Banks announce low overseas debit withdrawal

Britons could soon benefit from low overseas fees on debit card withdrawals from their current accounts after a group of European banks agreed to a reciprocal alliance.

The scheme, which will start on September 4th, will allow current account holders to use debit cards issued in Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Austria with a fee of 0.3 per cent

The UK LINK system is among the founding members of the Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes (EAPS), which, according to Peter Blatsche from German public-sector banking association VOeB, will "set off a domino effect" of banks joining the scheme.

Currently debit cards only work abroad if they are part of the Mastercard Maestro scheme or Visa’s V-pay.

UK customers are charged on average two per cent to make withdrawals overseas, though Nationwide customers can use ATMs for free.

Earlier this year NatWest raised the limit that customers could be charged per foreign withdrawal to £5.

According to uSwitch credit card and debit card customers will be hit with charges and fees worth £355 this year.