What debit card to use abroad?

[Odhran]

Hi all,

I currently bank with Santander and am fairly happy, although last year when I returned from the states I was rather peeved to find out I had been charged transaction fees on every transaction that I made there, these fees totaled almost £100.

I am heading to the US next summer and intend on using my card when I'm out there rather than carry a lot of cash, are there any banks / cards that do not charge you for using your card abroad?

Many thanks.

[anonymous-user]

Odhran said:

Hi all,

I currently bank with Santander and am fairly happy, although last year when I returned from the states I was rather peeved to find out I had been charged transaction fees on every transaction that I made there, these fees totaled almost £100.

I am heading to the US next summer and intend on using my card when I'm out there rather than carry a lot of cash, are there any banks / cards that do not charge you for using your card abroad?

Many thanks.

Perhaps there is a comparison site that will offer this sort of information. Moneysupermarket perhaps..........

As far as I remember, Halifax charge for use in the US. I can't speak for the others

[Gizmo!]

Nationwide don't charge iirc.

Personally I just use the credit card to take out a couple of hundred in local cash and use that.

[andrew311]

Yep Money Supermarket lays it all out. FWIW I also bank with Santander and have their Zero credit card. You don't get charged for paying by card but get carded something like 2% if you use it to withdraw cash so £2 for every £100 which isn't too bad for the US as you can pay for 99.9% of things with a card and can take some cash with you.

[leyorkie]

Look at FaiFx cards you pre load cash at a fixed rate

[LuS1fer]

I think the Post Office card may be free abroad too.

[T_Pot]

leyorkie said:

Look at FaiFx cards you pre load cash at a fixed rate

this....

we had an issue few years ago with our bank abroad, and decided after then to only use pre paid cards

few plus points
you control the amount you spend, if its lost, stolen, cloned or what ever, you have no worry about your life savings going to Nigeria

if used for car hire, you wont find any added charges once your home

no real downside we found so far

[rsv gone!]

Gizmo! said:

Nationwide don't charge iirc.

It used to be the case, making them the default choice for every expat but they closed this up a couple of years back.

They are still one of the better debit cards to use as they don't load the exchange rates IIRC.

[Gizmo!]

T_Pot said:

leyorkie said:

Look at FaiFx cards you pre load cash at a fixed rate

this....

we had an issue few years ago with our bank abroad, and decided after then to only use pre paid cards

few plus points
you control the amount you spend, if its lost, stolen, cloned or what ever, you have no worry about your life savings going to Nigeria

if used for car hire, you wont find any added charges once your home

no real downside we found so far

Don't you have to buy those dodgy pre-paid credit cards at Ye Local Dodgye Corner Shoppe?

So your card gets cloned at home rather than abroad...

[Allanv]

Gizmo! said:

Don't you have to buy those dodgy pre-paid credit cards at Ye Local Dodgye Corner Shoppe?

So your card gets cloned at home rather than abroad...

I got mine from Thomascook and I could see the balance and transactions online within minutes.
It would allow me to top up if needed online as well and it was all free.

I did get a Canadian dollor one though to avoid currency fluctuations.

[Thunderace]

rsv gone! said:

Gizmo! said:

Nationwide don't charge iirc.

It used to be the case, making them the default choice for every expat but they closed this up a couple of years back.

They are still one of the better debit cards to use as they don't load the exchange rates IIRC.

Nationwide charge 2% of each transaction, + £1 for cash withdrawals.

[T_Pot]

Gizmo! said:

Don't you have to buy those dodgy pre-paid credit cards at Ye Local Dodgye Corner Shoppe?

So your card gets cloned at home rather than abroad...

not sure how they would clone a card in a sealed envelope with a security tag, they tend to come more protected than normal cards.

and if your worried, buy it a month before you need it, cant use a card with no money on it

[Fourmotion]

I always use my Amex. Yes, the commission is horrendous, but the FX rate is fantastic. I bought a Macbook in Hong Kong and paid over £50 in commission, but saved over £100 on the FX rate compared to my other credit card.

[leyorkie]

The FairFx cards are available for euros or dollars, you can use it exactly like a credit or debit card but your liability is reduced to the amount that you have pre-loaded. You can load cash by Internet, or mobile so if you are away for a long time you dont have to load it all at once.
The cash is available within hours.
I find it very handy only down side is a charge for drawing from cash machines 1.5 euro sorry can't remember the dollar charge but it's per transaction regardless of the amount.

[rsv gone!]

Thunderace said:

rsv gone! said:

Gizmo! said:

Nationwide don't charge iirc.

It used to be the case, making them the default choice for every expat but they closed this up a couple of years back.

They are still one of the better debit cards to use as they don't load the exchange rates IIRC.

Nationwide charge 2% of each transaction, + £1 for cash withdrawals.

Nowhere near as good as they used to be then.

[audidoody]

I use Caxton FX dollar, euro, of global cards with loads of £250 a time (online or my mobile).

You'll still need a credit card for a hotel or car hire reservation as they block off a chunk of your credit line as depositl

[Odhran]

Thanks guys, will look into each of the suggestions and weigh them up. The Santander Zero card would have been right up my street, only I don't qualify any more unfortunately as I just closed my Premium investment portfolio with them and don't qualify under any other criteria

[MSport Calendar]

How easy is it to get your money back off a Caxton or FairFX card when you get home? Or is the idea that you top-up little and often so there's hardly anything left at the end of the holiday?

[rxtx]

You can either use their 'buy back', which is subject to a 10 quid fee on euro and dollar cards, or just draw cash out of an ATM, which will incur the ATM fee as normal.

Definitely don't use these types of cards for hotels/car hire/anything that will put an auth on the card as said above, because those funds won't be available until the auth drops off.

[IROC-Z]

Odhran said:

Thanks guys, will look into each of the suggestions and weigh them up. The Santander Zero card would have been right up my street, only I don't qualify any more unfortunately as I just closed my Premium investment portfolio with them and don't qualify under any other criteria

The Nationwide credit card is 0% commission on overseas purchases. I've been with them for around 8 years and they used to have the same offer with their debit card, which has since been withdrawn. Might be worth signing up for the former though, even if it just stays in your wallet and it only comes out on holidays.