On a Postcard

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Most people see the sign that says “commission free” and figure that they’re not paying anything to get their money changed. Boy, is that an expensive mis-understanding!

In fact, regardless of whether or not you’re getting your holiday money commission free or paying a commission, the charge generally works out at close to 7%. This is why it’s almost always cheaper to use your debit/credit card abroad to withdraw money so long as you know how they apply charges to that.

Typically, withdrawing money on a debit card will cost you around 2% (minimum £2) of a transaction fee plus around 3% of a foreign exchange fee. Using the same card to buy things will avoid the transaction fee usually (there are some exceptions, notably Halifax who charge it on their debit cards but not on their credit cards). However, you’re going to need some cash so the best you can do without changing banks is to withdraw amounts of around £100 at a time which at least keeps the fee down to 2%; this will cost you around £5 per £100 you withdraw.

If you’re willing to consider another bank, even if only for your holidays, go for the Nationwide Building Society which doesn’t charge anything to withdraw cash abroad (local banks may in some cases).

Popularity: 5% [?]

It feels like the world is against us at the moment!

The hike in the oil price means that discount flights are somewhat more expensive than they used to be which, of course, is drastically reducing the number of people coming here on holiday.

Then there’s the exchange rate which seems to get worse by the day which means that holidays here are more expensive than normal.

Finally, there’s the interest rates which are far higher than they need to be as the Bank of England are fixated on the inflation rate which is heavily influenced by the oil price rather than by the banks handing out money too readily.

Popularity: 6% [?]