Foreign Transactions

Purchases and cash machine withdrawals

If you carry out a transaction using your card in a currency other than sterling, it will be converted to sterling on the day the transaction is processed by our card scheme providers at a wholesale rate of exchange, which may vary daily. For an indication of that exchange rate, you can see the Visa wholesale rate of exchange at www.visaeurope.com/fxcalculator. This is an "indication" because transactions are processed when the retailer passes them on to the scheme provider, which is generally not on the same day the transaction took place.

SWIFT payments

If you are sending money abroad using our SWIFT service, please ask us for the exchange rate you will be offered.

Third party charges

Nationwide continues to offer "commission-free" foreign transactions.

"Commission-free" means that we do not add any additional charges for exchanging currency which are designed to generate profit for the Society. We do, however, pass on any fee we incur from our card scheme providers for processing transactions in certain currencies (generally those outside of the European Economic Area and Turkey and Israel) other than sterling.

The fee is currently 1.00% and it will be included in the sterling amount shown on your statement.

The list below provides details of the countries for which a fee is charged. To check if you will be charged, please search for the country you are visiting by using the A-Z list. Unless stated otherwise a fee will be charged.

If you have any other questions regarding these charges, please phone 08457 30 20 10 or talk to an advisor at one of our branches.

Questions & Answers

• Will I be charged the fee for withdrawing cash from a cash machine?
  Select the country you are visiting from the list below, if it is listed as "no fee charged" you will not be charged. Otherwise you will be charged the fee. Please remember if you use your credit card to withdraw cash you will be charged a cash advance fee.
• Will I be charged the fee if I buy things from foreign websites?
  Select the country you are buying from, if it is listed as "no fee charged" you will not be charged. Otherwise you will be charged the fee.
• I have a Cash Card Account that I use to withdraw cash when I'm on holiday. Will I be charged?
  No. Initially, only Visa debit card transactions will have a fee applied. Your cash card is run by a different provider and is only available for withdrawing cash (it does not have facilities to make purchases online or at retailers). Our Cash Card Account is our Basic Bank Account and is available/suitable for customers who meet the Basic Bank Account criteria.
• How much is the fee I'm being charged on foreign transactions?
  The fee is 1.00% for any non-sterling transactions made outside of the Visa Europe region.

A-Z list of countries

Please click the letters below to find the country you are visiting and check to see if you'll be charged a fee. Unless stated otherwise a fee will be charged.

• A
  Afghanistan
  Albania
  Algeria
  America Samoa
  Andorra - No fee charged
  Angola
  Anguilla
  Antarctica
  Antigua and Barbuda
  Argentina
  Armenia
  Aruba
  Australia
  Austria - No fee charged
  Azerbaijan
• B
  Bahamas
  Bahrain
  Bangladesh
  Barbados
  Bear Islands - No fee charged
  Belarus
  Belgium - No fee charged
  Belize
  Benin
  Bermuda
  Bhutan
  Bolivia
  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Botswana
  Bouvet Island
  Brazil
  British Indian Ocean Territory
  British Virgin Islands
  Brunei
  Bulgaria - No fee charged
  Burkina Faso
  Burundi
• C
  Cambodia
  Cameroon
  Canada
  Canary Islands - No fee charged
  Cape Verde Islands
  Cayman Islands
  Central African Republic
  Chad
  Channel Islands - No fee charged
  Chile
  China
  Christmas Island
  Cocos Island
  Colombia
  Comoros
  Congo
  Cook Islands
  Corsica - No fee charged
  Costa Rica
  Croatia
  Cuba
  Cyprus - No fee charged
  Czech Rephublic - No fee charged
• D
  Denmark - No fee charged
  Dijbouti
  Dominica
  Dominican Republic
• E
  East Timor
  Ecuador
  Egypt
  El Hierro - No fee charged
  El Salvador
  Equatorial Guinea
  Eritrea
  Estonia - No fee charged
  Ethiopia
• F
  Faroe Islands - No fee charged
  Falkland Islands - No fee charged
  Fiji
  Finland - No fee charged
  Formentera - No fee charged
  France - No fee charged
  French Guiana - No fee charged
  French Polynesia - No fee charged
  French Southern & Antarctic lands - No fee charged
  Fuerteventura - No fee charged
• G
  Gabon
  Gambia
  Georgia
  Germany - No fee charged
  Ghana
  Gibraltar - No fee charged
  Gran Canaria - No fee charged
  Greece - No fee charged
  Greenland - No fee charged
  Grenada
  Guadeloupe - No fee charged
  Guam
  Guatemala
  Guinea
  Guinea Bissau
  Guyana
• H
  Haiti
  Heard and McDonald Islands
  Honduras
  Hong Kong
  Hungary - No fee charged
• I
  Ibiza - No fee charged
  Iceland - No fee charged
  India
  Indonesia
  Iran
  Iraq
  Ireland - No fee charged
  Israel - No fee charged
  Isle of Man - No fee charged
  Italy - No fee charged
  Ivory Coast
• J
  Jamaica
  Japan
  Jordan
• K
  Kazakhstan
  Kenya
  Kerguelen - No fee charged
  Kiribati
  Kosovo
  Kuwait
  Kyrgyzstan
• L
  La Gomera - No fee charged
  La Graciosa - No fee charged
  La Palma - No fee charged
  Laos
  Lanzarote - No fee charged
  Latvia - No fee charged
  Lebanon
  Lesotho
  Liberia
  Libya
  Liechtenstein - No fee charged
  Lithuania - No fee charged
  Luxembourg - No fee charged
• M
  Macau
  Macedonia
  Madagascar
  Majorca - No fee charged
  Malawi
  Malaysia
  Maldives
  Mali
  Malta - No fee charged
  Marshall Islands
  Martinique - No fee charged
  Mauritania
  Mauritius
  Mayotte - No fee charged
  Menorca - No fee charged
  Mexico
  Micronesia
  Moldova
  Monaco - No fee charged
  Mongolia
  Montenegro
  Montserrat
  Morocco
  Mozambique
  Myanmar
• N
  Namibia
  Nauru
  Nepal
  Netherlands - No fee charged
  Netherlands Antilles
  New Caledonia - No fee charged
  New Zealand
  Nicaragua
  Niger
  Nigeria
  Niue Island
  Norfolk Island
  North Korea
  Northern Marina Islands
  Norway - No fee charged
• O
  Oman
• P
  Pakistan
  Palau
  Palestine
  Panama
  Papua
  Paraguay
  Peru
  Philippines
  Pitcairn Island
  Poland - No fee charged
  Portugal - No fee charged
  Puerto Rico
• Q
  Qatar
• R
  Reunion - No fee charged
  Romania - No fee charged
  Russia
  Rwanda
• S
  Samoa
  San Marino - No fee charged
  Sao Tome and Principe
  Saudi Arabia
  Senegal
  Serbia
  Seychelles
  Sierra Leone
  Singapore
  Slovakia - No fee charged
  Slovenia - No fee charged
  Solomon Islands
  Somalia
  South Africa
  South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
  South Korea
  Spain - No fee charged
  Sri Lanka
  St Barts (Barths or Barthelemy) - No fee charged
  St Helena
  St Kitts
  St Lucia
  St Martin - No fee charged
  St Pierre and Miquelon - No fee charged
  St Vincent
  Sudan
  Suriname
  Swaziland
  Sweden - No fee charged
  Switzerland - No fee charged
  Syria
• T
  Taiwan
  Tajikistan
  Tanzania
  Tenerife - No fee charged
  Thailand
  Togo
  Tokelau Island
  Tonga
  Trinidad and Tobago
  Tunisia
  Turkey - No fee charged
  Turkmenistan
  Turks and Caicos Islands
  Tuvalu
• U
  US Minor Outlying Islands
  US Virgin Islands
  Uganda
  Ukraine
  United Arab Emirates
  United Kingdom - No fee charged
  United States of America
  Uruguay
  Uzbekistan
• V
  Vanuatu
  Vatican City State - No fee charged
  Venezuela
  Vietnam
• W
  Wallis and Futuna Islands - No fee charged
  Western Sahara
• Y
  Yemen
  Yugoslavia
• Z
  Zambia
  Zimbabwe