By admin | January 19th, 2008 | General
Are you going on holiday soon and can’t wait to sample that sun on your back and wading into the hot waters that the Med and like offers you? Instead I will just send you off with a little piece of advice that could make your holiday all the more memorable.
The first thing is if you are taking your credit card, yes your little plastic friend, are you fully aware of the extra charges that using your little friend costs you, No? Then let me explain.
Don’t feel embarrassed about not knowing what your credit card costs you abroad, as most people don’t and the usage charges that your credit card issuer take are not advertised in the big writing, when they are trying to get your custom, leading to two-thirds of credit card customers knowing nothing about these charges.
These fees are usually around the 2.75% mark for using your credit card abroad, this may not seem too high at first, but put it up against your expenditure when you are on holiday, then the cost is quite a sum to pay as well as any interest that maybe added, for example if you spend £2,000 on holiday on things such as meals, excursions and souvenirs, then when you get back home you could see charges of £55 on top of your already large holiday bill, just for using your credit card.
This is not the end of the charges and fees, what ever you do try not to use your credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM, you may find that the fee of 2% is cheaper than that of the usage fee for simply handing over your credit card, will think again, this is added to the usage fee, now giving you a total of 4.75% being added to your bill back home.
A tip is to contact your credit card issuer and find out what they’re charges are. Once you have done this compare them to what it will cost to buy travellers cheques or foreign currency here, this could save you cash that could be spent on your holiday, on you and your family, rather than making the credit card issuers of this world, richer.
Credit card issuers who don’t charge for using they’re cards abroad are few and far between, though the Nationwide Building Society is one of those. Although some credit card issuers don’t charge usage fees, they will have restrictions. The Liverpool and Victoria does not charge within the E.U, though once you travel outside the E.U boundaries then the charges will be applied.
Tags: credit cards foreign use, fees, hidden charges
Again always check the all print on your credit card agreement. These can be particularly painful if you do not know about them previously. These may include an extra charge for using your card abroad or receiving cash advances. A typical cash advance fee would be around 3%, with a minimum set amount. However, not only...
Recently released figures have shown that there has been a 10 percent increase in plastic card use whilst overseas by Brits, with plastic cards being used around ten times per second abroad. The figures were released by the payment clearance agency, APACS, and reflect the level of plastic card usage overseas for last year. The...
It was announced several weeks ago that the financial giant Nationwide was planning to hike up the fees charged on its credit cards when used abroad by customers. The increases were set to take place as of the beginning of this month, but those heading out on holiday armed with their Nationwide credit cards over...
Many consumers will be glad to hear that the Zero credit card from banking giant Abbey has made a comeback, as this card could prove ideal for those that are planning to head abroad on their holidays. The credit card enables consumers to enjoy fee free credit when they are spending abroad, so many Brits...
Industry officials from the UK Cards Association have recently stated that consumers that intend to use their credit cards whilst abroad need to ensure that they exercise caution so that they do not have to face the extortionate fees and charges that can come with credit card use overseas. The warning comes as millions of Brits...
Contactless payments may have seemed like a thing of the future just a few years ago, but today this form...
By admin | February 6, 2010 | Read More
Mobile phone giant Orange is set to launch its own contactless credit card in partnership with banking giant Barclaycard. The...
By admin | February 3, 2010 | Read More
The no frills budget airline Ryanair has found itself in hot water with the Office of Fair Trading for allegedly...
By admin | January 31, 2010 | Read More
A spokesperson from the Spanish owned bank Santander has stated recently that whilst many skiing enthusiasts may wonder how they...
By admin | January 28, 2010 | Read More
Whilst many people may have thought that spending on Christmas and January sales goods would be down this year as...
By admin | January 23, 2010 | Read More
Hi
I have been using the NATIONWIDE credit card for many years in Europe and Australia New Zealand Singapore ……
The exchange rate on this card is about 2-3% below the median exchange rate for INTERBANK. There are no other charges for transactions
Be warned that the POST OFFICE exchange rate is about 7.3% on the same basis !!!. Other credit cards such as Tesco offered add overseas charges andlike most do not identify the exchange rate used for each transaction.
The exchange rate used by the Post Office for over the counter and over the Internet for cash is similar outrageous but evn more so.
The claim of commission free may be true but the real charges INCLUDE THE EXCHANGE RATE.
If cash is required on the trip then it is well worthwhile to clear the balance on the NATIONWIDE card and then load it with credit.Overseas ATM can then be used and the excellent 2-3% below Interbank rate can be obtained for cash.
The catch is that if the card is used for other transactions the the deposit is used first to offset any purchase and immediate interset charges accrue.
Comment by mike traveller — November 12, 2008 @ 6:15 pm