Martin Lewis has issued useful advice for holidaymakers on whether to pay in pounds or euros when travelling to Europe this summer. The personal finance guru shared his tips while discussing the matter on ITV's This Morning.
Host Ben Shephard's Question
Host Ben Shephard asked: "Should we be spending in pounds or euros?" Martin then offered his advice on what holidaymakers need to be aware of and the best thing to do.
Key Advice for Holidaymakers
His tips will prove useful for anyone who has planned a holiday to Europe in the coming months. Regarding payments, he explained that it all comes down to who will be doing the currency conversion. This comes as ChronicleLive outlined five reasons you're entitled to compensation if your package holiday is spoiled.
Martin's Explanation
Martin said: "Let me try and do the logic first. And then the answer should appear to itself. If you spend, if you go to a machine abroad or you go to an ATM, and you're in Europe, let's say, if it says - do you want euros or pounds?"
"What it's actually saying is - if it's euros, do you want your card to do the conversion, your card company? If it's pounds, we will do the conversion for you and then charge your card. So that's the decision."
"Now we've just talked about getting a specialist overseas card that gives you a near-perfect rate. Well you want them to do the conversion. That's why you got the specialist overseas card."
"And actually, even if you haven't got a specialist card, even the bog standard pretty pants cards here, tend to be better than the shop abroad doing it where they put a massive wodge, can be 6 or 7% on the exchange rate."
ATMs and Conversion Pressure
"The same with overseas cash machines, which can also add you a fee on top. But what happens is basically you put, let's say, you're in a cash machine abroad and it's saying pounds or euros, and you say, as I will absolutely do, I go, I want euros please."
"And it says, are you sure, we won't do the conversion? Are you absolutely? Yes, I want euros. Are you sure? What are you doing?"
"The ATM. They are desperate to persuade you to let them do the conversion. Because they make a lot of money from it."
"It's the opposite of what they're trying to push you to do, is what you want to do. So very simply, if you're in Europe, and you're paying on a card, pay in euros."
"If you're in America, pay in dollars. If you're in Vietnam, pay in dong."
