{"id":4238,"date":"2026-10-02T16:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lebara.co.uk\/?p=4238"},"modified":"2026-10-02T17:23:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:23:38","slug":"do-payment-apps-give-you-a-better-exchange-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lebara.co.uk\/id\/do-payment-apps-give-you-a-better-exchange-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"Do payment apps give you a better exchange rate?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Do payment apps give you a better exchange rate?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Traveller’s cheques are already history: American Express stopped issuing new ones on 31st December 2020, two decades after sales peaked in 2000 [1]. The bureau de change hasn’t disappeared in the same way, but the sector has thinned out: International<\/a> Currency Exchange, once a major UK chain, put its 26 bureaux into administration in October 2021, costing 119 jobs [2]. Meanwhile UK cardholders spent \u00a33.7 billion outside the UK in March 2026 alone, up 6.6% on the year before, across 157 million transactions, up 9% [3].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The obvious conclusion is that apps and cards have simply taken over. We looked at what’s changed, and the real picture is messier and more useful: most people still travel with cash as well as a card, and having a card doesn’t automatically mean a better deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cash hasn’t gone away<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

69% of UK travellers still use cash when they’re abroad<\/a>, according to an industry report published in March 2026, and a separate ABTA survey found Britons carry more cash on holiday than they do at home [4]. Card and cash use have grown together rather than one replacing the other: contactless now accounts for 67% of credit card and 76% of debit card transactions overall [3], but a card that doesn’t work at a small vendor, a market stall or a tip jar still leaves you needing some physical currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Post Office remains the UK’s largest travel money provider by footprint, with services available from more than 11,000 of its branches [5]. Its own demand hasn’t disappeared. What’s changed is where that demand is met: a growing share of its travel money is now ordered online or through its own app rather than exchanged over a branch counter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you pay above the mid-market rate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Every currency has a mid-market rate: the real, benchmark rate banks trade with each other at, with no margin added. Every method of getting foreign currency adds a markup on top of it somewhere, the question is how much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small number of UK cards now charge close to nothing extra. Chase UK applies zero foreign transaction fees and converts at the Mastercard exchange rate with no markup, plus free ATM withdrawals up to \u00a3500 a day and \u00a31,500 a month [6]. Starling offers unlimited fee-free card spending abroad and fee-free ATM withdrawals worldwide, with a \u00a3300 daily ATM limit [7]. Wise charges a transparent fee of roughly 0.43-0.7% on top of the mid-market rate, varying by currency, with no hidden markup in the rate itself [8].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monzo and Revolut sit just behind these. Monzo gives the mid-market rate (via Wise) with a small flat fee plus up to 1.3% depending on currency [9]. Revolut is fee-free on currency exchange up to \u00a31,000 a month on its Standard plan, then adds a 1% markup at weekends and on public holidays specifically, a detail worth knowing if you tend to exchange money on a Saturday [10].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ordinary high-street bank debit card is the one that catches people out. Barclays and Lloyds both charge 2.99% on non-sterling transactions, HSBC and NatWest charge 2.75%, and that’s before the 2-3% margin typically built into the exchange rate itself [11]. All in, a standard debit card from a mainstream high-street bank can cost nearly as much as walking into a bureau de change, despite feeling like the modern option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bureaux de change sit at the expensive end, often advertised as commission-free, because the markup is built into the rate instead. High-street branches typically run 5-10% above the mid-market rate, airport and station bureaux 10-20% [12]. One mystery-shopping comparison converting \u00a3600 into euros found online providers charged around \u00a3525 for the same amount, high-street banks \u00a3555-563, and an airport bureau \u00a3593, a \u00a368 difference for making the exchange in the wrong place [12].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one mistake that cancels out a good card<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dynamic currency conversion, the option a card terminal or ATM abroad offers to charge you in pounds instead of the local currency, overrides whatever rate your card would otherwise give you. It typically adds 3-12% on top, UK travellers lose an estimated \u00a3300 million a year to it [13]. The fix costs nothing: always choose to pay or withdraw in the local currency, never your home currency, whatever the screen suggests as the \u201ceasier\u201d option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apps worth considering before you travel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chase UK \u2014 <\/strong>Zero foreign transaction fees, Mastercard exchange rate with no markup, fee-free ATM withdrawals up to \u00a3500\/day and \u00a31,500\/month, plus 1% cashback on spending.
Android: <\/strong>https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.chase.intl<\/a> <\/strong>
iOS: <\/strong>https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/chase-uk\/id1517121245<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starling Bank \u2014 <\/strong>Fee-free card spending abroad and fee-free ATM withdrawals worldwide, no monthly cap, \u00a3300 daily ATM limit, mid-market exchange rate every day including weekends.
Android: <\/strong>https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.starlingbank.android<\/a> <\/strong>
iOS: <\/strong>https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/starling-mobile-banking\/id956806430<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise \u2014 <\/strong>Transparent fee of roughly 0.43-0.7% on the genuine mid-market rate, built for holding and spending multiple currencies rather than just UK current account banking.
Android: <\/strong>https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.transferwise.android<\/a> <\/strong>
iOS: <\/strong>https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/wise-ex-transferwise\/id612261027<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monzo \u2014 <\/strong>Mid-market exchange rate via Wise, small flat fee plus up to 1.3% depending on currency, free EEA ATM withdrawals up to \u00a3200\/month on the Standard plan.
Android: <\/strong>https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=co.uk.getmondo<\/a> <\/strong>
iOS: <\/strong>https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/monzo-bank-mobile-banking\/id1052238659<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revolut \u2014 <\/strong>Fee-free currency exchange up to \u00a31,000\/month on weekdays, 1% markup at weekends and on public holidays, ATM withdrawals free up to a monthly limit that varies by plan.
Android: <\/strong>https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.revolut.revolut<\/a> <\/strong>
iOS: <\/strong>https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/revolut-send-spend-and-save\/id932493382<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing money from your handset, beyond the exchange rate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Freeze and unfreeze a card instantly from the app rather than phoning the bank if it’s lost<\/a> or acting strangely, most of the apps above support this. Turn on instant spending notifications so an unfamiliar transaction shows up in seconds rather than on a statement weeks later. Where the app offers a virtual or single-use card number for online purchases, it keeps your real card number out of circulation entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting a lower-than-default daily spending or withdrawal limit before you travel, then raising it only if needed, is a smaller but useful habit: it limits what a cloned card or a stolen<\/a> phone can do. Splitting a shared bill through the app rather than carrying the full amount in cash reduces how much any one person needs to hold at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this works without a signal<\/a>. A banking app you can’t open because you’ve got no data abroad is no better than a card you’ve left at home, so it’s worth checking your network’s roaming allowance or getting a travel data add-on sorted before you go, not after you’ve landed and found yourself locked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The apps that beat traditional currency exchange are the ones built to do exactly that: Chase UK, Starling and Wise use the mid-market rate with little to no markup. Monzo and Revolut come close within their free limits. An ordinary high-street debit card, the one most people already carry, doesn’t automatically qualify just because it’s a card: once its foreign transaction fee and rate margin are added together, it can cost nearly as much as the bureau de change counter it’s supposed to have replaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAQs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n