John.N Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Today I can get 555 euros by handing £500 over the Post Office counter. Can some kind accountant tell me how many I can get by using my Nationwide Flexaccount debit card (2% commisssion + £1 transaction charge) from a French ATM please. I know that this has ben the subject of a previous thread but my mathematical ability is rather limited and I would like an easy answer to this simple question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_C Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 John.N - 2011-01-25 6:40 PM Today I can get 555 euros by handing £500 over the Post Office counter. Can some kind accountant tell me how many I can get by using my Nationwide Flexaccount debit card (2% commisssion + £1 transaction charge) from a French ATM please. I know that this has ben the subject of a previous thread but my mathematical ability is rather limited and I would like an easy answer to this simple question. If Nationwide use the Visa Europe rates, according to the Visa Europe calculator €573 would cost you £498.70 at 2% commission. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vernon B Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 In the absence of any other takers John I'll have a go. With the PO you're getting 1.11 Euro for each of your £ which in simple terms means you get an 11% mark up. With NW the charges and commission take 2.2% from any mark up so for you to receive more Euros from the ATM the NW exchange rate needs to be more than 1.132. You didn't say or probably don't know what that exchange rate is so your specific question cannot be answered. However the commercial rate today (a poor day by the way) is £1.16 and it is possible that NW is paying 1.14 in which case you'd get an extra 1% euros or 5.5 euros. V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vernon B Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Of course if you want to avoid further confusion as this thread develops you could take out a Caxton fx card and generally do better than either NW or the PO. Search Caxton fx on this forum for the pros and cons V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John.N Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thanks folks. Assuming that, when the time comes, PO and Nationwide maintain the same differential (after all they are both working to the same basic exchange rates) according to Andy it seems that I shall have approximately 18 extraa euros from the Nationwide. Not to be sniffed at so I think I'll get my cash abroad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 John You will also need to bear in mind that your French ATM procedure will be vice versa to your Post Ofiice one. In the former case you will ask for X number of €s at the French ATM and Y number of £s will (eventually) be debited from your Nationwide FlexAccount. In the latter case you will hand over £500 to the Post Ofiice and will immediately receive Y number of €s. Although the £500 Post Office transaction can be performed in one go, I don't believe you will be able to withdraw €500-€600 from a French ATM as a single transaction. To obtain that amount of €-cash from the ATM a minimum of two withdrawals will be required which will incur 2 x £1 Nationwide transaction charges. Superficially your question is simple. In practice it isn't because the Nationwide ATM-related process adds two extra components to the calculation - (1) how many cash withdrawals you make in France and (2) when you make them. When you obtain €s from a PO counter you pay an amount of £s that doesn't subsequently alter, so it's simple to calculate the rate of exchange the PO has applied to your transaction. Using your NW Flexaccount card in France for an overall cash withdrawal in the €500-€600 range means you'll need to allow for a) at least £2-worth of NW transaction charges and b) a constantly 'floating' rate of exchange. If you chose not to buy your €s at the PO and the £ dramatically weakened against the € before you had the opportunity to make cash withdrawals in France (and this could happen), you could end up worse off. Conversely, if the £ had strengthened considerably against the € by the time you made your French cash withdrawal(s), you could be better off. Fortunately (and assuming it works abroad!) I've now got a Santander Zero debit card that doesn't charge commission or fees for foreign ATM cash wirhdrawals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnerontheroad Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 John, Have a look here you can get an idea of what is on offer. http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/holiday-money/ Good Luck Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hymer1942 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 The bank rate this morning was 1.135. with the tourist rate not a lot over 1.10 Barrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Another thing to consider is whether you are happy to take a large amount of euros with you from the UK to Euroland, or whether you prefer the more secure method of getting them out in Euroland when you need them .... :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 My local Post Office today was selling Euros at !-07 to the Pound, if you bought £500 worth, When in Spain on the 22nd Feb I got 300 euros from an ATM and the cost was £253-21 plus £5-06 commission and a £1 charge £6-06 at 1-184 exchange rate Nationwide Debit Card. In Portugal I got 200 euros from an ATM on 7 Feb cost me £168-97 at 1-183 exchange rate plus £3 -37 commission and £1 cash charge, £4-37 .The exchange rate was always good but the charges were high, one Month alone I was charged £32 to get my own money out, The Post Office are currently offering a CREDIT Card with NO commission to pay in E U, but being home to pay the bill is my problem as I go away for up to six months at a time,You can't win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordThornber Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 My local travel agent texts me whenever the rate hits €1.15 Haven't heard from her for a week or two funny enough 8-) Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 For what its worth, I drew €150 on my Caxton card in Portugal on Feb 22nd @ a cost of £128.76, again Feb 25th @ £131.23. €200 Mar 1st @173.46, €250 Mar 5th @ £219.68. If any mathematician wants to have a go let us all know which is the better option, Nationwide or Caxton. Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 vindiboy - 2011-03-29 4:53 PM The Post Office are currently offering a CREDIT Card with NO commission to pay in EU, but being home to pay the bill is my problem as I go away for up to six months at a time,You can't win. Not sure why this is a problem - you can simply set up an auto-payment with your bank to pay off the full amount each month ... you don't actually have to be here to pay it. This is what we do, all we need to make sure is that we have sufficient funds in our bank account to cover any bills that come in, if you keep a check our your normal 'home' outgoings and what you're clocking up on the credit card there isn't a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Vernon B - 2011-01-25 7:46 PM Of course if you want to avoid further confusion as this thread develops you ........ ..... won't read it in the first place! :-| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Hi, I just added £500 to my co-op cash passport card and got E550. The card is chip/pin backed by Mastercard. It saves carrying too much cash and we treat it just as securely as any other credit or debit card.. no pin written down anywhere etc, emergency phone number to ring in event of card loss etc. we also use camping cheques so site fees are prepaid and hopefully we wont get visited by the bad guys anyway. The alarm might frighten them off, and the added cablocks should cause them to go elsewhere. roll on holiday time..it's getting closer. tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hymer1942 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 tonyg3nwl - 2011-03-30 8:23 AM Hi, I just added £500 to my co-op cash passport card and got E550. The card is chip/pin backed by Mastercard. It saves carrying too much cash and we treat it just as securely as any other credit or debit card.. no pin written down anywhere etc, emergency phone number to ring in event of card loss etc. we also use camping cheques so site fees are prepaid and hopefully we wont get visited by the bad guys anyway. The alarm might frighten them off, and the added cablocks should cause them to go elsewhere. Hi. safe it might be, but what a poor rate. Barrie roll on holiday time..it's getting closer. tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hymer1942 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 tonyg3nwl - 2011-03-30 8:23 AM Hi, I just added £500 to my co-op cash passport card and got E550. The card is chip/pin backed by Mastercard. It saves carrying too much cash and we treat it just as securely as any other credit or debit card.. no pin written down anywhere etc, emergency phone number to ring in event of card loss etc. we also use camping cheques so site fees are prepaid and hopefully we wont get visited by the bad guys anyway. The alarm might frighten them off, and the added cablocks should cause them to go elsewhere. Hi. safe it might be, but what a poor rate. Barrie roll on holiday time..it's getting closer. tonyg3nwl Hi sorry about the mistake, all I wanted to say is safe it might be but what a poor rate. Barrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I have a Fairfax Card and checking tonight I would get 560 euros for £500. The Post Office today was offering 1.06 euros to the £ which is a lot less. The other advantage I feel is that is I buy anything with the card, I am paying in euros, not a conversion rate to pounds, whcih may nt be good. I also have a euro bank account with an ATM card so I can draw exactly what I wish in euros up to 300 euros per day anywhere in Europe, at no cost However, the downside, is I pay a fee to deposit money in if it is £. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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