Avoiding Non Sterling Transaction Charges On Credit Card?

[smiffffffy]

Have just come back from holiday and have my credit card statement in from lloyds bank avios American Express card.
Every single transaction has a "non sterling transaction fee" against it of almost 3 per cent of each transaction .
Now I fully understand it was my choice to take out this card and it was probably in the small print.

The question is how do I overcome these extra payments?
Is it possible to get a card that doesn't have these extra charges?
I am always offered a per paid MasterCard when buying my holiday cash I take, but like the not carrying money option, would I overcome these charges using this option or do they still take some non sterling charges off of the the credit balance I put on it before I left the uk.

Many thanks in advance

[237SJ]

I think that is another name for 'loading' fees. They are usually hidden but maybe your card is trying to be tranparent with them. There are a few cards around with no loading fees I have Santander Zero which doesn`t have any (I think that card is no longer available for new customers anyway). Moneysupermarket and other sites will probably tell you which ones to get if you want to avoid the fees.

[factor-fiction]

I think that it is not as bad as it looks- the exchange rate used is usually much more favourable than if you chose to pay in sterling as the merchant would use an exchange rate which is unfavourable.
I find it cheaper to pay these transaction charges

[puzzled54]

Have a look at the Halifax credit card

[smiffffffy]

It may not seem bad but when you see a £2000 hotel bill with 61 quids worth of charges it seems madness

[smiffffffy]

Many thanks to puzzled54, the Halifax clarity card seems to be the only one around that offers a free to use anywhere in the world card, superb and exactly what I am after.
The only thing now to say is, why didn't I do this years ago, just on this months card bill I would have saved around 400 quid.

If you are in the same position take puzzleds advice and look at the Halifax clarity card, very basic and if like me the interest rate isn't a problem cos you pay it all off each month, looks a no brainier card if you travel.
Cheers

[boxtops]

We use the Nationwide credit card for holidays - it's got a low rate for international transactions. I'm not aware of any card that doesn't charge any sort of fee for transactions outside the country - NW charged us 1% which we think is not unreasonable.

[smiffffffy]

As mentioned one of the only ones


http://www.halifax.co.uk/creditcards/low-rate-no-fee/clarity-card/

[BlueToffee]

Follow puzzled54's advice. Halifax is the one, no fees, full exchange rate and very small interest if you take cash out.

Wouldn't be without mine, usually prepay if I'm off for some time. In the 4 years or so that I've had it, interest charges add up to less than a tenner.

[boxtops]

that looks good, smiffy.

[puzzled54]

Woo hoo best answer! And I was in a hurry so I only posted a very quick note!

[factor-fiction]

You may also want to look back at some answers on your thread when the same thing happened on your holiday last year
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Travel/Question1193057.html

The consensus then was it was better to pay in the local currency. If you can find a card that does that then uses the optimum exchange rate and has no transaction charges then that is ideal but i've never seen it

[sunny-dave]

Saga Credit Card (for over 50s)

Halifax Clarity Card (for everyone) - NB - it must be the CLARITY card - other Halifax cards are not the same.

Then, once you have one of these, always pay in the foreign currency rather than accepting their helpful (yeah right) offer to let you pay in Sterling.

[smiffffffy]

Factor fiction , different question from last years hols, last year it was relating to when asked by the actual retailer what currency do I want it charged in I was told to take local currency, because the rates the retailers charge to convert to sterling are often worse than the rate the credit card company charges so take it in local was my advice last year.

The question I asked this year was are there any cards that DON'T charge a non sterling transaction fee.

The answer was yes from puzzled54 and the card clearly has no costs when using it abroad.

Therefore saving me from both the higher than usual retailer conversion rates if I am in say France and choose the pay in sterling rather than local currency option, and also saving me from my own credit card company charging me a non sterling transaction fee if I choose to pay in local currency.

It's a no brainier to me and was not really sure what you were getting at by quoting my last years thread, in doing what I was advised last year I was still being charged a fortune.

By now taking puzzled's advice with the clarity card , I will hopefully not have to pay either the retailers higher conversion rates OR my credit card companies high anyway non sterling fees.

[koster]

I'm with Metro Bank, there are charges for using your debit or credit card abroad.

https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/Personal/Bank-Accounts/CurrentAccounts/

[spudqueen]

The Post Office credit card does not charge transaction fees when it is used abroad. You can also use to to buy travel currency in Post Offices, again free of charges. http://www.postoffice.co.uk/credit-card-faqs

[dzug2]

If you choose to pay in sterling whilst in France then it won't protect you from the retailer's rates - it will be the retailer (or his bank) doing the conversion, not Clarity or Mastercard