No charge helps credit card customers

Not being charged to use their cards abroad is a key factor for many credit card holders, one industry expert has claimed

According to Saga, which focuses exclusively on the provision of services for people 50 and over, its decision to offer a Platinum credit card with no-fee for European transactions will be welcomed by customers.

Only a small number of credit card providers including the Post Office, Thomas Cook, Nationwide and Saga provide a card that does not charge for transactions in Europe.

However, Nationwide recently announced it would begin charging customers a small fee for transactions.

Paul Green, head of communications at Saga, said: "One of the features which our customers particularly like about the Platinum card is not being charged when they use our card in Europe.

"It can clearly be quite unpleasant to come back from a holiday and find your credit card bill stuffed and loaded with charges which are often quite significant."

On March 17th Moneynet.co.uk published a report which found that travellers were incurring large charges for transactions abroad.

The research showed that travellers abroad can be left out of pocket by using their cards, without first checking to see whether or not their bank levies fees on these transactions.

Cash withdrawals are also subject to a similar set of charges from banks - although the top up fee could hit £5.

Moneynet calculated the cost of total holiday transactions based on five £100 currency equivalent cash withdrawals and eight £50 currency equivalent debit card purchases and they found that Abbey, Halifax, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds TSB all charged upwards of £34 for the transactions with Lloyds charging nearly £45 for the purchases and transactions.

Only Nationwide which currently does not charge - but will introduce a minimum fee in June - had a charge of below £10.

Mr Green added: “Some credit card companies charge up to 2.75 per cent for using your card abroad and that's just not on.”

He explained why Saga felt it was vital to ensure that its Platinum product did not penalise customers with these charges.

"It is a key feature and we had to change our credit card provider last year and in that process we were clear as to what we were looking for in a card and providing good value to those who would use it in the UK and overseas was important, so it is a core part of our offering," he said.