Extra expense when making cross-border payments or taking out money while abroad have for a long time been a huge consumer headache and often an outright example of remaining borders in a supposedly single market.

In 2001, the EU listened to the lobbying of BEUC and others by regulating cross-border payments in euro. The basic principle being that your bank can only charge you the same amount for transactions and withdrawals within the EU irrespective of whether they are national or cross-border. It applies to all electronically processed payments, including credit transfers, direct debits, cash withdrawals at ATMs, payments by means of debit and credit cards, and money remittance.

For example, if you have a bank in Spain and take out cash from an ATM while on holiday in Germany, your bank cannot charge you more than it does at national level. So if nationally it is for free, it should also cost nothing when cross-border!