Tourists warned over exchange rate costs

[savvypaul]

Just a heads-up for anyone using their bank card overseas...

British holidaymakers are paying hundreds of millions of pounds in unnecessary charges when they use their credit and debit cards overseas. Shops, restaurants and cash machines are offering tourists the option of paying in pounds rather than the local currency and applying a poor exchange rate if they take up the offer. This costs UK tourists about £500m a year, analysis for the BBC has found. The lower rates are equivalent to charging about 6% on each transaction.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40702496

[Lindsayt]

I think it's quite naughty for consumers to be presented with that option at the point of sale without being given any information as to which is the best one.

[savvypaul]

I think it's quite naughty for consumers to be presented with that option at the point of sale without being given any information as to which is the best one.

They deliberately put you on the spot, and when they do give the rate it is in a format most people wouldn't recognise.

[Lindsayt]

And most consumers wouldn't have instant access to the latest exchange rates (like from memorising it after reading the daily newspaper in the morning), so wouldn't know if the offered rate was good or not anyway.