Debit Card charges abroad

hitchglitch

Just read the small print on my new Visa Debit Card and it seems that every purchase abroad will be subject to a 2.99% Non-Sterling Transaction fee, PLUS if I withdraw cash a £1.50 charge per withdrawal. So for withdrawing 100 Euros in France that would
be nearly 5 Euros assuming there are no further local fees which their could be on certain cash machines. I expected a debit card to be better than a credit card but it doesn't seem to be the case.

So for me it is back to taking cash and using the pre-paid card, although there are still currency exchange losses and a withdrawal fee.