April 12, 2006

By Peter Kenny

A recent survey by the UK comparison site, uSwitch, has found that British holidaymakers this year will run up credit card charges of more than £607 million.

UK holidaymakers using their credit and debit cards while abroad this year will spend a total of £22 billion. USwitch has found that over 4 per cent of each transaction is charged as commission, with many of these charges hidden.

The main culprit for these hidden charges is the use of “Dynamic Currency Conversion” This happens when a local retailer exchanges the currency at the point of sale. There is now way a consumer will know what exchange rate they are charged.

Europe is the biggest market for UK overseas spending with nearly £8 billion withdrawn from cash machines and a further £8.6 billion spent on transactions. The US comes in next with over £735 million withdrawn from ATM machines and a another £805 million used in card purchases.

Nick White, from uSwitch, said, “As a nation we now prefer to pay with our plastic rather than use cash. Consequently, when we go abroad most of us will not give it a second thought when taking out a credit or debit card to pay the bill," said Nick White, the company's head of personal finance, However, at the very least consumers should make sure that they are fully aware of the additional charges involved when they use their card overseas, so that they are prepared when these unwelcome fees appear on their statement”

Click here for more information on uSwitch