Don't lose out on holiday
If you’re planning a trip abroad, read this before you go, says Paul Lewis
Tickets. passport. cash. Three checks to make before you go abroad on your summer holiday. But, you may wonder, do you even need cash these days? Tickets are on your mobile already, and passports may follow in a few years, so can’t you just pay with your phone as well?
In fact, along with factor 30, a charger and foreign plug adapter, taking cash is still important. Transport from the airport may not allow phone payments – especially from a foreign bank account. And after a long journey your phone may have died.
Compare travel insurance quotes
But beware. Buying cash in the airport – at either end of your jour[1]ney – is the most expensive way to do it. Much better to plan ahead and buy currency from a trusted face-to-face institution, like a major retailer or Post Office.
Once abroad, of course, with a fully charged phone and a selection of cards, contactless payment is becoming the norm in many coun[1]tries around the world. But there are two old rip-offs to beware of.
Rip-off one: your bank may well charge you nearly 3% on everything you buy on your card abroad (and the same is true if you buy online in the UK in a foreign currency). There are some credit cards that do not add that “foreign usage loading” (which varies from 2.75% to 2.99% of what you spend), but most credit cards from most companies do. Nationwide is the one major exception to that rule: if you can, before you go, find a card that charges 0%.
Similarly, almost all debit cards charge a levy of up to 3% on foreign use. But three banks that do not are First Direct, Chase, and Starling. You can open a current account just for this – no need to switch everything – and put money in it first to save on what you spend abroad.
Compare travel insurance quotes
Rip-off two is by foreign retailers whose card machines offer you the choice of paying in local currency or sterling. Never click on the comfort of sterling! Your Visa or Mastercard will always get you the best currency conversion rate; the retailer’s rate will be from their bank and they may get a cut too. So always click “local currency” to save money.
Radiotimes.com is published by Immediate Media Company London Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Immediate Media Company Limited. Immediate Media Company London Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Seopa Ltd (trading as Quotezone) (FRN: 313860).