Is this the end of excessive travel money charges?

That’s the banks for you, wait until nobody can afford to go abroad and then cut the charges on foreign currency.

I have never quite understood how charging debit card users for buying foreign banknotes could be justified. Commission is another dark art that corrupts fair trade. The exchange rate for buying or selling should be set by a central authority and bureaux should then be able to add their handling fee [not a “commission”]. Sellers obviously have costs in stocking foreign bank notes [which they might have had to buy at higher values than they can sell them at – but it can also work the other way] and have to have sophisticated security, inventory and record-keeping procedures. While I can see that the higher the value of the notes issued the higher the operating costs will be, I do not think the handling fee should be a percentage of the total value but so much per £100 [which they could taper to reflect economies of scale]. The cost of buying currency would then be transparent and there should be a standard notation for the tariff along the lines of “£100 buys €116 / €100 costs £86, plus our handling fee” and then a separate table should show the handling fee per £100 sterling equivalent transaction [e.g. £100/£5; £200/£8; £300/£11″ and so on].
I was amazed recently when I asked our local Thgomas Cook to change USDollars to Euros. Even though they stock both currencies it seems that there is no public exchange rate so I had to interchange them via sterling and pay a whack on both sides of the deal. We are a nation of international travellers and tourists and live in the electronic age. You no longer have to explain yourself to the bank manager to get foreign money and have it marked on your passport but the travel trade is still living in this bygone age and using antique language like “commission”. You wouldn’t use obscure meanings and practices if you didn’t have something to hide.

Govt accepts that fees for Cards are wrong and then says sometime later. Surely an Act should be so simple as a few words have our politicians got fee and minds of clay???.” Only the cost of the transaction can be charged but the general rule should be accepted as a normal cost of doing business.”