I am very careful not to use my credit card in ATMs due to the typical rip off cash advance fee and the interest charge from the date of purchase.
Usually I will use my Nationwide debit card in an ATM abroad to get currency when needed, but travelling partner wanted some for before we left (don't ask me why), and insisted we get some from Thomas Cook. So I bought 200 worth of foreign currency at their foreign exchange desk at their crappy rate on my credit card and travelling partner gave me 200 later (as they didn't have the cash with them at the time).
Now the bill has arrived and in addition to the 200, they have charged me
3 cash advance fee and 1 cash interest rate for the time when the **cash** was obtained. Of course thats only when the bill was printed, so there will be more interest added until the date it's paid in full.
Surely this is a bit off, after all, you can do a cashback at many retail outlets and it gets added to your bill and charged as a purchase in the normal way? Shouldn't it have gone through as a normal purchase? If not, why not?