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Using ATM abroad - Accept local conversion rate or not?

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  • 25-11-2011 12:24pm
    #1
    JohnCleary
    Registered Users Posts: 10,208 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi folks,
    I'm in Thailand, and using my credit card for cash at ATM's, by drip feeding my credit card with cash and then withdrawing.

    When I withdraw, i'm offered a conversion rate. I'm then asked if I accept it or not. Either way, I still get my cash.

    What i'm wondering is, is this Bank of Irelands rate, or the local bank's rate? There is no info at the time to tell me this.

    Can anyone shed any light on this? And whether i'd likely get a better rate from the local bank, or bank of Ireland.

    Many thanks :)


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    #2
    BuffyBot
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 24,924 Mod ✭✭✭✭BuffyBot


    Generally it's the local banks rate. Not always a better proposition, but hard to tell without hard data


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    #3
    Toboldlygo
    Registered Users Posts: 62 ✭✭Toboldlygo


    I have found a link to a helpful calculator on the Ulster Bank Website which accesses Visa and MasterCard exchange rates. It doesn't matter which bank your card has been issued by, you can compare what fees or additional loading your bank adds to your Cash Withdrawal or purchase and it will allow you to compare that against the cost of using an exchange rate applied by local ATM owners and shops abroad.

    http://www.ulsterbank.com/roi/personal/daily-banking/credit-cards/useful-information/credit-cards-abroad.ashx

    I have found that accepting the exchange rate offered by ATMs and Shops abroad is always more expensive. If course if you are from the Republic you will only encounter the issue outside eurozone including the UK. If you are from the North there are countless shops particularly along the border which will automatically convert your euro purchase to sterling. Retailers are supposed to give you the option of which currency you can pay in but many don't and invariably they have added about 5% to the exchange rate - so beware! :mad:

    I was in the Marshes shopping centre in Dundalk about two months ago and two shops converted my transactions to sterling without giving me the option to choose and when I asked for the transaction to be made in euro the cashiers said that they could not change it. The additional cost to me was about £0.85 but I was unhappy to be conned. So much for Ireland attracting to tourists.


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    #4
    wmpdd3
    Registered Users Posts: 9,624 ✭✭✭wmpdd3


    A few years ago I worked in the shop aimed at American Tourists, we got and extra amount added to our social club for every transaction that was charged in Dollars rather than pounds/euro. There was an option on the cc machine.
    The company was offering this option was based in Kerry, I cant think of the name.

    But in subsequent places I worked, if someone paid with a foreign card, there is no option, it just charges you in euro. Some customers do question it, but as there is no option on the intergreted cc system, we can't do anything.

    I was warned while traveling in England years ago to never accept the ATM's rate, always go for your own banks rate.


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