Pay Credit card into credit when going on holiday?

People keep telling me that if i pay my credit card into credit this will reduce charges to me on using the card.
When i ask which charges they dont know. Yet i've been told this from about 10 different people.

Is there really an advantage when going on holiday of paying credit into your card?

Apart from the obvious one of no interest after the due date, which is no good to me as i always pay it off in full at the end of the month by DD.
Thanks

I assume that they are referring to the facility that allows you to withdraw cash from an ATM using your Credit card

26cb said:

I assume that they are referring to the facility that allows you to withdraw cash from an ATM using your Credit card

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Do the ATM machine owners not have control over this transaction fee for using their machine rather than the credit card company though?
Or do Visa also charge you if you are not in credit to get cash?

Now i think about it though I think what you mean that if you are withdrawing credit interest is applied straight away, but if you are in credit there is no interest to be charged?

See here.

Interest shouldn't come into it if you are paying off the balance every month. The main expense of withdrawing money from a credit card account would come from the hefty charge that banks put on the use of their "cash advance" (or whatever they call it) service. Putting credit onto the account means that you don't need to use that service. There may be other transaction costs which would depend on the local provider of the ATM but these will usually be quite low.

Just what i needed , thanks

Interest shouldn't come into it if you are paying off the balance every month.

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Untrue -- depends on your bank. AIB (for instance) charge interest from the dae of the advance.

There may be other transaction costs which would depend on the local provider of the ATM but these will usually be quite low.

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AFAIK these are "illegal", under the VISA/MasterCard scheme rules.

Preloading a credit card and withdrawing cash while abroad can be one of the most cost effective ways of accessing non € cash. There are some issues to note though:

You need to check the specific terms & conditions and schedule of charges for your card though. For example all cards will invariable charge a foreign exchange marging of at least 1.75% but it could be more. Most should not charge any additional fees if the account contains money and you are making a withdrawal and not a cash advance but you need to check to be sure. As mentioned above most will charge a fee for a cash advance and some will charge interest from the date of the advance rather than the next bill date or whatever. If you preload your card with cash then you need to be aware of the security implications and the fact that you may not be covered in the event of the card being stolen and the cash accessed. Again check the terms & conditions. Remember that any preloaded balance could be eaten into by normal card transactions (e.g. paying for something with the card as opposed to withdrawing the cash) so you probably need to watch the balance. I find it useful to preload a certain amount and then top up as I go using online banking but (a) you need to allow for delays in transferring money from current to credit account (PTSB is terribly slow for this as I mentioned in another thread) and (b) you need to ensure that you don't compromise your online banking when using shared (e.g. internet café) PCs or internet connections. In some cases it could be more cost effective to use a Cirrus/Maestro/Plus+ ATM card to access cash but again you need to check the fees etc. Lastly if you are travelling inside the € zone then it's probably more cost effective to just use your ATM card as the fees should be the same as you are charged at home.

IFSRA have a useful credit card cost survey which is worth checking.

am I correct in thinking that Ulster Bank current account incurs no charge if making a withdrawal in the Eurozone? (assuming there is a balance in the current account to cover the withdrawal)

If you don't pay charges here in Ireland then you should not pay charges elsewhere in the € zone.