Using cash machines

I can't really help Ian as I have only used a 'hole in the wall' once in this country and never abroad. Instead I have gone into a local HSBC bank and withdrawn at the counter. I would have thought it best to ask your card provider but I would have expected some charge to be levied. 

I have used my Clarity card for a couple of years now to withdraw cash for overseas ATM's. In fact I no longer bother to buy euros before a trip any longer as it's usually better value to withdraw once you are there. You get the full interbank rate with the Clarity Card (other brands are available) and there is no commission. I have done as you suggest and transferred money once I can see it on the statement. You still pay a very small amount of interest, usually less than 10p. Even if you leave it to statement date the amount of interest on withdrawing 300 euros is often less than £1.

David

As others I've used the Halifax clarity aboard and pay it off the next day (or within the next few days ) with on line banking. You are correct there is no fee for taking your money out just interest on the amount. The interest was usually pennies.

Not sure where you're going Ian but in Spain last year the advice from the Thompson reps for days trips to the big cities was to use the cash machines inside the banks for added security.

Not really a useful reply, but I've made many dozens of extended trips abroad in European countries and only ever take about 50 Euros in cash plus a handful of coins left over from the last trip. I always get cash as I need it from ATMs using my Nationwide or Lloyds debit cards (I don't have any credit cards), usually 100 Euros at a time for 'walking about money'. My banks make a small charge for the transaction but it's insignificant to me.

Some ATMs ask whether you want the transaction advised to your bank in Sterling or Euros and I always go for Euros since my  own banks' exchange rate is always better.

I have found that some 24/7 petrol pumps won't accept my debit cards but only credit cards.

As an aside, when I went to New York City late 70's (before ATMs were widely available) to work for two years a colleague advised me to make sure I always had some cash with me ...'for the muggers' since they'd give me a hard time if I offered them a cheque.

DK, according to the consumer progs the H/fax clarity card is about one of the best there is.

We each have a Caxton card which we use to withdraw cash from while abroad, no charges to do so and good interest rates. We also have a Nationwide FlexPlus Debit card  which we can use to withdraw cash also doesn't incur charges. We carry CC's to pay for fuel, campsites  and any big purchases, tolls are covered by a Tag. We tend not to carry much cash though we always have some. Germany was the only place we have had any problem with them not liking CC's or the Caxton, however that was a number of years ago I believe it is a bit better now.

We use Clarity too.

Mainly we have not bothered to pay off cash withdrawals as it can get complicated if you are using it for purchases too.

If you make a payment to the card, that will first be used to repay anything that is already "statemented", so if you have an outstanding  statement then you would need to pay that off as well before your cash withdrawal would be repaid.

If you have no outstanding statement then a repayment would pay off cash withdrawals first, even if you also had purchases on the card.

We had the Clarity as our main card and got the £5 Reward for spending £300 per month, but that is gone now, so we are mainly using alternative cards here and will use the Clarity abroad.

As we have a card each (2 different accounts) we plan to use one for spending and one for cash, so it will be easy to repay cash withdrawals if we wish.

Thanks all.......yet more really useful advice from the forum!

We've had a stock of euros for a while (we've added to it whenever the exchange rate seemed reasonable) but they got a bit depleted in France last year, mainly when a couple of sites wanted cash payment.

So this seems like a good way to get extra euros if required while on holiday.

Corners - next foreign trip is Madeira, so no problems with security at banks......safe as houses there.

I always used my debit cards in ATMs and also in shops, both in Europe and the USA.  No bother at all.  But with credit cards, I would think they would be charged, although my debit card (I'm with Nationwide) do now charge

Have  good time, I think the advice using the cash machines inside a bank was that if you use a cash machine outside people could see you getting a lot of money out and/or having some sort of way of collecting/seeing your pin and card details,  then being have your card stolen somehow, Could happen anywhere there are lots of tourists who being on holiday have more money than usual and perhaps don't take as much care as they should?