You ask for €120 in cash. The Spanish ATM screen offers to charge your UK card in pounds. The notes you receive will still be euros. What the machine is asking is who gets to convert the transaction into sterling, and at what price. There can also be a charge for using that machine and another charge from the bank back home. Here is how to read the screen with a UK card linked to a sterling account.
Start with the cash amount
Look for EUR or the € sign beside the amount to be dispensed. On a Spanish-language screen, retirada de efectivo means cash withdrawal and importe means amount. A decimal comma can appear where a UK screen would use a decimal point. A charge shown as 4,50 EUR is four euros and fifty cents. Opening the English menu changes the language of the instructions. Your choice of billing currency comes separately.
Next, look for comisión or a line describing an ATM fee. Read whether the machine adds that amount to the transaction and find the total before confirming. A network logo tells you which cards a machine accepts. It says little about what that particular withdrawal will cost. Banco de España’s guidance on cash withdrawals describes the fee information shown before a withdrawal and the option to stop the transaction.
Find the currency attached to each choice
The operator may offer dynamic currency conversion, usually shortened to DCC. Accepting it lets the operator or its conversion provider turn the euro transaction into a sterling charge at the rate displayed. Declining it and proceeding in EUR sends a euro transaction to your card provider. Conversion then follows the arrangements for your card. Local currency in Spain means euros.
Read the object of a button labelled “decline”. Declining conversion means turning down an exchange service. Cancelling the withdrawal means ending the transaction. The wording and order can vary, so follow the labels on the machine you are using. An option described as continuing without conversion can still deliver the euros you requested. If the next screen asks for confirmation, check the currency there too.
On a Visa card, Visa’s guide to dynamic currency conversion sets out what should appear with the offer, including both currency amounts, the rate and any extra charge or markup for conversion. The choice belongs to the cardholder. If the offer lacks those details or the machine steers you towards one button, Visa recommends declining conversion and reporting the incident to your issuer.
A guaranteed sterling amount removes uncertainty about the conversion on that screen. How competitive it is depends on the alternative rate and your card terms. Nationwide says paying in local currency will often cost less than letting the operator convert. If your reason for choosing pounds is simply to know roughly what you have spent, an estimate using your own card’s rate can answer that question before you commit.
Follow €120 through the machine
Consider an invented withdrawal. You request €120 in notes, and the machine shows a €4 access fee. It says the total to be charged is €124. It then offers to convert that total at £0.90 per euro. Accepting the offer produces a sterling transaction of £111.60. The €4 charge is already in that figure. Adding another £3.60 for access would count the same fee twice.
Now suppose you select EUR instead. For illustration, assume your card converts each euro at £0.85 and charges no separate fee for this withdrawal. Multiplying €124 by £0.85 gives £105.40. You still get €120 in notes. The difference of £6.20 between the two sterling amounts is entirely due to the assumed exchange rates. Neither rate is a live quote or a forecast for a trip.
Change just one detail. Suppose the issuer instead charges a foreign currency fee of two per cent on the converted £105.40, with no other card fee. Rounded to the nearest penny, that adds £2.11, bringing the euro route to £107.51. If the sterling route attracts no issuer fee, its £111.60 total is £4.09 higher. That last condition matters because a card can charge for taking out cash even when billed in sterling.
Read the UK card’s withdrawal tariff
Find the name of your particular account or card in the issuer’s fee table. Read the rows for cash withdrawals abroad as well as the rows for purchases. A promise about buying lunch overseas may tell you little about collecting banknotes afterwards. Nationwide’s overseas card charges, for example, distinguish debit card tariffs from credit card cash fees and explain where an outside cash machine can add its own charge.
Look at how the charge is calculated. A percentage with a minimum means the minimum can determine the fee on a small withdrawal. A fixed charge per transaction matters if you make several withdrawals. In the invented example, collecting €120 through three separate €40 withdrawals at the same machine would incur €12 in access fees if it charged €4 each time. Check the terms on each screen. Another machine might quote a different access fee for your card. To compare them, ask for the same euro amount and read each fee before confirming.
If using a credit card, read the cash interest terms as well. The charging period for cash can differ from the period for purchases. Interest can increase the cost after the money has left the machine. With a debit card, a tariff may refer to a non-sterling transaction fee, a foreign cash fee or both. Use the definition alongside each charge to work out when it applies.
Turn the exchange rate the right way round
A rate given in pounds per euro tells you what to multiply the euro total by. A rate given in euros per pound works the other way round. At an illustrative €1.25 per £1, a €125 transaction costs £100 before other charges. Writing the currency beside each number catches an easy mistake when comparing a machine offering pounds with an app displaying euros per pound.
If the issuer uses Mastercard rates, the Mastercard currency converter can help estimate a euro transaction. Select euros for the transaction currency and pounds for the card currency. Its result is indicative, and the rate applied may depend on when the transaction is authorised or processed. Entering a bank fee in the calculator includes that percentage in the result. Add any separate cash fee according to the card terms.
Match the receipt to the statement
Keep the receipt until the withdrawal has posted. On the invented sterling route, look for €120 dispensed, €4 added and £111.60 billed. On the euro route, look for a €124 transaction, then check how your issuer converted it. A separate fee shown on the statement may belong to the card provider. Compare it with the tariff before assuming the cash machine charged twice.
If the posted currency differs from the one you selected, give the issuer the withdrawal date, machine location, amount and receipt details. Ask which currency the operator submitted and whether the issuer added a cash or exchange fee. Those two answers usually tell you which figure needs explaining, even if the receipt has begun to fade by the time you get home.