Cheap Travel Money Discussion Area

DJFearRoss

Going to Spain? Say NO if cash machines offer to let you pay for Euros in Pounds

I would also like to remind people that these scams are meant to confuse you, unethical i know, but what they do now is first say, "press no" for euros and press "yes" for pounds sterling. Then underneath they put the YES button first and the NO button second. ie. not in the order stated. I know it sounds easy to follow here, but make sure you double check when your using their machines.

bob_a_builder

And of course hotels abroad like to cash in on this one too, when checking out many of them ask would you like the bill in Pounds or Euros - I've never actually asked about their exchange rate but I'm sure it will be heavily skewed in their favor.
I travel quite a bit on business, and this happens in all sorts of hotels

bettz

Hi I'm going Cyprus in a few weeks and was wondering if its best to change my money before i go?.Ive used Martins Travel Money Maximiser and its showing that Thomas Exchange Global is offering the best rate at the moment.Ive got a Nationwide Flexi account though so would it be best to take some Euro's with me and just use the cash points or will i get a better rate using the Thomas Exchange Global?

dzug1

bettz wrote: »

Hi I'm going Cyprus in a few weeks and was wondering if its best to change my money before i go?.Ive used Martins Travel Money Maximiser and its showing that Thomas Exchange Global is offering the best rate at the moment.Ive got a Nationwide Flexi account though so would it be best to take some Euro's with me and just use the cash points or will i get a better rate using the Thomas Exchange Global?

If you use your Nationwide card in Cyprus the rate will be better (by 2 or 3%) than Thomas Exchange.

bettz

Thanks for replying so its best to exchange a little amount of money then withdraw the rest when we need it over there & we'll get a better rate than Thomas?

scarlet_macaw

rfburke wrote: »

Does anyone know which bank is best when transferring money between bank accounts in two different countries and currencies. i.e sterling to euro. Or are they much of a muchness?

It depends on how much you are exchanging. Small amounts (up to about £2000 ) will be at a rate only slightly better than the cash rates;

for medium sums the banks will all give you a similar 'commercial' rate, at these levels any difference will be lost in the rounding and may be outweighed by the difference in transfer fees - but ask first or they may give you the small transaction rate;

for large amounts, speak to the specialists; they are really geared for people transferring money to buy houses etc, but will normally quote for amounts over about £10000.

benjus

Could I just say that the details given for the Caxton FX card are misleading.

Saying that it has 0% loading is inviting direct comparison with credit/debit cards which do apply a loading. However, the credit/debit cards are loading on the Visa/Mastercard rate, whereas CaxtonFX is using a rate of its own choosing. This is therefore an invalid comparison.

Instead of talking about loading, surely it makes more sense to talk about "spread on the mid-market rate". For credit and debit cards this is essentially the same as the loading (for major currencies at least). For the CaxtonFX card this would be the ratio of their exchange rate relative to the mid-market rate - roughly 1.5% based on today's EUR rate.

If you don't want to put an actual figure on the article, I suggest that you avoid mentioning "loading" at all when discussing the CaxtonFX card.

artfult

Help!! I'm confused!

I'm going over to Spain with my gf in a few weeks and she has a Nationwide debit card, so we are considering pre loading spending money into her account. I realise this may be a cheap way of doing it but how do you know what exchange rate you get???

If I were to transfer, say £500 into the account how much would I be able to draw out in Euros when I'm in Spain?

Does it depend on the exchange rate on that particular day? If so, surely I could get a better rate by changing it all into Euros before I go!

Can anyone explain?

Thanks in advance!!

benjus

artfult wrote: »

Help!! I'm confused!

I'm going over to Spain with my gf in a few weeks and she has a Nationwide debit card, so we are considering pre loading spending money into her account. I realise this may be a cheap way of doing it but how do you know what exchange rate you get???

If I were to transfer, say £500 into the account how much would I be able to draw out in Euros when I'm in Spain?

Does it depend on the exchange rate on that particular day? If so, surely I could get a better rate by changing it all into Euros before I go!

Can anyone explain?

Thanks in advance!!

The exchange rate used is the Visa rate (http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp) - put zero in the "Bank Fee" box.

It does vary from day to day, so it is possible that you would get a better rate by changing money in advance. However, there are two points against this:
1. The exchange rate could move in the other direction, meaning that you get a much worse rate by changing money in advance
2. A bureau de change will make a charge for exchanging (typically 2-5%), while the Nationwide card does not charge anything. So exchange rates would have to move by more than the amount charged by the Bureau de Change for it to be worthwhile.

So if you can change the money in advance at 3% spread, and the Euro strengthens against the pound by more than 3% while you are away, it is better to exchange money in advance than to use the Nationwide card. IMO that's a big "if" - especially as the pound has recently strengthened slightly against the Euro.

Bottom line - it's generally best just to stick with the Nationwide card. Work out how many Euros you have in the account at the exchange rate just before you go, then try to leave a small amount in the account so that you don't go overdrawn. A big shift in the exchange rate while you are away is not particularly likely, but keep an eye on the exchange rates for big movements if you are worried.

JudyM_3

rfburke wrote: »

Does anyone know which bank is best when transferring money between bank accounts in two different countries and currencies. i.e sterling to euro. Or are they much of a muchness?

No they certainly aren't much of a muchness - to transfer between accounts, use a foreign currency exchange company (I'm with First Rate FX here in France: www.firstratefx.com ), as (a) the transfers are FREE and (b) the rates are much better and (c) you can transfer money same day within Europe, next working day ROW. Their minimum amount for a one off transfer is around £1000, although they will do monthly payments (eg for mortgage txfr) for less than this.

You will save around 4% against the High St banks. FX companies make their money (as the banks do) by taking a portion of the difference between buying and selling the currencies. But they take a MUCH smaller amount than the banks, which is why banks post such huge annual profits!