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One of the frequently asked questions concerns the best way of taking money abroad. Our standard answer has always been simply to use your cash card with pin number in an ATM as you would at home, providing the machine shows the cirrus sign or at least a symbol matching your card. This is certainly the most convenient method and probably the cheapest. It also has the advantage that no money is paid upfront as with travellers cheques.
More recently, on seeing a bank statement from Natwest Bank, we had some doubts. This bank has recently opted for transparency in showing charges for using ATM's abroad. This is how a statement looks: 160 euro; rate 1.4601 = £109.58 + £2.53 charge + £2.90 ERTF = £115.0. The ERTF charge is the one imposed by the foreign bank for the transaction. This seemed rather a high cost so on a recent trip to Greece we decided to experiment with the different ways of managing cash abroad. We chose euro travellers cheques at the Post office since these are commission free. A 1.5% commission is applied to sterling travellers cheques. All the money was changed on the same day, the cards were used in the same ATM in sequence. The euro travellers cheque was changed without commission and 160 euros in cash was handed over without deductions.
The cost of all these transactions is shown in the table below:
| Euros | date | source | Bank card | exchange rate | charge | final cost |
| 160 Euro cheque | 15.09.04 | Post Office | na | 1.402 | none | £114.12 |
| 160 euros cash | 15.09.04 | Post Office | na | 1.4013 | none | £114.18 |
| 160 euros cash | 22.09.04 | National Bank of Greece ATM | Natwest | 1.4601 | £2.53 + £2.90 ERTF | £115.01 |
| 160 euros cash | 22.09.04 | National Bank of Greece ATM | Nationwide BS | not stated | none | £109.41 |
| 160 euros cash | 22.09.04 | National Bank of Grece ATM | Lloyds Bank | 1.41806 | £1.69 | £114.52 |
| 160 euros payment | 22,09.04 | Hotel payment by credit card | Natwest Gold card | 1.421053 | not shown | £112.59 |
Nationwide claim they make no charge for the use of their cash cards in ATM's abroad. We were a little sceptical of this claim beforehand thinking the charge might be hidden in the exchange rate. Their claim is genuine enough and using a Nationwide FlexAccount card is easily the cheapest way to raise euros abroad. Clearly, different banks have different charges and it pays to check.
Lloyds TSB has introduced new charges recently which increase the cost of obtaining money from cash machines abroad.
There is a 2.75% administration fee for each overseas transaction you make and an additional 1.5% charge (minimum £1.50) for cash withdrawals from ATM's outside the UK. This raise its bank charge to a similar level to Natwest but could cost more unless it applies the business exchange rate rather than the tourist rate.