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Think you spent too much this bank holiday? You probably did

A Post-Holiday Look at Hidden Bank Fees – And How to Avoid Them Next Time

The May bank holiday was the perfect excuse for a long weekend abroad. Whether you strolled through the streets of Paris, relaxed on a beach in Spain, or flew across the Atlantic to explore the US, the trip likely felt worth every penny. But now you’re home, unpacked, and perhaps squinting at your bank statement. And something doesn’t add up.

Even if you stayed within budget, those totals can look suspiciously higher than you expected. The culprit? Sneaky fees and poor exchange rates. These unwelcome costs quietly creep into every transaction, costing British travellers more than they realise, especially during popular holiday periods.

The good news? You don’t have to let it happen again.

How Much Brits Are Spending Abroad

Let’s start with the big picture. In 2023, British travellers spent an average of £894 per person during holiday. That figure was up more than 20% from pre-pandemic levels and is expected to keep rising, particularly as inflation and pent-up demand continue to influence travel behaviours. 

Even those trying to be frugal may find themselves overspending. A report from Post Office Travel Money found that 67% of holidaymakers exceeded their planned budgets, often due to unanticipated costs. Families in particular spent on average £312 more than they intended.

But where exactly is this extra money going?

What’s Really on That Bank Statement?

If you used a standard UK debit or credit card abroad, you likely got hit with multiple charges that weren’t always apparent upfront. Most travellers don’t realise that these fees accumulate behind the scenes with each tap, swipe, or withdrawal.

Here’s how it typically breaks down:

  • Foreign transaction fees: Often 2.75% to 2.99% per purchase
  • ATM withdrawal charges: £1.50 or more each time, sometimes from both your bank and the ATM provider
  • Currency conversion markups: Up to 12% when choosing to pay in GBP instead of the local currency

These charges are separate from the actual price of your purchase. So when you buy a €40 dinner in France, you’re often paying an extra £1–2 just for the privilege of using your card. Multiply that across every coffee, cab fare, and museum ticket, and it adds up quickly.

These fees don’t feel like much on their own. But if you spent £885 abroad during the bank holiday, you may have paid £25–£30 extra in fees, without even realising it.

Where People Are Feeling It Most

According to TallyMoney customer data, the top countries for overseas card usage during the bank holiday were:

  • Ireland
  • United States
  • Spain
  • Netherlands
  • France

These are all destinations where currency exchange plays a role, and where most travellers default to their usual bank card without questioning the cost. You might have thought you were getting a good deal on your getaway, only to find the real cost showed up after you got home.

You’re Not Overspending – Your Bank Is Overcharging

Here’s the truth: most people aren’t reckless with holiday budgets. They’re simply using tools that don’t work in their favour. While many UK current accounts advertise “no monthly fees”, they still quietly charge for foreign usage, especially when it involves currency conversion or ATM withdrawals.

And it’s not just the fees. Traditional currencies themselves are part of the problem.

Why the Pound Isn’t the Best Travel Companion

The pound is a fiat currency, meaning it isn’t tied to any physical asset. Its value fluctuates based on economic policy, government decisions, inflation, and market confidence.

While this system may work for domestic transactions, it’s not ideal for holding or spending money abroad. Pound sterling has been gradually losing purchasing power for years, especially compared to more stable stores of value like gold. Inflation continues to chip away at its strength, which means your travel money is shrinking even before you spend it.

The better option? Spending a currency that holds its value over time, and isn’t subject to the whims of monetary policy.

TallyMoney: Spend Abroad with No Charges, All Year Long

TallyMoney offers something fundamentally different: real, physical gold used as money, held in your name and measured in milligrams. When you spend using your TallyMoney debit Mastercard, the equivalent amount of gold is sold at the global wholesale buy price, and the merchant receives local currency.

No bank middlemen and no fees for international spending.

Here’s how it works:

  • You transfer money into your account which automatically converts into tally (1 tally = 1mg of physical gold)
  • Tally applies a 1.49% gold purchase fee on that
  • You then spend freely at home or abroad, with:
    • No foreign transaction fees
    • No ATM withdrawal fees (up to 3 per day, £250 daily limit)
    • No dynamic currency conversion markups
    • Exchange based on the Mastercard Exchange Rate – fair, simple, and transparent

Gold: The Smarter Way to Spend Abroad

Gold has always been considered a hedge against inflation and a long-term store of value. But in the past, it wasn’t exactly spendable – until now.

TallyMoney turns physical gold into an everyday spending currency. This means:

  • Your holiday money retains its value better than fiat
  • You avoid the common trap of “unwelcome fees”
  • You gain control over your money, regardless of which country you’re in

According to the World Gold Council, gold has outpaced UK inflation over the past two decades. Since 2005, its price in GBP has more than tripled, while the pound has steadily declined in purchasing power. 

For long-term savers and savvy travellers alike, spending in gold makes more sense than ever.

Why This Matters After the Bank Holiday

While most guides talk about how to prepare for a holiday, what you do after you return is just as important. If you’ve just experienced the sting of post-trip bank charges, now is the time to make a change.

Because the truth is, you’re going to travel again. Whether it’s the August bank holiday, half term, or a Christmas market trip, the next time you spend abroad could be fee-free if you use the right tools.

Three Questions to Ask Yourself

  1. Did I pay extra fees just to spend my own money?
    If so, you’re not alone – but you don’t need to repeat the mistake.

  2. Is my bank quietly eroding my holiday budget?
    Many are. And they’re doing it under the radar, with small percentages that add up fast.

  3. Can I actually spend money without using something that keeps losing value? (Looking at you, pounds!)
    Oh, absolutely. With Tally, you’re spending something golden. Literally. One tally equals one milligram of gold – proper solid savings, not flaky fiat.

Final Thoughts: Protect Your Future Travel Money

The May Bank Holiday might be over, but the lesson it taught is just beginning. The way you spend abroad can have just as much impact as where you go. Choosing a tool that’s built for long-term value – and for international use – can save you money and stress.

With TallyMoney, you get:

  • Real, physical gold that you own
  • A Mastercard you can use anywhere
  • Transparent pricing with no international fees
  • A smarter way to protect your holiday spending – all year long

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Real World Examples

  1. Fancy a coffee? Use your TallyMoney Mastercard. Boom – paid. (Yes, you’re buying a flat white with gold. How amazing is that?)

  2. Need cash? Use any Mastercard ATM worldwide or spend across the globe. ZERO fees from us, ZERO markup. (When you spend or withdraw, your gold converts instantly at the global spot price. No catches, no hidden charges – just straight-up Mastercard exchange rates. Because your money shouldn’t cost you… more money.)

  3. Want some money back in your bank? Just tap ‘transfer’ in the app. (Though after a while, you might wonder why you’d want to…)

    Zero faff. Zero waiting. Zero fees when you spend tally.

Meet Cameron Parry

Meet the guy who wouldn’t accept being trapped in a ‘heads they win, tales we lose’ government-run monetary system that protects and benefits the financial institutions, to the detriment of the public. Where people’s deposits are constantly at risk, and losing value through inflation caused by central bankers and politicians.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then frustration may be the roommate’s cousin of motivation. In any case, he decided to stop getting mad and start a new monetary system with sound money. Where deposits serve the depositor, where savings build wealth for savers, and transactions are made in a familiar way. And he called it TallyMoney.

TallyMoney: Gold upgraded

With TallyMoney:

  • Your pounds instantly become physical gold (1 tally = 1mg of real gold)
    Stored in Swiss vaults (not under your bed)
  • Fully insured and allocated (actually yours, not a paper promise)
  • Spend it anywhere with your TallyMoney debit Mastercard
  • Transfer back to pounds instantly if needed (but why would you?)

We’re not anti-bank because it’s trendy. We’re anti-bank because the current system is rigged against you. Every day you leave money in a “savings” account, you’re funding their profits while your wealth evaporates.

Enter gold: the original currency

Why gold? It’s value is universally acknowledged.

  • It’s not controlled by any single government
  • It can’t be printed or manufactured
  • It’s actually scarce 
  • It requires effort to extract it 
  • It doesn’t rust, decay, or disappear
  • It has remarkable properties

So while the pound’s lost 50% of its value since 2004, gold’s grown by 146% in the last decade alone. While your bank savings got mugged by inflation, gold owners were laughing all the way to… well, not the bank.

But here’s the rub: Traditional gold ownership is a right pain. Buy physical bars? Prepare for storage fees that’ll make your eyes water, insurance premiums that never end, and a 5-10% haircut when you need to sell. Plus, try buying your weekly shop with a gold ingot.
Paper gold ETFs? They’re classed as Tier 3 assets for a reason – that’s financial speak for “risky as hell.” You don’t own gold, you own a promise. A tradeable IOU. And when everyone wants their gold at once? Good luck with that. So you’re stuffed either way: real gold that’s impossible to use, or fake gold that might not be there when you need it.
Until now.

The truth about inflation

How? Well, when politicians overspend (and they invariably do), they need more money to ‘stimulate the economy’. But raising taxes makes voters angry. So what do they do? They fire up the money printer, and boy do they love to print. To give you a sense of the scale, since 2015 the Bank of England has created £520bn out of thin air through “quantitative easing” (electronic money printing) plus £86bn in physical currency. 

Thing is, more pounds in circulation = each pound is worth less. Think about it: In 2004, £100 could buy you a decent night out, theatre tickets, and a cab home. Today? That same £100 barely covers the theatre tickets. Your money didn’t disappear – it was diluted, like someone’s been topping up your whisky with water when you weren’t looking.

The “2% inflation target” they bang on about? That’s them telling you they plan to steal 2% of your wealth every single year. And calling it healthy.

How TallyMoney actually works?

  1. First things first: we’ve got actual gold bullion* (none of that paper-promise nonsense) locked up tight in a Brinks vault in Switzerland. Yeah, those Brinks – the security legends who’ve been protecting valuables since Queen Victoria was on the throne.

  2. You send your pounds to your TallyMoney account (bye-bye, inflation-addicted fiat!).

  3. We use the global gold spot price to instantly turn your currency into its weight in gold. No hidden or fuzzy exchange rates, just the real market gold price + 1.49% gold purchase fee.

  4. Each milligram of your physical gold = 1 tally (we keep it decimal because no one wants to faff about with troy ounces – the specific unit for measuring gold).

  5. That’s it! Your app shows your balance in tally, but remember – those aren’t just numbers on a screen. That’s your solid gold, in milligrams, sitting pretty in Switzerland.
  6. You can now save and spend your gold as you see fit.

*All Tally gold is sourced from LBMA-accredited providers because we’re rebels with a cause… and standards. Instead of tracking the gold price per kg, your money is directly converted based on the real-time global gold spot price.

TallyMoney is 
real money

  1. Store of value
    Your gold sits in a Swiss vault (not getting ‘quantitatively eased’ away)
    Evidenced by 5,000 years of holding its value
    Can’t be inflated by government whim and fingers on the ‘currency print’ button
  2. Medium of exchange
    Spendable at 150+ million shops worldwide (thanks, Mastercard)
    Currency converts instantly at market rates (no sneaky margins)
    Moves as quickly as sending a text 
  3. Unit of account
    1 tally = 1mg of gold. Simple
    Stable enough to actually plan your future with
    Speaks every currency’s language (gold’s kind of a big deal everywhere)

This is why TallyMoney is so much more than just owning Gold – it’s a real financial revolution. We’re not just helping you own gold; we’re bringing back what money was always meant to be. Sound Money for a Brighter Future. Because your hard work and wealth deserve better than being slowly robbed by external forces.

We want you to have real money

  1. A store of value:
    Keeps its value over time
    Insulated from devaluation/inflation
    Actually rare and can’t be created out of thin air
  2. Medium of exchange:
    Easy to use for everyday transactions
    Widely accepted
    Can be transferred efficiently
  3. Unit of account:
    Works like a proper value-measuring stick (imagine if your ruler shrunk every year – mad, right?)
    Splits nicely into useful bits
    Reliable enough to plan your future with

Why does this matter? Because your hard work deserves better than being turned into monopoly money by someone else’s actions. Every time your currency loses value (inflation) its stealing from your past work, which harms your present savings, and your future dreams.