Martin Lewis has issued a warning for holidaymakers who want to save money while travelling abroad.
Appearing on The Martin Lewis Money Show, the money-saving expert advised viewers on how they could save money while on holiday by making use of debit cards with favourable rates. As the cost of living crisis continues to place immense pressure on people's wallets, many will be looking to save money when going abroad this summer.
One concern many travellers may have is juggling exchange rates abroad and how they can best take advantage of them. Mr Lewis stated that he's a fan of specialist cards because they don't add the 3 per cent rate that is usually added on with bank cards when shopping abroad.
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For spending abroad, he praised the Chase debit card, Halifax Clarity credit card, and Barclaycard Rewards Credit Card. This is because they offer 'near-perfect exchange rates' as well as interest-free spending, fee-free ATM withdrawals up to a certain amount, and cashback on spending.
He also highlighted some other specialist overseas debit and credit cards such as Santander Zero, Monzo, Starling, and some Virgin Money Cards
However, he warned of some debit cards which travellers should avoid. He said: "There are certain debit cards which as well as the 3 per cent exchange rate fee, charge you when spend on them outside of Europe which technically is the EEA so EU plus Lichenstein, Norway, and Iceland.
"They are the Bank of Scotland, Halifax, and Lloyds - their standard cards - which charge you 50p each time and TSB a quid. So imagine you're buying something for a fiver, the exchange rate fee means you're going to pay £5.15 for it and then you've got that, that makes it £6.15.
"You'd just be better to put it on a bog-standard credit card paid off in full than using the debit cards but people tend to think debit is better than credit - well not in this case when you're spending abroad. If you've got one of those cards, beware if you're going outside Europe, you will pay a little bit more for using it so you probably definitely want a specialist card in that case."
