For Info: International travelling using Irish Banks for withdrawals (BOI only)

msvalhalla

For info:

I have been travelling internationally since February in Latin America and using my Irish bank cards with Bank of Ireland for case withdrawals.
I noticed that there are significant charges so I looked into it as I am home for a week (over €200 of cash withdrawal fees in an 8 month period!).
The information is limited on the BOI website so I rang them. I had a very poor VISA Debit Card rep on the phone but I eventually got things more or less clarified with an experienced Mastercard Credit Card rep.

All of this info is for outside of the EU.

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1. Withdrawal limits:

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I noticed as I was travelling that at first I could take out sums of foreign currency up in excess of €300 (Mexico) with my VISA Debit. But then all of a sudden this limit dropped way down when I was around Panama/Costa Rica to around €100. This is way too low given that there are charges everytime for withdrawals.

I rang BOI that time and they gave me a vague answer that VISA had limited their withdrawal to $200USD (or whatever the equivelant was in local currency). They also said that they cannot raise this limit.
My poor rep this morning on the phone could not send me any information, or could not give me a link to information on their website, but he had a sheet in front of him with withdrawal limits in some countries. He also couldn't tell me if the sheet was from VISA or BOI. He said the limit was €100 in some countries, but I found transactions in my accounts for those countries that were in excess of €100.

So in summary, as you leave Mexico and travel further south expect the withdrawal limits to change on your cards. In Mexico I could withdraw over €300, but this dropped the farther south I went.

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2. Is VISA Debit cheaper than Mastercard Credit Card for withdrawals:

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After 40+ minutes on the phone the official answer is that it depends!!
But in short, IF you put money into your credit card (so it is positive in cash), then the credit card will be cheaper for withdrawing money (2.25% for credit card versus 3.5% for debit card). Also note that it can take up to 24 hours for money transfers to go through (from your BOI current account to your BOI Mastercard).



The long version is:
Whenever you withdraw money abroad, there is normally one line showing you the foreign currency, the exchange rate and the euro amount it cost you.
Then there is another line showing the banks fee for the transaction.


VISA Debit Card Bank Fee for withdrawals:
There is a massive 3.5% transaction fee per ATM Cash Withdrawal outside of EU (with a min of €3.17 and a max of €11.43). Although I have had transaction fees of less than €3.17.

Also for a "Point of Sale" such as a restaurant, there is a 2% transaction fee (with a min of€0.46 and a max of €11.43).



Mastercard Credit Card Bank Fee for withdrawals:
The Mastercard Cash Advance fee is only 1.5% (with a min of €2.54 and no max). So great, I thought that I was being a fool all along paying my 3.5% for the VISA Card transfers, and now I found a cheaper way.


But wait hold on, I found that I had two transactions on the one day with both my cards, and the credit card gave me a lower foreign currency exchange rate. It turns out that BOI also have a 2.25% Cross Border Handling Fee on the Credit Card, but this extra percentage is hidden inside in the transfer rate. Credit Card services confirmed to me that Bank of Ireland use the same exchange rates for all cards based on the Central Bank's exchange rate for the day. But with the credit cards, this rate will also include the 2.25% so it is more expensive to take foreign currency with the credit card. The rep told me that the 2.25% is one of the lowest on the market.

However, if you put money into your credit card it will not charge you the 1.5% cash advance fee. Therefore, the credit card withdrawal will cost you 2.25% in fees whereas the VISA debit card will cost 3.5% in fees. But of course this means you have to be constantly transferring money into the credit card and waiting up to 24 hours for it to go through.

Note that for some credit cards, in the event of fraud, there may be no cover for any money you have in the card in debit, so don't transfer all your money into the credit card.

If anyone can add any moneysaving tips, I'm listening.



Hope it helps,
Michael