Airline passenger news and views

I think the EU have been looking at these charges, which is why the rates are low or zero within the EU. The credit card companies get squeezed in one area and so introduce new charges in other areas. I find that you have to keep checking and going for the best deal. Loyalty is a thing of the past.

I have used the Santander card for a while now and find that to be excellent.

Saga have a really good niche target market. They probably started off wanting to help the over 50s and to benefit from the honesty, integrity and low claim rate of that age group. I have been a customer for over 12 years.

Since they were taken over a couple of years back (I think the founders sold out), they have become more aggressive and the prices have gone up and the benefits gone down. I do not think they currently offer much that is different from any other insurance and financial services company. However, good on them for offering low transaction rates on their card.

It is never good to be old. Anyway, Saga are rip-off merchants taking advantage of people like my parents. They charge more than anyone else for car insurance and have the cheek to say it is priced specially for the safe, older driver. Have you ever seen a safe and old driver?

My parents have used Saga for both holidays and car insurance. They say that the service used to be good but has slipped in recent years and the prices have always been high.

Compared with the damage that Gordon Brown and co have done to the Pound and the awful rate that we will get this summer on the Euro, a couple of extra percent on the credit card is neither here nor there. How can the pound be so bad and the Euro so expensive? when this is supposed to be a global problem with us all in it together.

We should have joined the Euro. Then there would not have been any of these problems and we would be secured by being part of the EU.

I just read Mr Wilson's comment and I do not, with respect, think that joining the Euro would have helped us at all. We have seen from Greece that single currency membership does not guarantee financial or monetary stability. Being bailed out by the other community countries (actually contrary to the Treaty obligations) is no better than being bailed out by the IMF.

The Pound is weak because we spend more than we earn. Moving our 'account' to another bank would not change that fact.

This is not about the Euro it is about bank and credit card charges. Why should we pay extra when the payment is in Euro rather than Pounds. We pay the converted rate, why do we need to pay more? This is a bank rip-off. If one company can do it then they all should.

As I use the Saga card, I can tell you that they have, as the article said, been offering no charge transactions in Europe for ages. What they wrote and told me was that they now do the same for America and things bought in Dollars. I do not know if the exchange rate is good or bad as I have not used it but at least there is not that extra charge that you get on some cards.

I think Saga are good for what they do but not as good as they were before the takeover.

I never use my credit card abroad. Waiters are the worst, they copy the details and many of them actually have a machine that reads the card details. This bloke in Spain said that they sell the numbers to a gang from Morocco and even the restaurant owners were in on it.

The fraud risk scares me, I take my Saga card for backup only leaving it in the hotel safe. Travellers checks are much safer.

My advice is definitely not to use your credit card abroad. They know that you are away from home and you will not be checking your statements and so they have time to put stuff through.

They also know that when you get back and check that you don't always recognise what was true and what was fraud spending. Lots of these foreign shops and restaurants are going to have similar names and it can be hard to remember what you spent and where. Then proving that you did not spend it is really hard.

This is all down to the banks and their chip and pin policy. It really does not work if you give you card to someone that has a card reader and a PC. I think you can now even get readers for the iPhone just to make it easier for these thieves. Perhaps we all ought to go back to cash !

I agree that travellers cheques or cash is the best option not only abroad but at home, credit cards should be used for emergencies only, lets stop these companies getting any richer!

I agree with Jack. I have the santander card and it has never given me any problems.