ATM. I've done quite a bit of research into the cheapest way to access our money, including looking at the prepay cards like Caxton FX etc. I've stuck with my nationwide debit card for ATM withdrawals as the charges are comparable to the costs of other ways of accessing money. I use a Nationwide credit card for major purchases and supermarket shopping as there are no fees and the exchange rate is always favourable.
Click to expand...

I agree - having done the sums fairly carefully - but I now demand a discount for cash and usually get it in Greece. For my account it's 1.5% +£1.00 transaction charge. The prepay cards look quite good but if you do the discounting for them holding your cash and the various hidden charges the Nationwide Flex still works out the least unreasonable.
Several credit cards charge nothing, Nationwide Visa Select, Santander Zero and Halifax give good rates and no surcharges - only the Visa Select gives you cashback 0.5% and only on £sterling purchases.
 
Over the world no, but within the EU forex bank doesn't charge for atm withdrawals..
According to their website:-
A bank card with no annual fee
A bank card that can be used all over the world
A bank card with no withdrawal fees within the EU

It's a Nordic bank, www.forex.se, all info is in English.
Hope this helps..
 
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