Money withdrawal abroad

AIUI, they get charged the interbank rate, or perhaps the rate charged by VISA/Mastercard who take a small commission (less than 1% I think).

But since most people seem to look at "tourist" rates, most banks add a 2.75% exchange rate markup to the rate. People then compare the rate they got to the tourist rate for exchanging notes and are conned into thinking they got a good deal, when in fact their bank has charged them for a rip-off fee for doing a simple division on their computer.

A few banks/building societies don't charge this fee, Nationwide being the only major high street one I think.

And you should probably also be aware of the fact that most banks and credit card companies adds a 'currency conversion surcharge' of 1.75%

- 2.75% or thereabouts on purchases as well as cash withdrawals.

Needless to say you would probably not want to withdraw cash in an ATM off your credit cards because of the high interest cost of borrowing, but you probably knew that already...