Euro cash machines in the UK

I expect someone will be along shortly who has used one of these machines with a card on a euro account rather than a GBP account, to tell us what showed up on his statement by way of charges.

Which bank group are they operated by?

Whilst I don't know about the machines mentioned by the OP and with apologies to those who don't from time to time visit central London, for some years if I have needed to get cash before travelling to the Euro-zone, I have used the Euro-dispensing cashpoint outside the NatWest bank near Bishopsgate in conjunction with my Nationwide FlexAccount debit/cash card. Brilliant - got Euro notes at almost the wholesale fx rate.

Almost? So, how much, almost. How often is the exchange rate calculated?

Dave F.

So presumably your account was charged in EUR and Nationwide did the conversion, like if you withdraw cash abroad?

I could - "They can pick up their euros at a competitive exchange rate ".

Implies Tesco set the exchange rate rather than bill the account in Euros. And if it's "competitive" with UK forex places then it'll be a rip-off!

Yes, that's what happened. Makes quite a difference over a whole holiday if you're paying for car hire, hotels, meals out, shopping, etc. (Though for those things, I usually use my Nationwide credit card instead which also doesn't fiddle with the fx rates.)

In some establishments, one of the things I have noticed that I really don't like, is when they assume that you want to be charged in sterling (rather than in local currency) and 'forget' to ask you before presenting the voucher to sign or device to put in the PIN number. Happened surprisingly often when I was in Cork one time. Of course, as soon as you know that this might happen, it's easy but annoying to remember to say that you want to pay in Euros (or whatever).

Presumably Royal Bank of Scotland. There's one at my local Natwest, and RBS are also the people behind Tesco Personal Finance.

Is there any way of finding where these machines are? NatWest used to publish directories of the things, but I can't seen any mention on theirs or RBS'.

Chris

Should it not be up to the card issuer rather than the cash machine what rate is applied? Should the cash machine not generate a Euro or Dollar charge against your account in the same way as if you used the card abroad? Then the card issuer will add on their normal foreign currency and cash withdraw charges.

Sounds good in theory. But I suspect - from what others have written - that it doesn't always work like that when you withdraw cash in a currency other than that of the country where the machine is located - e.g. getting Euros in the UK. In such cases, it seems highly possible that the withdrawal will be converted into the local currency by the machine operator, probably not a very favourable rate. This would be particularly bad for Nationwide Flex Account holders - who can get Euros in Euroland at more or less the inter-bank exchange rate without N/W taking any commission, but who may have to pay a lot more if using a machine in the UK.

If they do it that way, they only get the normal interbank cash machine fee, which probably doesn't cover the cost of running a foreign currency machine. In any case, for anyone other than Nationwide customers, the rate applied by the machine is probably better than what the bank would give them.

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I wouldn't have thought so - most banks mark the rate for foreign withdrawals up by 2.75%, most UK forex places mark the rate up by

There's the 2.75% forex fee, plus the fact they give you a lousy rate, so that brings you to within the 5-6% range of forex places. If it is competitive compared to forex places, it may well be a better deal for most non-Nationwide customers than what their bank gives them.

No - they mark up the interbank rate, I think the 2.75% includes the VISA/Mastercard fee (which is quite low IIRC, around 0.5-1%).

Unlikely. Even though some banks make an additional separate charge for forex ATM withdrawals, it's still likely to be less than the 5-6% in total that you get charged at forex places in the UK.

Was that useful though knowing that tesco think it's competitive?

The last part is probably true of UK card holders, but what about those people from abroad with Euro or Dollar (as appropriate) accounts? For them there should be no conversion fee just the normal cash withdraw fee (if applicable to their account).

They'd probably be hit with charges from the machine owner to convert to sterling, and further charges from their bank/CC company to convert back to Euros or Dollars.

But why would they want Euro or Dollar notes in the UK? Far better to wait till they get home!

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Wonder how that, if true, would square with Tesco's claim that they are "free to use".

Exactly the same for a British person going on holiday! Wait till you get there!

But some people don't seem to like landing without any local currency, for them (whether a British person going on holiday or a foreigner returning home) these ATMs may be useful.