Credit card

[maisy]

I Have both a Post Office credit card and a Nationwide credit card whiich i use in Florida after advice from this site, ive recently heard Nationwide have started charging like all the rest is this true , and are the Post Office still OK.

many thnks

[Duffman]

Hi,

I too have a nationwide one but they have started charging for foreign use since they revamped their current accounts.

The two best cards on the market which dont charge for foreign use are the post office one you have and the Halifax Clarity credit card. The Halifax one works out slightly more beneficial (as long as you pay it off before incurring interest). As far as I'm aware these are the only two cards that do not make a charge for foreign use. Some cards add up to 3% charge and also don't give you a favourable exchange rate.

[christhear]

I have a Santander Zero - last time I used it abroad there was no charge - if any one knows different please advise me.

[gail and david roberts]

we have a Halifax clarity credit card and get £5 free each month
if you spend over £300 which I do[msneek]
you must inform your bank of the dates you will be using it in florida [msnsmile2]

[Jill]

Santander Zero credit card is 'free' usage overseas and we have a current account with Santander and again get no charges for using our debit card abroad

[Mo Green]

Have you checked the exchange rate with your 'free' cards? Recently as an experiment we deducted 2 x $400 at an ATM using first a Nationwide debit card then immediately a 'no charge' bank debit card. When we checked online later, although Nationwide had charged for using the sevice, they gave a better exhange rate so our withdrawal with our 'no charge' debit card actually cost us £1.44 more.

Mo

[lynnroy]

Post office card is still ok- we just used ours when we were over this month

[Jill]

Have you checked the exchange rate with your 'free' cards? Recently as an experiment we deducted 2 x $400 at an ATM using first a Nationwide debit card then immediately a 'no charge' bank debit card. When we checked online later, although Nationwide had charged for using the sevice, they gave a better exhange rate so our withdrawal with our 'no charge' debit card actually cost us £1.44 more.

Mo

The Santander debit and credit cards we have do not charge any loading so you get the same equivalent exchange rates we used to get with Nationwide. We used our card 'extensively' in May and I followed the rate closely.


With the Santander Zero Card you are charged absolutely no foreign exchange fees – so what you see is what you pay. (taken from their website)

[Albert the Frog]

The Santander debit and credit cards we have do not charge any loading so you get the same equivalent exchange rates we used to get with Nationwide. We used our card 'extensively' in May and I followed the rate closely.


With the Santander Zero Card you are charged absolutely no foreign exchange fees – so what you see is what you pay. (taken from their website)

I agree-more than happy with mine and they give inter-bank rate

[Mo Green]

Thanks - looks like I need to get a Santander account before our next trip then. SIL reckoned she got a better rate in Spain with Nationwide v Santander but did not compare equal withdrawal amounts at same time/same day.

Mo