The personal finance guru said whatever happens ‘don’t wait till you get to your destination’
Martin Lewis said people could be costing themselves a fortune if they make two mistakes with money on holiday(Image: ITV)
Personal finance expert Martin Lewis has issued a warning to anyone using an airport this summer. People going on holiday have been told they will be making a big mistake if they make a key decision when they are ‘captive custom’.
People travelling this year are already concerned about potential cost rises and delays caused by the situation in the Middle East. Mr Lewis, appearing on ITV’s This Morning, explained that making any effort to get cash while at the airport is a mistake.
He told hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley that people like to take cash for things like tips – and also some prefer to use it to budget more effectively. He said: “The worst place to get your cash is at the airport or at the ferry port or anywhere like that because they have your captive custom and the rates are horrendous.
“The best thing to do is to use a couple of travel exchange comparison sites online. Now, the thing is, you have to be careful. It’s a combination of the exchange rate and the fee. So what exchange rate are they giving you? What fee are they giving you? You want that all combined. And that’s what the comparison sites will do.
“You’ll just say, ‘I want £600 worth of dollars. Who’s going to give me the most dollars for my £600?’ And that’s the way that they will work. So, that’s by far the simplest way to do it. Just get yourself on a comparison. But don’t wait till you get to your destination.”
He said that comparison sites will look at perhaps 50 or 60 outlets, whereas if you go abroad before looking it’s unlikely those available will be able to compete. He said “If you go regularly to the same price abroad and you know there’s a little fella and you know and he gives you great rates and they’re much better than the ones at home then it’s fine.
“But if you don’t have that specialist knowledge, do the comparison, take the cash before you go. I mean also if you really do want cash, if you got a specialist overseas card, you know you got a Chase card or something just put it in the cash machine abroad. There’s no fees and you get the near-perfect exchange rate. So that’s another way to get cash.”
Mr Lewis also explained that anyone spending money in European destinations such as Spain, Greece or France should always make one decision when it comes to paying or getting money out. He explained that if people have gone to the trouble of lining up a card to work overseas, then they’re actually adding lots of money onto their bills by making the wrong choice when asked if it’s euros or pounds.
He said: “If you spend, if you go to a machine abroad or you go to an ATM and you’re in Europe, let’s say, or 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 we can be six or 7% on the exchange rate.
“The same with overseas cash machines, which can also add 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 you’re sure we won’t do the conversion are you actually? Yes, I want euros. Are you sure? What are you doing?
“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 paying on a card, paying euros if you’re in America, pay in dollars if you’re in Vietnam.”