Banking & currency (1 Viewer)

[Camdoon]

One thing to watch - especially in restaurants, is that they offer to let you pay in £'s or €'s - you should always pay in €'s. Now I always hold on to the terminal until it starts spewing the paperwork to ensure that the correct method is used.


OOOooopppssss now changed to correctly say Euros

 

[EX51SSS]

One thing to watch - especially in restaurants, is that they offer to let you pay in £'s or €'s - you should always pay in £'s. Now I always hold on to the terminal until it starts spewing the paperwork to ensure that the correct method is used.

Depending on which card. With Clarity always pay in local currency (€) and Halifax do the exchange rate as opposed to foreign banks which are far less favourable.
Of course, it depends what rate they are offering in the restaurant but I very much doubt it'll be as good as any bank and particularly Halifax, Santander etc.

 

[Clickem]

Surely it is pay in EUROS so that your provider does the exchange rate

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[Camdoon]

Edited to show you pay in Euros - yikes sorry.

 

[GSD]

Drawing cash on a Halifax Clarity card incurs interest from the point of drawing. Although the are prohibited from overpaying and thus going into credit you can pay in an amount close to the amount debited (which you can check online) and thus minimise interest charges. This takes care but the much better exchange rate makes this a great card if managed properly. On my last foreign trip I bought only a small amount of currency locally and drew the rest en route using my Halifax Card.

 

[TrebleH]

Having seen comments re the Caxton FX card beware, it works well for me but I find that it is not accepted at unmanned petrol stations, they usually only accept credit cards but for other transactions its great.

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[GeriatricWanderer]

Having seen comments re the Caxton FX card beware, it works well for me but I find that it is not accepted at unmanned petrol stations, they usually only accept credit cards but for other transactions its great.

...... because it's a Cash Card with a set balance which their computers can't see, could be €1 so understandably they wouldn't want you to fill up with €100 of diesel.
I don't know but would expect that no cash card would work at fuel pumps. I seem to remember that Caxton specifically say so.

 

[xtab]

We have a UK Santander bank account so while in Spain draw money out from any Santander machine without any charges.

I used my Santander debit card (not the Zero credit card) to pay approx 25 euros at a supermarket in Spain this month. My account was debited a further £1.25 for a "foreign transaction".

 

[xtab]

Halifax Clarity expressly forbids this in their term and conditions.

I've had a small credit on my Clarity card for more than a year now. I haven't however tried to withdraw deposited cash from a cash machine in the way that emmitdb describes. Maybe I'll give it a go to see what happens.

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[Mikeco]

I used my Santander debit card (not the Zero credit card) to pay approx 25 euros at a supermarket in Spain this month. My account was debited a further £1.25 for a "foreign transaction".

Yes they charge £1.25 for any value of transaction, that's why I draw money out of the cash machine and pay in cash.

 

[iandsm]

I've had a small credit on my Clarity card for more than a year now. I haven't however tried to withdraw deposited cash from a cash machine in the way that emmitdb describes. Maybe I'll give it a go to see what happens.

I doubt they would bother invoking terms and condition for just a small credit.

 

[Moodybrook]

we invest in lodges instead (8% return guaranteed for 3 years)

Please illuminate these, don't know about those ?

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[Minxy]

We 'accidentally' got into buying the lodges but are happy we did as they are going to give us a great return - as they are purpose build permanent structures they won't depreciate like those built on chassis (like static caravans) ... this is what triggered it all:

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Info on progress here:

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a bit of info on here too:

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/this-week-i-bought.45103/page-230#post-2075975

Our lodges are on here - nos 11 and 12:

http://www.westfieldcountrypark.co.uk/lodges