Credit Cards Abroad Article Discussion Area

A question about : Credit Cards Abroad Article Discussion Area

To discuss using credit/debit cards abroad.

Or to report your debit card's overseas charge click the reply button above.

This discussion relates to the following article - click here. !(NOTE: This article has been updated since the discussion started, therefore some questions immediately below may be out of date)

Best answers:

• I've just read your article on this subject (credit cards abroad) and it concentrates on using credit cards in Europe. Or was it too early in the morning for me to absorb all that info :-/
  I already have the Nationwide Credit Card (thanks to this site ) which i always use in Europe, but i'm going to Thailand in a couple of weeks and wondered if you had some advice on the right card to use there.
  8) I never withdraw cash abroad, I just use the card to buy most things and pay off the balance when the bill arrives.
• Your Nationwide card should be okay for Thailand as well. They impose no loading on ANY foreign transactions, I've used mine to pay for goods on the CD-WOW site in US dollars and have bagged some real bargains due to the greenback's current weakness.
• I have an amex corprate card, I don't believe there is any loading on that in europe, But i am going to autralia in May will that be the case.
• I lived in Ireland for a while and I found a loophole to get charge free cash withdrawls on a AIB Visa credit card.
  They couldn't charge you for withdrawls abroad if your credit card account had money put into it, so you were in a positive credit situation.
  I withdrew money charge free for months, just making sure I never dipped in to the credit on the card.
  Is there any way this would work here in the UK.
• DEar Martin,
  If I go to the states,
  is it worth taking travelers cheques, paying with Visa as I go along
  or
  withdrwing cash from the bank
  or
  opening a dollar account
  as I regularly recieve albe it small payments for work done there
  do something else you reccomend
  Regards
  Charlie
  charlie12@totalise.co.uk
• > My daughter is backpacking in Australia. She has taken an HSBC debit card with which she can withdraw cash at atm, min charge Ј1.75 and the exchange rate is poorer. The card is being denied by the swipe machines in shops but HSBC cannot explain why, so she has to keep making withdrawals before she can make purchases. She also has an HSBC credit card and has been told by an Australian employer that if we keep the account in credit, the charges will be lower than using the debit card. Any ideas?
• Hi
  Good artical Martin. It will change the way I pay abroad in future. I presume the Nationwide current account you refer to as best (Debit Card) is their Flex Account. I already have one and will use that in future. I was a bit surprised to see you say its not worth opening just for overseas spending, I found it just as easy to get as yet another credit card. (I am on the capital one circle cash back and pay it all off at the moment). Anyway if one gets a Nationwide Flex and a Nationwide internet savings at the same time you can put your cash in the savings account (4% AER interest at the moment) and use the internet to transfer the money instantly to your flex account when you need it. Thus I will now keep excess money handy when abroad, there it is earning 4% (less tax) till I spend it.
  Lovely
  Thanks
  DM
• Are credit cards universally accepted in Tunisia, please?
• I didn't manage to venture off the toilet for long enough to find out I'm afraid.
  From what I can remember (more than 15 years ago know), I don't think so but it may have changed.
• Hi Martin,
  Thanks for the info. on different loading using credit cards abroad. I use credit cards for purchases in Ireland on a frequent basis and wondered if you had done any comparisons on the exchange rates applied by credit card companies. I've noted that on the same day I can get different rates applied by different cards and am not sure if this due to different rates from each company or different rates at times of the day.
  Any information would be useful.
  HM
• All credit cards use the same exchange rate. And the Republic is simply another Euro country
  The only variance comes from two things
  i. The loading (as described by article)
  ii. When the transaction occurs on the statement in other words exactly what rate they choose. Yet this is difficult to predict, and in many ways the cost over the time balances out due to interest rate swings.
  Thus as descibed, go with the cards with the lowest loading (and the cash withdrawal issue as described at all)
• I need some advice on the cheapest way to live abroad for 6 months. I'll be backpacking, visiting a total of 7 countries, all outside Europe. I was planning on not taking any cash and using debit and credit cards for everything. Is it best to take out a nationwide account and credit card and use this for everything, or should I consider some travellers cheques?
• As I read it. If you read Martins original artical you will find he says the right credit card is better than travellers cheques and there is one slightly better than Nationwide for overseas spending, but things could change. You would only need a back up supply of money if you went without local currency to a location where they were not set up to take plastic.
  DM
• I'm currently in New York and have brought a Marbles, an MBNA and my Woolwich visa debit card. If I want to bring back luverly presents for wife and daughter, what is the best way to pay for them incurring the lowest charges. :-/
  thanks
• Sorry to say this Wifster...........
  It looks like you are going to get hit with the "loading" of 2.75% on all the cards you are carrying.
  If you withdraw cash using these cards it going to cost you even more, so i think the answer to your question is...... buy it on the plastic. If any of your cards give you cash back use those (the cashback offsets some of the loading).
  If you're a regular traveller i recommend you read Martins article on this topic and when you return to the UK.... apply for one of the friendlier cards
• martin
  the nationwide card is marked down for charging interest on all cash withdrawals - is this the case when one is still in one's introductory 0% 6 months?
  i'm going to antigua/central america and am looking for a new credit card - is 'Liverpool' the way to go?
  richard
• Hi All
  These are summary of the rates I got on a trip to Singapore, Australia and the US during a seven week period in January and February 2004
  Following the advice on the site I used a Nationwide Credit Card for most purchases and the Nationwide Debit card for Cash withdrawals.
  I have compared the rates I got with the daily average interbank rates supplied by OANDA, the site recommended by Visa. https://www.oanda.com/
  For purchases by credit card the average loss against the interbank rate was 0.253% over about 50 transactions. As I am still within the six month 1% cashback period this is very good.
  For cash withdrawals on the NBS Debit Card the loss was a little higher at 0.455% over five withdrawals.
  The conclusion seems to be that the NBS Credit Card matches all their claims about rates and charges. It seems that they do absorb all or most of the Visa 1% charge.
  Although the data set was smaller for the Debit Card the loss seems to greater. Unfortunately I did not draw cash on the Credit Card to check the rates there.
  CONCLUSION
  If your going abroad get the Nationwide BS Credit Card and Debit cards
  Regards
  John Brothers
• I wish I'd seen this six months ago, before my daughter set off on her gap year travels in South America.
  She is using HSBC to withdraw cash out there, and clearly should be using Nationwide. So far she has withdrwan about Ј750, and would be about Ј50 better off if she had used Nationwide.
  If you know someone about to set off on prolonged travels, tell them about Nationwide.