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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Alexander Smail

Martin Lewis shares urgent holiday cash machine advice to save hundreds of pounds

Martin Lewis has revealed how to save potentially hundreds of pounds when withdrawing money from cash machines abroad.

The Martin Lewis Money Show returned on Tuesday night for a live summer special, in which the financial guru answered questions about the energy price cap rise and holidays.

He warned those getting ready to jet off for some summer sun over the coming months not to "pay to pay".

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This refers to paying unnecessary fees to use certain debit and credit cards when in another country.

Lewis said: "The cheapest way to spend abroad is using the right travel plastic."

He then analysed three cards that all offer good value for money on holiday: the Chase debit card, the Halifax Clarity credit card, and the Barclaycard Rewards credit card.

The new Chase card, which is operated via an app, was declared to be the best way to spend money abroad due to its 1% cashback on spending and its 0% withdrawal interest.

The programme then cut to a pre-recorded segment featuring Martin in Malaga demonstrating how to save money when withdrawing cash from ATM machines abroad.

The current exchange rate on the financial market means that £1 buys €1.185.

However, some cash machines can actually have you paying unnecessary additional fees on top of this.

Martin undertook a test to see what the cheapest method of withdrawing 200 Euros out of a cash machine would be.

Going by the exchange rate, the "target price" was £169, but as he showed it is easy to pay significantly more than that.

"The first thing to watch for — is there a fee for using the cash machine?"

Among the different ATM machines Martin used, some charged a fee of as much as €4 to withdraw the €200.

Martin continued: "Next, the big one — what exchange rate will they try to charge you?"

One of the machines Martin was at charged a 4.5% markup, meaning that to withdraw €200 an additional 4.5% fee would be deducted.

Martin added: "You do not want this machine to do the conversion for you, you want your card company at home to do the conversion because, even if it's not a good card, it's at a better rate."

He then warned that machines may attempt to use "psychological scare tactics" to push customers to use their conversion rates even if they select that they do not want to.

In the end, taking money out without allowing the machine to do a conversion cost £169.20, whilst it cost up to £191 using the machines' rates.

Martin concluded: "Do not pay to pay. When you got into a shop, when you go to a cash machine and it says 'Do you want us to do the conversion for you' — no, no, no.

"Pay in the local currency."

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