NatWest issues urgent message and says customers losing money from bank accounts

Bank says millions of people making the same mistake

Banking giant NatWest has issued an urgent message to customers, saying they are losing money because of one thing they are doing. It relates to how they are spending cash when they are abroad.

NatWest said many Brits make the same mistake by paying in pounds when using cards on holiday rather than the local currency. Travellers are told they should always pick the local currency as it will usually be cheaper.

The bank said its customers had lost a combined £17m. They said: "When abroad, holidaymakers are often given the option on a card terminal to pay either in pounds or the local currency. The exchange rate for paying in pounds is often far worse than paying in local currency and having the sum converted by your bank.

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"The price difference can be substantial - with one accommodation provider in Spain marking the price up 13.4% when the customer chose to pay in pounds. When travelling on a flight from Gatwick to Spain it was again found to be cheaper to pay in euros rather than pounds when given the option on the card terminal.

"For every transaction carried out as part of the research it was found that it is always cheaper to pay in the local currency." NatWest said Poland was the place most people had paid in pounds rather than local currency (77%), followed by Turkey and Sweden.

Spain is the most popular destination, with one in five transactions taking place in the country. Hazel Harper, from International Payments NatWest, said: “There’s one simple trick to saving on your family holiday when you’re abroad and it’s by always choosing to pay in the local currency.

"Our research found that it could be up to 13% more expensive to pay in pounds which makes a big difference to the cost of a family holiday.”