WHO said exchange is no robbery? FOREIGN exchange is an absolute rip-off!

Millions of Brits heading abroad are being fleeced by wallet-looting currency RATES and outrageous hidden card CHARGES.

A News of the World investigation today names and shames the worst purse pillagers - and our chart (below) points you to the best.

The average holidaymaker going to the Eurozone swaps over £400. At the moment, that buys 462 Euros from internet cashcard firm FairFX but just 408.32 from the Luton Airport ICE (International Currency Exchange) desk - a staggering difference of more than 10 PER CENT!

Thanks to mean buy-back rates the biggest raid on your holiday cash comes if you try to swap the leftovers back into sterling.

This week if you converted £400 into US dollars at Birmingham Airport Travelex and then instantly changed it back to sterling you'd have lost a whopping £104.11! And promises of "zero commission" often mask rubbish exchange rates.

Most people think credit cards the cheapest way to spend abroad because the exchange rate is one of the best. But nearly all card firms sneakily add "loading fees" of about 2.75 per cent. The best are the Santander Zero card and the Post Office credit card, both with NO loading fees on worldwide spending.

Preloaded cash travel cards can be a good deal. FairFX offer top rates on dollar and Euro pin- protected Mastercards, with NO transaction fees.

FairFX's Stephen Heath warned: "Many consumers are wasting an awful lot of money."

Martin Lewis, Britain's money saving expert says...

THERE are six cards from hell to avoid spending on overseas - the surprising thing is they're DEBIT not CREDIT cards.

So if you bank with LloydsTSB, Halifax, RBS, NatWest, If and Abbey - watch out. Like almost all cards, they add a loading fee and charge for withdrawing cash abroad - but those six also add a 'penalty' of £1 to £1.50 on every purchase. Buy something costing just a fiver's worth of Euros and you'll pay £6.50. So NEVER EVER use these cards abroad.

And if you want currency NEVER buy it at the airport - you'll get the worst rates. I've built a comparison service - www.travelmoneymax.com - to find you the best deal in seconds. Finally, if a shop abroad asks if you want to pay in Euros or pounds, always say Euros, otherwise the shop does the conversion and the rate is terrible.

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• The Flight Stuff

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