Using your Debit Card Abroad
Your Cynergy Bank Visa debit card provides convenient and secure access to your money to make purchases and to withdraw cash when using your debit card abroad. You will either have a sterling debit card or a euro debit card, depending on your account type.
If you have a sterling debit card the fees are for transactions made outside the UK. If you have a euro debit card it cannot be used in the UK and the fees are for transactions made inside and outside the Eurozone.
We may, at our discretion, prevent your debit card from being used in certain countries if we believe this is necessary to reduce fraud or for any other valid reason. If you intend to use your debit card in a country with a different currency to your card type, please contact Customer Service before your trip to check whether restrictions on your card apply to the country you will be visiting.
Making purchases
Your Cynergy Bank Visa debit card can be used where the Visa symbol is displayed worldwide. This includes shops, restaurants, hotels and petrol stations and means you don’t have to carry large sums of cash.
When you use your debit card to make a purchase it is as secure as it is if you make a purchase inside the UK. However you have to take the same care and attention to protect your card, PIN and signature.
Payment in local currency or your home currency*
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When you make a purchase in local currency you may be given the choice to pay in your home currency. This is known as dynamic currency conversion or cardholder preferred currency.
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Before you confirm payment, the purchase amount is converted to your home currency at an exchange rate selected by the company you are making the purchase from. The home currency amount will be displayed and you can then choose to pay in the home currency or local currency.
Disadvantages of paying in your home currency
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You may pay more for your purchase as the exchange rate is usually less favourable than if you pay in local currency.
Advantages of paying in your home currency
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The exchange rate is disclosed to you before you confirm payment.
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You see exactly how much you will be charged in your home currency.
Withdrawing cash
You can withdraw cash in local currency from ATMs that display the Visa symbol.
Cost of using your debit card abroad
The amount of any sterling card transaction in a currency other than sterling will be converted to sterling using the reference rate. For euro card transactions, conversion into other currencies will also be at the relevant reference rate.
The reference rate is an exchange rate comprising a wholesale market rate or government mandated rate determined by Visa, plus an adjustment to incorporate our currency conversion fee as set out in our Tariff of charges for your account (available in the document library). The reference rate applied will be applicable on the day the exchange takes place, which may be after the day the card transaction takes place. Amounts due to us must be settled in sterling or euros, depending on the currency in which your current account is held.
Visit the Visa website for further information on the reference rate.
Fees
| Fees applicable | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type of transaction | Sterling debit card | Euro debit card |
| Purchase |
£1.00 Example based on a £100 purchase |
€1.00 Example based on a €100 purchase |
| ATM withdrawal |
1.5% |
2.75% |
| Cash over the counter |
1.5% Example based on a £100 cash withdrawal at a bank counter |
€3.00 + 0.33% Example based on a £100 withdrawal at a bank counter |
* The home currency is sterling for sterling debit cards and euros for euro debit cards. The local currency is the currency of the country where the transaction takes place.
** The currency conversion fee of 2.75% is a percentage of the home currency equivalent of the amount spent or withdrawn and built into the exchange rate. It is not shown as a separate charge on your statement and is in addition to transaction fees.
