enodreven Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Hi, Just got some of the bills in from our recent trip to Europe in May 2012 Halifax Clarity Credit Card No charge for purchases and all during May we were getting 1.25€ = £1 Cash withdrawal 16 May withdrew €300 exchange rate 1.25€ = £1 no withdrawal fee but interest charged at 0.033% per day (12.92% per annum) = £2.16p cost Nationwide Debit Card Didn't use it to purchase items (Our Nationwide Credit Card doesn't charge for purchases) Cash withdrawal 19 May withdrew €250 exchange rate 1.242€ = £1 commission fee £4.02p withdrawal fee £1 = £5.02p cost. Subject to us being charged another 15 days interest (0.49p) until our payment is made to Halifax its a clear winner, we will only use the Halifax Clarity card in future as that is a great rate with very very low charges. Hope that helps Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klyne Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Margaret has a Nationwide Flex account and I have to say that taking cash of the overall rate has not been good. Looks like we will have to look at the Halifax Card for future trips.We have been getting far better rates on purchases with the Nationwide credit card! David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Not really a true comparison you withdrew the cash on different days, the exchange rate varies constantly, the only way to get a true compassion is do do your 2 withdrawals one after the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 We really needs a "thanks" button..MODS!!!! I will be sticking with nationwide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enodreven Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Hi. it wasnt really about the actual exchange rates as both of them are very good in my opinion. it was more to highlight the charges incured with using either. lennyhb - 2012-06-20 1:49 PM Not really a true comparison you withdrew the cash on different days, the exchange rate varies constantly, the only way to get a true compassion is do do your 2 withdrawals one after the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 This is encouraging thanks. I have gone down this route this year and wondered how it would stack up. Been away just under two weeks so far (currently in Alsace mountains). I set up a DD to pay off the Clarity card automatically each month so hopefully we will save quite a bit. Clearly its best to do the cash withdrawls nearer the end of the month but even if you dont I think it will still work out cheaper than the Nationwide Debit card. Having said that I now pay for just about everything on the card. Even a few Euros transaction as there is absolutely no charges for paying with it and as you have demonstrated with your figures its the best rate you can get. No Brainer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Nationwide's relevant charges are shown here http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/foreigntransactions.htm With a 2% commission-charge for non-sterling transactions, plus a £1 non-UK cash withdrawal charge, there will be cheaper ways of obtaining cash abroad (though not too many). For example, Santander's "Zero" debit card imposes neither commission nor cash withdrawal charges (as used to be the case with Nationwide's FlexAccount debit card), but it's no longer available to Santander clients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homenaway Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 We recently toured Germany and used our NW credit card for purchases without any surcharges and typically 1.24 exchange rate. However for cash withdrawals we used our NW debit card and found that banks charged 2% for Visa cards plus the £1 NW charge. In fact over in the east of Germany one Sparkasse bank would only allow €50 max Visa withdrawals (No limit for Mastercard) and the only other bank in the small town stated "No Visa cards" on the ATM's but we spoke to a helpful bank assistant who somehow managed to override the restriction. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.