Just having a look into holiday money for upcoming Alps trip and I always thought you got stung using a credit card abroad - it always looks like it when you get the bill and see the "transaction fee" bit! But done a bit of digging and now I'm not so sure...
With my Barclaycard the current exchange rate is 1.178130E to the £ with a transaction fee of 2.99% and Post Office exchange rate is 1.1430E to the £.
So doing the sums, 100Euro purchase (so a few coffees and a couple of beers then!) costs me £87.41 on Barclaycard and £87.49 if I pay cash.
I think I must be getting too cynical, but surely the convenience of using your card overseas must come at a premium compared to using cash?? 😯
Appreciate I could shop around for better cash exchange rate and that Barclaycard rate fluctuates but general principles seem to suggest the two options are pretty equal?
Cash via the credit card is always expensive - overseas or here.
Just use your debit card. It's cheap, and easy.
I think I must be getting too cynical, but surely the convenience of using your card overseas must come at a premium compared to using cash??
Not at all. From the bank's poitn of view t's just a different option in their computer systems - everything else is the same infrastructure as for the locals, so it costs them little. Bureaux de Change on the other hand require a large delivery and security infrastructure, and often third parties who are trying to run a business.
Plus you don't have to carry around big wadges of cash. When I travel I do the exact same thing I do here. Debit card for most things, with a few quid/euro/dollars in my pocket just in case.