Care Urged When Using Credit Cards Abroad

By: Karl Bantleman
The main piece of advice that customers should take on board is not to use hole-in-the-walls to withdraw their cash as you may find yourself getting a triple charge. You can get charged for a bank's exchange fee, a foreign exchange fee and a hole-in-the-wall fee. As well as the fees, the amount withdrawn will start accruing interest straight away.

Customers need to double check the deal your credit card company has offered you and see what charges you are likely to incur if you use your card. Alternatively, if you have enough time before your holiday, you can choose one of the handful of good deals that do not penalise holidaymakers.

If you need to make withdrawals with your credit card then make fewer, larger withdrawals rather then more frequent, smaller withdrawals as you will incur more charges if you keep taking small amounts out. You are normally charged 1.5% of the amount up to a maximum of ?5 but some banks do not cap this so check the small print.

?23 billion is spent on purchases and withdrawals each year by British tourists. One advantage of using credit cards abroad is that purchases priced between ?100 and ?30,000 is protected by the Consumer Credit Act. This means that if the products you buy are faulty you can claim the amount back from the card provider or retailer.

When looking for deals, 0% credit cards are good but customers should consider charges when they go on holiday as these fees can be a heavy and unexpected. Of the ?23 billion spent on purchases, ?686 million was paid to the banks with charges on fees. To find the best deals on cards that will not charge you excessive fees, shop online where you can compare all the offers from the leading providers.

Using a credit card abroad can be expensive because if the charges you can incur. There are, however, credit cards that do not charge holidaymakers for withdrawing money abroad and should be considered alongside the 0% credit cards when choosing the right deal.

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