General Holiday Enquiries, Hints and Tips

General Holiday Enquiries? Got General Hints & Tips? Post Them Here.
Reply
It depends on your bank. If you use a Nationwide Flexaccount debit card, it's just like using an ATM in th UK, with no fees or charges for using it abroad.Other cards probably charge for the privilege. Your bank will be able to tell you.
Reply
You haven't said which bank you are with. As has been said, the Nationwide don't impose any fees or charges although many ATM's in the US impose their own fee which can be $4.99 per transaction.

You will need to check on your bank's website or by calling them as most not only charge a fee, but also a percentage of the withdrawal subject to a minimum amount.

THIS SITE will show you a comparison of various bank charges for using your card abroad.

An alternative would be to purchase a bottle of water or snacks at somewhere like Walmart, CVS or Walgreens, use your debit card and ask for cashback. There should be no charges doing it that way as far as I know.

luci :wave
Reply
Im with the Halifax will check it out with them, cheers.
Reply
I used my Halifax debit card in Spain once, cost me a small fortune! Nationwide is really good, we got one just to use abroad.
Reply
I have a HSBC Plus account and was under the impression I could use my debit card abroad to withdraw cash without paying any fees. Does anyone know if this is the case. If i'm going to be charged I will be opening a Nationwide account.

Thanks
Reply
Here are a couple of comparisons of the different banks

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/offshorefinance/4203740/Fair-exchange-or-daylight-robbery.html

http://www.lovemoney.com/news/current-accounts/bad-news-for-nationwide-customers-3184.aspx?source=ilaemleml0000001

The first one was before the Nationwide started passing on the 0.84% Visa fee for transactions outside Europe.

Be aware that the Nationwide has changed the criteria for opening a FlexAccount. You either need to transfer your salary to it or open an online savings account.

luci :wave
Reply
As I understand it the Nationwide does not pass on the Visa 0.84% fee on all of the overseas transactions.

The Nationwide website has a full list of all countries and highlights those where the fee is and is not charged.

Regards, Chris
Reply
Just had another struggle with the Visa ATM Locator, I don't know why I bother!

Was looking first for Stuttgart Airport. There's a quick search button for airports so I used it - it says there are no ATMs at any German airport!!! So I did a proper search and put in the postcode for the terminal and guess what - it found some at the Flughafen! Some clown has written software that searches for English words in foreign language databases.

They've changed their map supplier from Google to Bing but it's still rubbish, accordinging to them one of the airport machines is built into the middle of the runway. I doubt it will do much business there, but it does stand more chance than the Postbank machine in Konstanz which they show as being 300 metres out into the lake!

And just to make sure it isn't just Germany that goes wrong, I've checked my locals and despite giving it a postcode it has listed 100 machines, mostly nowhere near and still not found the 2 at the railway station.
Reply
does anyone know if its expensive to use a natwest maestro or mastercard in mexico?

thanks
Reply
Anybody got any up to date fes for using ATM's abroad or are the commission rates still the same?
Reply
The link in my post above is the most recent comparison I can find.

luci :wave
Reply
According to the DM, from November, Nationwide customers will be charged 2% for every cash withdrawal and all spending........there goes the end of the Flex Account perk/attraction.

Sanji
Reply
Holiday Truths Forum

Post a Reply

Please sign in or register an account to reply to this post.

Sign in / Register

Holiday Truths Forum Ship image

Get the best deals!

from our cruise, ski and holiday partners

You can change your email preferences at any time.

Yes, I want to save money by receiving personalised travel emails with awesome deals from Holiday Truths group companies which are hotholidays.co.uk,getrcuising.co.uk and getskiing.co.uk. By subscribing I agree to the Privacy Policy

No, thank you.