Martin Lewis has warned holidaymakers should avoid pressing one button while they are paying for goods abroad.
The MoneySavingExpert has been helping the good people of Britain save a buck or two since 1994 and is always on hand to deliver scorching deals and money-saving tips.
Having recently detailed how you can grab some free fries at McDonald’s, and explained how your household could save up to 50 percent on energy bills, the expert is back and this time he’s targeting those who love to travel.
Taking to The Martin Lewis Money Show recently, the 51-year-old explained that Brits abroad could save a wad of cash by following a simple rule.
When paying for groceries, fashion items or electrical goods abroad via debit or credit card, you’re often asked to pay in either the local currency or in British pounds.
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Lewis explained that savvy savers should never press the ‘convert to GBP’ button and always opt to pay for goods in the local currency.
Lewis explained how he had recently travelled to Malaga and elaborated on the reasoning behind his latest tip.
After trying out a bunch of Spanish cash dispensers - one of which was going to charge Lewis €7 to withdraw a sum - Lewis found that the conversion rate to pounds didn’t benefit him.
“You do not want this machine to do the conversion for you. You want your card company at home to do the conversion because even if it’s not a good card, it’s at a better rate.
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“Continue with conversion? No way, it's going to cost me 20 quid more than it should,” he continued.
“When you go into a shop, when you go to a cash machine, and it says ‘Do you want us to do the conversion for you?’, no, no, no. Pay in the local currency.”
As well as telling Brits that they should be paying in the local currency and not accepting ATM machines’ conversion rates, Lewis said that travellers should get themselves a specialist overseas debit/credit card.
“What normally happens when you spend on plastic abroad is when you spend on the card, the bank or the card provider gets a near-perfect rate and they add a 3 percent non-sterling exchange rate fee,” he said.
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“This means you get £100 worth of euros, dollars, or dong, which is the Vietnamese currency… but it costs you £103 because of the extra 3 percent.
“But the specialist cards don't add that 3 percent and you get the near-perfect rates that they do.”
Topics: Martin Lewis, Money, Travel
Ella Scott