Pay on a Switch card and there's no charge, yet if you pay for foreign currency on a credit card, or some bank’s Visa debit cards, it’s possible you’ll be charged an additional fee on top of what you pay the bureau de change. If possible avoid using the cards that charge and pay another way instead.

• Credit cards. All credit cards charge when you buy foreign currency, as this is treated as if you are withdrawing cash from an ATM, plus you could be charged interest from the day you make the purchase, even if you repay it in full at the end of the month. See a full table of these charges
  
  
• Visa Debit cards. If you have a Visa Debit card (these used to be known as Delta), whether you’re charged depends on your bank, it will usually be around 2.5% with a minimum of £3.
  
  

Debit cards that DO charge a fee	Debit cards that DON'T charge a fee
Abbey	Coventry BS
Alliance & Leicester	First Direct
Barclays	Halifax
Cahoot	HSBC
Co-op	Intelligent Finance
Lloyds TSB	Nationwide
Smile	Natwest
	RBS

If you only have one of these cards... then you're likely to be better off by just spending on it while overseas, than buying foreign cash with it. The big exception is Lloyds debit card, which if you spend on it abroad will slap ANOTHER charge on top every time you spend in a shop, as well as the normal foreign currency fees.

How does it work?

If you want foreign currency in cash, the key question to ask providers is "How many euros/dollars/shekels will you give me, after all charges and fees, for my pounds?", then simply go with whoever gives you the most. The Travel Money Maximiser does this for you, searching 13 major online foreign currency bureaux in seconds, and finds where you'll get most buck for your bang. It takes into account exchange rates, commission fees and any delivery costs, and gives you the cheapest results for that day.

The Travel Money Maximiser repeatedly gathers information from Bureaux's websites throughout the day. This means there is a very slight chance the prices will be a few minutes out of date after a rate change. Always double check the deal before buying your currency.

How to use it

Enter the type of foreign currency you need, then either select how much you're willing to pay e.g. "I want £100 worth of dollars" or how much of the foreign currency you want e.g. "I want 200 euros". Then choose whether you want the money delivered to you, or if you are willing to collect it. The Travel Money Maximiser displays the prices from online bureaux de change, taken directly from their websites, ranked in order of how much cold hard cash you'll get.

Who's included?

The Travel Money Maximiser only searches online providers; primarily as it's a web tool and these are much easier to search. Luckily though, web providers almost always undercut their high street equivalents. So get a web quote and go and pick your currency up, and you usually get more than just walking into the same branch and getting the cash.