August 12, 2005

If you use your credit or debit card while you are on holiday abroad, do you fully realise that how much this may be costing you on top of the purchase that you have made or the withdrawal that you have just made from an ATM?

If not then you could be lying on a beach enjoying the hot sun, while credit and debit card charges that you incurred for that lovely meal that you had last night, is burning into your account back home, more than the sun is on your back on the beach.

Add to this the high cost of the travel insurance that you may have paid, the holiday that you are currently on, will be costing you a lot more than it should be.

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To explain what sort of charges you may be facing when you return home, include when you use your credit or debit card to make a purchase, you could find that you have been hit with a 2.75% levy for every transaction made to a limit of £2 and £1.50 for a debit card being used, though in the worst case scenario you may find that when you use your credit or debit card in foreign climes, interest charges are made from the moment that you make the purchase, this may add up to a considerable add on to the original cost of your purchase.

I included travel insurance in this, as like most people the travel insurance that you have taken out for the holiday, was done so through the travel agent that you booked your holiday with, an example being if you have taken travel insurance with Thomas Cook, you may find that if you bought your insurance from Nationwide Building Society, you would be looking at saving your self over £145 on a family policy, that covers 24 days worldwide travel.
And with the Nationwide, they’re credit or debit cards don’t carry any fees or charges when you use them abroad, with these fees currently costing the British holiday maker in the region of £500 million and expensive travel insurance costing more than £250 million more than it should.
So while trying not to get sunburn while on holiday, make sure that your credit card or bank account is not getting burnt back home.