A building society is closing a popular deal for expats that offers free debit card for spending overseas.
Norwich & Peterborough Building Society is closing the popular gold light account to new customers from January 2014.
Instead, the gold start account will replace the deal. Most of the benefits remain the same – but overseas debit card transactions will be charged.
Free debit card for expats
Expats living or working abroad temporarily but keeping an address in the UK can still spend on a debit card without charges with two other accounts the building society offers –
- Gold Classic for non-business users – To qualify for free debit card spending, customers must pay a minimum £500 into the account each month and keep a minimum account balance of £5,000, plus make at least five transactions a month.
- Gold Business – The card holder, business or charity opening the account must be UK based to qualify for free overseas debit card transactions
“Customers can withdraw cash overseas from an ATM without a charge from our building society, but the foreign ATM owner might make a charge for using the machine,” said a Norwich & Peterborough spokesman.
“The aim of the account is to allow people regularly travelling overseas to avoid carrying large sums of foreign currency.”
Accounts that break the rules may be closed without notice, says the building society.
Meanwhile, if anyone has missed the Christmas post and wants to send cash as a present to or from the UK, a foreign currency exchange broker is the best bet.
Sending cash overseas for Christmas
Many make no charge and most have fees much lower than the banks.
A money exchange comparison site MyCurrency-Transfer.com is a good place to start, as the web site only lists foreign exchange firms protected by Financial Conduct Authority registration and separate client account safeguards.
FCA registration ensures access to the Financial Ombudsman for independent adjudication of complaints and access to compensation if something should go wrong with a transfer.
Switching funds between countries is also quicker with a forex broker – one firm boasts a transaction can take place in as little as seven minutes.
However, although most cash switches to developed countries take minutes, transfers to other nations can take longer.
Although globally there are 182 currencies, brokers tend to deal with around 50 different options and suggest that if the currency falls outside this range, the transfer should be made in US dollars.
