British holidaymakers are spending a billion pounds a year on exchanging money to spend abroad and are "losing out in a big way", a watchdog will warn today. Consumer Focus is asking the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate charges to consumers for using bank cards overseas and for buying foreign money. Chief executive Mike O'Connor said that customers losing money thanks to "dubious and complex charges".

Mr O'Connor said that customers are losing out in three key areas. The first is that charges for using a debit or credit card overseas are "unnecessarily complex and confusing" and vary significantly, making it difficult for people to...Read more on this story---> British travellers 'paying too much' for their holiday money - Telegraph

Britain's banks reacted angrily to suggestions that customers are being let down by banks overcharging for their services abroad.

A spokesman for the British Bankers Association (BBA) said that he was "disappointed" that Consumer Focus "chose not to engage with the industry before it issued this complaint". "The UK's banks have invested heavily in recent years to ensure customers can use their financial services virtually anywhere in the world," he added. "Competition in the holiday money market is not simply between high street banks: it also involves companies which do not usually provide financial services. The report acknowledges only 15 per cent of holidaymakers get their...Read more on this story---> Super complaint: banks hit back currency rip-off suggestions - Telegraph