He also spoke about accessing cash while you are abroad
Martin Lewis has issued some financial tips to bear in mind if you are heading abroad on holiday. He spoke on his BBC podcast about various things to know if you are jetting off, including the cheapest ways to manage your spending abroad and avoid bank fees.
One fan of the show wrote in with a question about booking your accommodation for your trip, specifically with Booking.com. She asked if it’s best to pay for this in pounds or in the local currency. In response, Mr Lewis set out the general principle to bear in mind: “Whatever type of plastic you have, the safest thing to do is pay in the foreign currency.
“If you’re in Europe, it’s euros, if you’re in America, it’s dollars, whatever country you are in, pay in the local currency. The reason is your card is then doing the conversion, and that is at a known rate.
“Many times if you are paying on a foreign website, if you say, I’ll pay in pounds, it means they are doing the currency conversion for you and the rates you get are generally – I don’t know specifically for Booking.com – far worse that you would get converting yourself.”
He said it may be worth getting a specialist travel card where you can get a “perfect exchange rate”. But he said a mistake people often make even when they have one of these cards, is they then pay in pounds rather than the local currency, meaning the shop does the conversion so you won’t get the travel card’s rate.
Mr Lewis reiterated: “So pay in euros or pay in dollars, if you’re paying in a foreign currency, don’t let the shop do the conversion, don’t pay in pounds.” Another person posed a question about getting cash out for their trip to Bruges in Belgium for a week.
READ MORE: Hantavirus Tenerife travel update issued by World Health Organisation after cruise ship outbreakREAD MORE: Ryanair passengers with flights booked to Portugal issued EES update
Getting a decent rate
They wanted to know if they should get their cash out for their trip in the UK or while they were abroad. Mr Lewis said in response: “The safest place to get yourself a decent rate of cash if you actually want cash, is a Bureau de Change comparison site here before you go.
“But if you have a specialist overseas card, then it is getting it out at a cash machine once you have arrived in Bruges, assuming that cash machine doesn’t have a big ATM charge.” Mr Lewis said it may still be worth your time getting the cash out locally if there is only a small charge to pay.
He said: “Even if it does have an ATM charge, let’s say of €2 or €3 euros, and you’re needing to get out €600 or €700, that’s still probably cheaper, because €2 on €600 or €700 is not big. If it’s €2 on €50, that’s a big charge. €2 on €600 is effectively depreciated across the whole value, so it works.”
