First Direct scraps FX fees on its debit cards

Whilst it hasn’t informed its customers yet, First Direct has dropped all foreign exchange and ATM fees on its debit cards.

The change went live on 28th June.

The bank has removed:

• the 2.75% foreign exchange fee added to all non-Sterling purchases and cash withdrawals

• the 2% fee (min £1.75, max £5) added to all non-Sterling ATM withdrawals, which was on top of the 2.75 FX fee

The change only applies to debit card spending. If you use a First Direct credit card outside the UK, the fees above will still apply.

If you are interested in opening a First Direct current account to get its debit card, there is currently a £175 incentive to move your existing account across.

This is HSBC’s second recent attempt to cut FX fees for customers.

Over at HSBC’s standard current accounts, the bank has launched an interesting ‘Global Money’ product. You need to open this via the HSBC app, creating a 2nd virtual account, and then move money into it from your standard current account.

Transactions made using your ‘Global Money’ virtual debit card incur no FX fees (a plastic multi-currency card is also available). ‘Global Money’ also allows you to make FX transfers without fees, although I suspect the underlying rate will not be attractive.

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