Mark: I’ve checked it in the past and Nationwide use the rate as supplied by Visa/Mastercard which had around a 0.25% spread from the spot rate which is about as close to zero charges as you’re likely to get.

Also worth noting is that although Visa charge Nationwide 1% when the card is used outside Europe, Nationwide don’t pass on that charge. That means that every time people use their card outside Europe, it’s costing them 1%; I’m not really that confident that they will continue to do that indefinitely.

I think it’s very unlikely that Nationwide are delivering spot rates on FX, so I think it would be more interesting to know how far from spot rates they will be.

Having gone through all these cards over the last few days, it’s quite refreshing to find a card like yours that is almost “too simple” in that I was hunting for charges that, by and large, just aren’t there.