BRITS are facing being charged more than £1 per Euro when using ATM machines abroad.
The poor exchange rates and added fees at ATMs run by US-based EuroNet have made it difficult for European holidaymakers to enjoy their vacations.
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One North London resident was outraged after coughing up £53 for a 50 euro withdrawal while travelling in Italy.
With a pound worth 1.2 euros at current exchange rates, his charge should have been more around £42, the Mirror reports.
The 40-year-old said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the message saying I’d been charged £53.
“I felt like my pocket had been picked.”
Another Londoner and seasoned traveller found the highest fees on a trip to Greece.
Donal Kane used an ATM at Ouranoupoli in northern Greece’s east coast, east of Thessaloniki.
Mr Kane wanted to withdraw €240 and found the Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) invited him to pay £233 – a rate of €1.03 to each pound.
Foreign ATMs, shops, and restaurants offer the DCC. They may charge an additional fee if you wish to convert the transaction to pounds.
He shared on Twitter: “14.15% markup on the Mid Market rate (as well as a €3.95 fee but that’s hard to avoid in Greece).
“Not sure I’ve ever seen a higher markup than this anywhere.”
Mr Kane stated the following: “golden rule”to reject the DCC as it was suggested.
With a €3.95 fee applied to all transactions, unwary travellers withdrawing €80 would end up paying more than £1 for each euro.
He told The Independent: “Not sure I’ve seen a double digit percentage mark-up quoted, at least openly, before.
“High single digits is more normal, and still awful value.”
Martyn James, a consumer rights specialist, was shocked to discover that rates exceed the pound-toeuro threshold.
He said it was as hard as the “deeply unfair”The rates are high, but he believes that most tourists will accept them for the moment.
Mr James said: “People will see it, roll their eyes, and be angry but will exchange anyway because the kids are crying, everybody’s tired and you’re in a queue at the airport with all your luggage.
“It’s a cynical move and there’s no excuse when they know the exchange rate isn’t anywhere near that and they add additional fees.”
Dealing with foreign currencies can be confusing, with exchange rates difficult to keep on top of.
‘NOT AWARE’
By being aware of the risks, you can make sure you aren’t getting ripped off every time you want to take out cash abroad.
A video is available onTikTok, user Kybe Travel revealed how accepting the conversion rates offered to you by cash machines when withdrawing money could end up costing you as much as £10 per transaction if you aren’t careful.
In the video, she explains: “Here I’m withdrawing €100 from my Monzo card and being shown what the conversion from pounds to euros is.
“As you can see, €100 will cost me £98.83. But instead of accepting the conversion, I’m going to click ‘accept without conversion’.
“As soon as that’s been processed, Monzo lets me know that the transaction which was going to cost me £98.83 actually cost me £88.04, saving me just over £10.”
Many users expressed gratitude to Kybe Travel for their assistance, stating that they didn’t know the difference in prices.