Credit Cards Abroad

As the heat-wave is making very obvious, summer has finally arrived! With the school holidays mere days away, millions of Britons are preparing to leave our wretched little island for a short stint somewhere nicer; where they can forget that they spend the majority of the year at a desk, working tirelessly to be able to afford to leave for a couple of weeks.When they do leave, one thing they will be certain to do is spend all that hand-eared money on making sure their time away is as enjoyable as possible; in 2008, people with credit and debit cards issued in the UK spent nearly twenty BILLION pounds overseas! Now thats all well and good, but there are certain things we should bear in mind when using cards so abroad " allow me to explain further.For starters " tell the bank that you are going abroad! It sounds obvious, but both my brother and I have recently neglected to do this simple thing; I was left penniless in California and he was deported from Vietnam! Basically, when your bank see that their British customers credit card processing details in Laos, being used to buy silk pyjamas, their immediate thought will be FRAUD! At this point they will block your card, leaving you without a means of paying for anything and on the receiving end of a mega-expensive phone call do rectify the problem. It just isnt worth it; be smart and tell them that you are going. Furthermore, leave some contact information with the bank and take their contact information with you; just in case they get wary of your holiday mega-spending or forget that youre going " it happens.A sensible idea is to take some travellers cheques or a pre-paid card with you as an emergency back-up. However, despite what travel agents will tell you about the law behind travellers cheques (they are meant to be cashed by all major banks and most big hotels), it is worth bearing in mind that in the REAL world lots of places wont cash the cheques because its too much hassle; I was once stuck in Sicily for a week with 9 because even the banks refused to cash my cheques " thanks Thomas Cook! Pre-paid cards are a great idea as they work like debit cards and you can top them up online or by phone any time. Best of all, you can just cancel them if you lose them, making them much safer than carrying your cash around in a leather pouch. Again though, they are not necessarily accepted all over the place, especially if you are going to more remote places.It is also worth finding out as much information out as possible about attention about your banks card charges on foreign transactions. Although there will a foreign loading fee of around 2.5 " 3% on credit card transactions, debit cards frequently charge an extra 1 " 2 on every transaction, making it cheaper to use credit abroad. The thing is, this various hugely between providers, so it is well worth finding out beforehand. This also goes for cash withdrawals; different providers will charge you different rates for withdrawals, though debit cards are normally cheaper to use in cash machines.When you get there, use your cards sensibly. Remember that credit cards offer much more security than debit cards, so use them for any large purchases. Also be aware that when you pay on a card it is the merchant that sets the exchange rate should you choose to pay in sterling! So although you may avoid a few foreign exchange charges, it will almost always end up costing you more to pay in our ever-weakening currency. If youre offered the choice, be sure to check the exchange rate on offer before making your decision " if in doubt go with the local currency.

Edde Gamester is travel journalist. More information about merchant services can be found at http://www.seymourdirect.co.uk/