Shafted in Euros or Pounds

[crystalmethod]

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

Currently on holiday in Spain. Every restaurant, ATM etc gives me the option to be billed in GBP or EUR.

Am using a Visa debit card. Does anyone know if one is better than the other?

Appreciate that any benefits will be v marginal, and that there's really no good news on this one.

Many thanks.

[essayer]

Depends on your bank account, who do you bank with?

[jbudgie]

Euros.

Edited by jbudgie on Friday 19th August 19:29

[crystalmethod]

essayer said:

Depends on your bank account, who do you bank with?

HSBC (First Direct)

[recordman]

I always choose to be billed in Euros. What really p1sses me off is when I'm not given a choice and the retailer puts the charge through in GBP. The rate is always worse than the one applied by my card provider (Nationwide or Halifax)

[GreigM]

Euros, always Euros - that way you will get your bank's rate, which will be way less of a shafting than what the restaurant will give you if you let them convert it to GBP. Cheapest way to travel abroad is with a HAlifax Clarity credit card - no fees and a rate which is hard to beat unless you are converting significant amounts.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Pounds can be better as you don't cop for the bank charges which can be a minimum of £2.50 a pop. If your card is a Halifax or Post Office that doesn't charge the fees then it makes less difference.

Edited by 2 sMoKiN bArReLs on Friday 19th August 20:00

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

..I should add I always believed the Euro route was best, afeared of what the "unknown" exchange rate might be, so did some experimentation. The rates came out OK, and as I said we saved the admin costs. Now we have Halifax/Post Office we don't get the charges. (One previous holiday we racked up £200+ of bank admin on Euro transactions)

[MGTS]

MoneySavingExpert says

If they ask 'want to pay in pounds or euros?', say 'euros'

Many overseas hotels, shops & ATMs ask this when you pay by card, especially in Spanish tourist resorts. If you choose pounds, the retailer does the currency conversion – but rates can often be poor compared with letting your card do it (choosing euros). For a great comparison of rates, see Martin's euro analysis.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/trav...

[essayer]

But assuming you don't occur the £2.50 or whatever bank fee, won't it usually be better to pay for small transactions in GBP?
Or withdraw a load of cash in one hit and pay EUR at the cash machine

[Robbo 27]

essayer said:

Or withdraw a load of cash in one hit and pay EUR at the cash machine

That would be me, take cash for whereever you are going to, heard too many stories of dodgy billings on credit and debit cards abroad.

[fizz47]

When using Credit/Debit cards ALWAYS take the charge in Local currency wherever you are in the world .

[crystalmethod]

Thanks for the various replies. Very useful. Wish I'd asked a week ago, as have been opting for GBP several times, however there's a four day hotel bill tonight, which I'll pay for in EUR.

[gtidriver]

I have a Clarity card,i used it to draw a few hundred Euros in Greece, £8.50 charge from the atm

[King Herald]

If I make a purchase abroad, using my UK based HSBC account, I get hit with a foreign exchange fee!

Last month I bought air tickets on line for daughter and me to go to UK, two tickets, bought together, and they processed it as two transactions, 32 quid each!

[rxtx]

King Herald said:

If I make a purchase abroad, using my UK based HSBC account, I get hit with a foreign exchange fee!

That shouldn't really come as a surprise because the issuer will have to pay a fee.

If you're going to Europe I'd recommend taking a currency card. I wrote a significant amount of FairFXs back-end so I will recommend them

[ThunderSpook]

Also worth knowing if you buy foreign currency from an exchange place, even in the UK, it will be treated as a foreign currency transaction and your card issuer will charge you a foreign currency transaction fee.

Best thing to do if you want to buy cash is use cash.

[GreigM]

gtidriver said:

I have a Clarity card,i used it to draw a few hundred Euros in Greece, £8.50 charge from the atm

You'll also get interest charges on your next statement. Never use a credit card to draw cash from an ATM, a debit would be much better.

[jonamv8]

I find both options to be expensive these days and just take cash now.

HSBC Premier used to not charge a none sterling transaction fee and the rates were good, thats all changed now

[GreigM]

jonamv8 said:

I find both options to be expensive these days and just take cash now.

HSBC Premier used to not charge a none sterling transaction fee and the rates were good, thats all changed now

This is where the Halifax Clarity card comes into its own - they charge absolutely no transaction fees, and don't fiddle with the exchange rate either, you simply get the straight exchange rate that Mastercard applies on the day.

So take today for example.
The market rate (Bloomberg) is 1.1541.
Halifax Clarity will give 1.1517
Best high st rate for cash is around 1.135