The thing to watch out for is the FX rates/spread - a lot of bank cards these days use the Visa or Mastercard rates which are not crazy bad (but not crazy good) at 2% of the transaction. As usual, financial services usually takes the micky on anything that isn't written in plain English in front of you.

 

See e.g.

 

Currency Converter – Exchange Rate Calculator | Visa

 

Whenever you see 'zero or no commission' that means they're trying to fool you into thinking there is no transaction charge. Some people call that 'lying'.

 

 

On 06/10/2025 at 08:31, JohnMo said:

Do you realise your quoting advice from 9 years ago - is the information still true today?

Indeedy-doody.

My suggestion is that principles likely still hold, but at any time a tactical reassessment is helpful as teh marketplace chnages constantly at a slow rate and significantly over several years.