If I were you I'd speak to Nationwide asap. They make a big thing about their cards being commission free abroad so they're the most likely people to know the answers to your questions and to be able to advise you about Cyprus.

Can you let us know how you get on as lots of people on here have Nationwide cards and will be interested in this? Good Luck!

I didn't think that Nationwide gave a blanket 'no commission' guarantee. I thought it was simply that they don't charge you commission for using your debit card to draw out local currency from ATMs. I always just do this and never use my card to pay directly for goods and I'm not sure that Nationwide can do anything in this instance. Whether you did it knowingly or not - and it would be difficult to prove otherwise - what you have done in this instance is to pay the rate of exchange set by the retailer via VISA and which you would ahve seen at the time you signed.

Yes, you shouldn't have been told that paying in GB pounds at that rate of exchange was the only way you could pay - this isn't true - but establishing that you weren't given the option of paying in local currency will be difficult to prove. Nationwide will have been presented with a 'bill' from Visa that will have been based on the rate of exchange VISA applied along with the commission VISA charged for doing this. Nationwide are probably going to be reluctant to absorb this given that you signed for it. they can wave their commission but they can't waive VISA's commission which still has to be paid and which they have legitimately passed on to you.

I think the lesson to be learned is to avoid using your cards directly for paying for anything but to always draw local currency and pay in cash. And for situations where it is difficult to do this eg car hire, always insist that the transaction is done in the lcoal currency and refuse to sign anything where the total appears in £s.

SM

Just for the record, I booked and paid for a week at the Torremolinos Beach Club and they also charged me in GBP instead of euros at a pretty poor rate of exchange. They wouldn't charge me in euros.

luci

In these instances when booking a hotel etc it can be worth investigating not using your card but doing it through the electronic banking or BACS system. I did this recently in circumstances where I was unhappy about simply faxing them my credit card details. They were happy to provide me with their account details and I then made the transfer from my account. Yes, I had to pay a transfer fee (£9.00 from memory) but as it turned out, the good rate of exchange my bank applied almost wiped the charge out compared to the rate I'd have got if I'd used my credit card.

SM

Thanks for your responses guys - they were really interesting.

I emailed the car hire company and they replied today saying: "It states at the bottom of your open rental agreement that you will be charged in your local currency. This is standard procedure." Crafty, eh?! If this becomes more common practice, it won't be benefitial to have a Nationwide credit card.

Anyway, I'm going to contact Nationwide to see what they have to say and will let you know.

Thanks again, U2fan

I know they don't charge for debit cards but I remember something I saw lately they will charge on the credit cards if you spend less than £100, something like that. On the debit card you can pay directly for good on it abroad and will not be charged. I think the trick is with car hire to use the credit card as gaurantee and pay via a debit card if with nationwide. And doesn't automatically in your home currency it will charge you in the local currency. The car hire place probably got a better rate of exchange and made a little bit by charging GBP. Also some people want GBP.

Just check your position out with nationwide.

I used my nationwide credit card recently for a purchase of €20 and did not incur any charges on that small amount. This was in a car rental to pay for excess exclusion.

I think you need to tell them in advance that you want to pay in the local currency. If they wont accept that and insist on sterling then pay in cash, ie use a Nationwide debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM.

I dont use nationwide but a selection of other account cards, I can tell you that in greece even if you use a greek card the retailers make a small handling charge, this is because the way the banks work is diffrent to the uk, and all retailers are chaged a fee for each transaction which is passed to the card holder, as its so cheap compared to the uk i dont find thease minimum charges a problem

wizard

Hi guys

Thanks again for your responses.

We've got a £2k hotel bill to pay when we're in Cyprus, so my worry is that if we're made to pay in GBP and we're charged 3.5% commission (as we were in Ireland), that will be a hefty £65 extra to our bill.

I've emailed the hotels we're staying at to see if they make you pay in your own local currency... Fingers crossed they won't - I really don't want to be carrying that amount of cash around, which will be my alternative if they do!

U2fan

U2Fan,

I was in Cyprus in May and July and on both occasions I used my Nationwide credit card to pay for accom and other items. Firstly I was never asked the question and secondly and more importantly all my receipts and bill show the charges in Cypriot Pounds.

I do recall that last year at the airport they did ask the question and also had signs at every till advising you could now pay in your own currency......I always declined with no problem. However I noticed this year all the signage has gone and they don't ask, your automatically charged in £CYP.

I wouldn't worry at all, I'm back in October and intend using my cards as usual without any problems at all.

I do think the situation might change though as of Jan 08 when they adopt the Euro, but until then I believe it's business as usual

Thanks Miss_Chief1 - that's reassured me a lot!

U2fan

Just a quick update - both the hotels have emailed me back to say that I can pay in Cypriot pounds with my Nationwide credit card. Phew!

Just waiting to get a response from Nationwide now...

U2fan

Just as I assumed.....you wouldn't have a problem

You might wait a little longer than normal for a reply from the Nationwide over this weekend as they're in the process of intergrating the Portman BS into their systems following the merger, I had an email advising that most staff are busy with this over the Bank Holiday.

FYI - Nationwide don't make a charge for withdrawing cash via an ATM but the bank you use may. For example in New York we were charged $1.75 by 2 different banks when we withdrew from their ATMs. All our debit card transactions were free.

Yes, we had to be careful in Florida too, which ATMs we used - some do apply their own charges even if you use Nationwide cards (Publix supermarkets and many Disney ones don't seem to though ).

We went to Cyprus this March and used both our Nationwide credit card and debit card extensively - non of our transactions appeared in anything other than CYP£s.

My Nationwide Credit card statement arrived this morning. I made 16 purchases (or at least that's how many are showing on this statement). Exchange rates vary from between 1.4849 to 1.4702 Euros to the £. No commision charges and all purchases were in Euros at point of sale. Purchases cover Fuel (4 purchases) hotels (4 payments) and various shops and restaurants. My wife's statement has not arrived yet but I expect to see similar on hers for the occassions she paid.