Martin Lewis has settled an age-old holiday dilemma, revealing whether it's smarter to pay in Pounds or local currency when using your bank card overseas. Sharing his expert insight with BBC viewers, he cut through the confusion, offering clear guidance on the best way to keep costs down while travelling abroad.
Lewis advised: "When you go abroad and you pay on plastic [card] and the overseas cash machine or shop asks you: 'Do you want to pay in Pounds or Euros?' What do you do? Well, the correct answer is you should always pay in Euros or whatever the local currency is. That means it's your plastic that's doing the exchange rate conversion, not the overseas shop or ATM."
Why Local Currency Is Cheaper
He stressed that this principle applies no matter where in the world you are travelling. Paying in local currency ensures your bank or card provider handles the conversion, typically at a better rate than dynamic currency conversion offered by merchants or ATMs, which often includes hidden fees.
Social media users were quick to weigh in with their own tips and experiences. One user suggested: "Just get Revolut or Monzo." Another declared: "I use Starling Bank, it has no fees abroad and recommends paying in the local currency instead of pounds. Something I saw online about dynamic exchange rate and it can cost you more otherwise."
Card Recommendations From Travellers
A third added: "Revolut has always been the best on doing this, can exchange right in the app as well, and when withdrawing it'll just take it straight from that, half the time the only fee is the cash fee by the machine you use." Meanwhile, a recent holidaymaker shared their own account: "Just back from Spain and not a single ATM did free cash withdrawals either, thankfully that's all I was charged with my Chase account."
One shrewd holidaymaker observed: "I just get Euros before I go anywhere save all the hassle, and if I'm really stuck for cash go into an actual bank on holiday and withdraw money on my card."
Travel Insurance Advice
This suggestion comes after guidance from a money-saving expert who stressed the importance of obtaining travel insurance 'ASAB' (as soon as you book). While appearing on This Morning, the financial specialist revealed: "My travel insurance rule is get it ASAB (as soon as you book). People do get a little confused about this, so let's break it down."
He continued to advise: "If you're getting a single trip policy, so that is a policy to cover just one holiday, then what you do is as soon as you book, you go on one of the travel insurer's website, you tell it your holiday dates and you buy the policy then." Lewis clarified that, if your break is scheduled for August and you've arranged it in January, purchasing your insurance in January is just as crucial.
"That means you have the travel insurance in place to covers that holiday," he stated, continuing: "You don't need to [cover yourself] for extra dates [in case there's a delay at the airport] because you have your return date. If something delays you, so you weren't back, that would still be covered because that delay is all part of the travel insurance."
