Credit and Debit Card Reviews

Nationwide FlexAccount Visa Debit

Generally, using your debit card abroad as travel money can be an expensive way to spend. We would usually advise taking a currency card and foreign currency as cash when you leave the UK. However, this card is an exception with no foreign exchange loading fee in Europe, and a relatively low 1% fee worldwide.

The main advantage though is getting hold of your local currency with no cash withdrawal fee from ATMs.

To take advantage of this card you will need to be organised about obtaining your travel money, as you need a Nationwide bank account.. However, if you are a frequent traveller or planning a long journey then this card could be a useful addition to your travel money products giving you access to multiple foreign currencies with the safety of PIN protection.

Post Office Classic Card

If you do want to use your credit card abroad to access foreign currency, then one of your best options is the Post Office Classic Card. The main advantage of this card is the 0% foreign exchange loading charge, making sure you will get a good currency exchange rate wherever you are spending you cash. However, be careful when withdrawing cash as you will charged 2.5% or a minimum of £3 for ATM withdrawals and these withdrawals of foreign currency will be subject to interest, whether you pay the balance off in full or not.

However, with this card you will still get protection on purchases over £100, which can be attractive if you are making large purchases abroad.

Santander Zero

At The Currency Exchange Site, our other recommendation for credit cards to use abroad is the Santander Zero card. This card offers a host of benefits making it a more attractive option than taking foreign currency as cash on your travels:

• There is no loading fee applied to foreign exchange transactions, either in Europe or Worldwide. You will be given a foreign exchange rate by the bank / Visa / MasterCard and will not have to pay any currency conversion fees on top of this
• There is no charge for withdrawing cash in the UK or abroad
• However, you will be charged interest for foreign currency cash withdrawals, even if you pay off the balance in full. This is at an elevated APR of 27.9% compared to the standard APR of 18.9%

As well as attractive options for using this card as travel money when you are outside the UK, the card also offers 0% on balance transfers for 12 months, but a 3% fee on the transfer, and 0% on purchases for the first three months after opening the account.

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