MAN Pax

For those that rely on the Nationwide Flex Account for cheap currency abroad, you need to know that the deal will end on 1st November when it will have a 2% Load + a £1 ATM fee. MSE Link

For those travelers who take regular small amounts out of ATMs, the current best buy is a FairFX Anywhere Sterling prepaid card. Load for free in the UK and no ATM charges abroad, just a 1.5% load on the Mastercard rate. The following link is from MSE and takes you (blindly) through Money Supermarket and allows you to get the card for free, as opposed to the normal £9.95. Link via MSE and Money Supermarket

Of course, you will continue to use the Nationwide Credit Card for your personal spend - still 0% loading.

What about the miles you cry? I suggest you look at the cost of purchasing the miles vs. the Forex fees you will pay on most cards. This is, of course, for personal spend. What you charge your expenses on and re-bill is of no concern to me

dave_d04

I reckon the Halifax Clarity Credit card is the best option now.

No Fees on ATM withdrawals and no commission.

You do pay interest from day 1 on cash withdrawals at 1.076% per month- which effectively makes it a 1% load if you pay it off at the end of the month.

You can arrange a transfer from your bank account after immediately after withdrawing the cash to make it even less than 1%.

The only thing to note is like most credit cards it will pay the spend balance off before the cash advance easy to get around though with a little thought.

courtster

I've just bagged a CaxtonFX US Dollar card. Seems ok. I'll try it out next month.

Free card - well £10, but they add £10 to your balance.
Free ATM withdrawal
Free transaction
Free Top Up
Can top up by Text message.
Good rate: 1.5320 atm compared to 1.5115 on the Travelex internet rate.

MAN Pax

XE has the rate today at 1.56380, which I make as a 2% load.

Problem with the card is that it's only in $, which is fine if you only use it in the US and are happy that the rates will remain in your favour. No good if you're globe trotting with many currencies.

For me, the advantage is being able to take £10 or £20 in a local currency to cover out of pocket items with minimum fees and very little left over currency. I do keep $ and €, but other currencies I plan to spend up as I leave.

My favourite trick is to hand over all my cash checking out of the hotel and making sure I have a prepaid or CC cab to take me to the airport.

Roger

Nationwide announced this almost three weeks ago, though they haven't bothered to tell me yet. Last week, they were still promoting the FlexAccount with leaflets in branches containing the weasel words No foreign use surcharge (or similar). I mentioned this to the branch person whose reaction was that the changes don't take effect for 2 1/2 months. (So Nationwide are looking for new current accounts for just 2 1/2 months? I don't think so.)

There has been considerable press coverage, and indeed discussion in FT - in another thread, possibly the AmEx & BA thread?

About the Nationwide Visa credit card, the 0% loading mentioned by MAN Pax is true only in the Visa Europe area. Outside Europe there is 1% loading.

Just awaiting delivery of my Halifax Clarity card. ATM cash abroad effectively costs about 1% if balances are paid off in full.

uk1

From here onwards .....

bcmatt

Check you post - I got my letter this morning! Of course I already knew, as you say the news had been knocking around for aaaaages. Surprised it took so long to get a thread here.

MAN Pax

Indeed, Nationwide is now 1% outside Europe. If you get the Clarity Card you need to decide if you'll use it for cash or credit, otherwise you'll start paying interest on your credit items when you get a cash advance. Also - watch the interest rate changes in the long term.

Apologies - I did search, but didn't think to look in a thread relating to AMEX an BA.......

Roger

I don't read it that way if balances/purchases are paid off in full - just 1% or so on the cash element. www.moneysavingexpert has more info.Yep, banks, eh? Not sure why Lloyds Banking Group (of which Halifax is a part through HBOS) should be singled out, though.Ah, the joys of the BA forum.

whkchan

I wonder if it is possible to get the Halifax Clarity Credit card, and then overpay it before an overseas trip, then you can get free ATM withdrawals and pay no interest?

uk1

Absolutely no apologies required.

britbronco22

I see no reason why this shouldn't work. Just like paying money into your flexaccount, except you can't take it out, you have to eventually spend it.

If you plan on using a card for cash advances it is better if you don't use it for purchases as well. The reason being the order in why repayments are applied.

For example, you buy something on the card for £500. This doesn't incur any interest if you pay by the next payment date, say 5 weeks later.
Next, you make an ATM withdrawal of £100. This starts incurring interest imediately.
Now if you were to pay £100 on to the card, for most cards this is applied to purchases first. So, you would actually have to pay £600 in this case to stop any further interest charges.

Phil the Flyer

Is what you are posting about any different to the thread below from virtually 18 months ago (found using 'Nationwide' in the Search function )?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...reign-use.html

I only remember the matter being discussed contemporaneously because, a) I am a Flex Account holder and, b) I work overseas.

The link to Nationwide in post #1 of the thread states inter alia - "From 1 November 2010 we will introduce a commission charge and a cash withdrawal charge ..."

Nationwide can hardly be accused of springing this on their customers at short notice.

potfish

Phil, the Nationwide link in the thread you quoted has different info in it now than it did 18 months ago. This is another fee increase.

Phil the Flyer

potfish - thank you for the clarification.

Incidentally your handle reminds me of a delightful restaurant we dined at in Barbados last month - The Fish Pot.