Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

A lot of people now-a-days are taking their debit and credit cards on holiday for the convenience and relative security offered. However they could end up costing you a fortune in hidden fees and foreign transaction charges.

You might be aware of some of these charges, others might be new to you. But what you do need to know is that there are ways of avoiding them, simply by switching to the right cards. There are three main fees that you could face using your credit and debit cards abroad. Loading fees, Credit card cash withdrawals and Spending fees.

It's nigh impossible for U.S. travellers overseas to avoid the weak dollar's squeeze on their pocketbooks. But there's another travel cost that's easier to avoid: the fee credit card issuers tack on every time you make a purchase abroad.

It's called an international - or foreign-transaction fee, and it's charged as a percentage of your overall purchase price once that price is converted to U.S. dollars.

Holidaymakers buying goods or paying bills abroad with their credit card could end up paying way over the odds unless they ask to make the payment in the local currency. Nationwide Building Society is launching a guide card for its members explaining the potential perils of Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) which it estimates cost those shopping abroad £5m in July last year alone.

DCC is when a retailer converts the sale price from the local currency into sterling at the time of purchase, for which it will then charge a conversion fee. If a customer pays in local currency, such as euros, the card provider handles the conversion instead.

DCC is supposed to be an optional service, which should be performed with the cardholder's consent, but often the conversion to sterling is being done automatically. By paying in local currency, Nationwide customers would avoid costly exchange and commission rates as the building society offers free card use abroad, without any conversion charges.

There are other ways that you could end up paying more than you should and also some benefits to using your cards too:

The best way to save on your holiday spends is to switch to better credit and debit cards - ones that apply less fees and charges on foreign spending.

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