Cash-saving guru has up to date his warning for any Brits visiting Spain this yr, as many get caught out by sneaky money machine charges – even after they assume they’re getting a very good deal

Do not get stung by sneaky money machine charges when overseas – even in the event you assume you are getting a discount, Martin Lewis has warned.

Again within the day, your vacation formally began as quickly as you headed over to your native journey agent to purchase all your Euros. It was a simple strategy to know precisely how a lot money you needed to spend on vacation, and meant you had been prepared to sit down again and loosen up as quickly as you touched down in sunny Spain. Nevertheless, with a slew of recent banks opening lately – utilizing ATM machines overseas to withdraw money is turning into more and more frequent.

Suppliers like Chase, Monzo, and Starling do not cost charges for utilizing your card overseas (though there could also be limits of every day or month-to-month withdrawals) and have spearheaded a technology comfy rocking as much as the airport with no penny in bodily money. However, simply since you’ve bought a elaborate new financial institution card – you should still get rinsed by hidden fees…

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In a blog post written in 2013, and up to date in April 2025, Martin Lewis issued a transparent four-word warning: “All the time pay in Euros.” The cash-saving guru made the assertion after witnessing how persons are lured in by deceptive guarantees of ‘0 per cent fee’.

“I could not consider my ears,” Martin wrote. “Whereas filming in southern Spain for the brand new sequence of my present, the producer informed me he’d discovered a money machine providing 0 per cent fee in the event you selected to withdraw in kilos. In principle, that’d imply PERFECT change charges. I checked, and certainly the display screen stated simply that. But I smelt a rat.”

The cash skilled went on to elucidate that while you use a debit card or bank card to withdraw money from an ATM or buy one thing from a store when you’re overseas, you are usually given two decisions: Pay in Kilos, or pay in Euros. “As you are charged in euros, your own home financial institution or bank card firm does the conversion for you,” Martin defined.

“Usually that is on the Visa/Mastercard change price (which is, mainly, good) plus a 3 per cent load – so £100 price of euros prices you £103. Nevertheless, when you’ve got one of many specialist low-cost journey bank cards, that are load-free worldwide, £100 of euros prices £100.”

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