Foreign exchange help

koconnor

Hi All,
I have a problem regarding currency exchange and wondered if any of you can help me out.
I get paid by cheque in pounds sterling, but I lodge my checque into an Irish bank account each month. I dot have to pay for the currency exchange but the value I put in each month varies due to the fluctuation of the value ot sterling to euro.

Do any of you know a more consistent method where I can get the most value for my sterling to euro? Would I be better off lodging into a UK bank account?

Looking forward to reading your comments and thanks in advance.

Kevin

grumbler

It is not clear whether you are a resident of UK or Ireland. If the former, apply for Nationwide flex account with debit or cash card. You can spend your ££ balance without any currency conversion fees either in UK or abroad.

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koconnor

hi,
thanks for that.
I am living and working in the UK but at the moment am putting all my wages, by cheque inot my irish bank account.


If I use the nationwide card do you think it will work out much better for me financially due to exchange rates etc or would it be exactly the same? I can take money from my irish credit card at no cost as long as I have put my own funds into the card, ie the limit is 1200 euro so if i put 400 euro on I can withdraw 400 and not get charged for it...


Looking forward to all your replies folks!


Kevin :j

grumbler

koconnor wrote:

...If I use the nationwide card do you think it will work out much better for me financially due to exchange rates etc or would it be exactly the same?

Much better. The rate you will get is very close to interbank rate (see, for example, http://www.oanda.com/ ).

I can take money from my irish credit card at no cost as long as I have put my own funds into the card, ie the limit is 1200 euro so if i put 400 euro on I can withdraw 400 and not get charged for it...

Yes, you are not charged if you put euro and withdraw euro. If you deposit £ cheque you pay fee and lose on exchange rate. Then, I think, you lose on exchange rate again (about 2.75%) on all UK transactions and pay extra fee if you withdraw money in UK ...

koconnor

So,
If I lodge my cheques into my account here in the uk, and then travel to Ireland and withdraw money, I am charged. But if I make purchases on the card whilst in Ireland I am not charged anything... Am I right?


If so this seems like a good idea.

Are exchange rates the same for each bank in Europe or do they differ?

Thanks for all the help, it is really pointing me in the right direction

Kevin

grumbler

koconnor wrote:

If I lodge my cheques into my account here in the uk

What account?

and then travel to Ireland and withdraw money, I am charged.

Not, if you use Nationwide account and card

But if I make purchases on the card whilst in Ireland I am not charged anything...

With this account you are not charged either for purchases or for withdrawals

Are exchange rates the same for each bank in Europe or do they differ?

Exchange rate is dictated by Visa/Mastercad and is close to the interbank rate. Most of banks charge you fee (usually about 2.75%) based on this rate. Nationwide don't.

innovate

koconnor, the Nationwide debit card is certainly great for withdrawing Euros but you should check whether you can also use it for purchases in Ireland. May well be possible without a problem but I mention it because when I wanted to pay in shops/hotels/restaurants in Germany nobody accepted the card.

My personal favourite for transferring money from a UK current account to a 'euroland' current account (both accounts held by the same person) is Moneybookers . Their rates are very good (ECB rates, basically) and they charge just €1.80 per transaction.

You have a limit of £18K in any 60 day period, though, and a transfer can take up to 7 working days (3-4 days for UK bank to MB, 2-3 days for MB to euro bank). This might lead to loss of interest, so since you don't appear to have a problem with the transfer charges, this might not be the best option for you. Also, you cannot use Moneybookers to transfer from your Euro account to your UK account.

Talking about interest: wouldn't you do better in the UK? If I understand correctly, interest rates across all Euro countries are much lower than what you can get in the UK. How much does your Irish current account pay?

cheerfulcat

I'm a bit puzzled as to why you are paying your salary into a Euro account. If your pay and expenses are in pounds sterling it would seem to make more sense to keep your salary in a UK bank account; especially since you are losing out with both the exchange rate *and* the interest rate ( last time I looked the best Euro rates were around 2.5% ).

You almost certainly are paying for the conversion, btw; they may not take a stated commission but you'll probably find the exchange rate allows a little extra for the bank...if you need access to the funds in Ireland at some later point you can always move the money over in a lump. You'll get a better exchange rate that way - in fact, depending on the size of the lump, you can request " custom " rates.

al_yrpal

innovate wrote:

May well be possible without a problem but I mention it because when I wanted to pay in shops/hotels/restaurants in Germany nobody accepted the card.

QUOTE]

Germany is still very much a cash economy and they hate any sort of cards. I have used VISA cards in Germany for years (the Flexaccount card is a VISA DEBIT card), with no problems at all.

innovate

al_yrpal, it's going a bit off-topic to discuss payment methods in Germany in this thread. I originally just posted something about Germany as an example of the NW debit card not being accepted abroad as readily as some other MSE postings suggest, and recommended that koconnor checks out the situation in Ireland before relying on it.

But I hope the OP won't mind if I respond to your post.

You are telling me little new - except that any non-german DEBIT card (VISA or whatever) should be accepted anywhere in Germany.

I have tried UK debit cards umpteen times in Germany, and I travelled from Cologne all the way to Switzerland in just the last 3 weeks. I made a special point during this trip trying to pay with the Nationwide debit card whenever there was something to be paid (in Germany mainly, but we also tried it at a petrol station in Switzerland).

I didn't count it, but I must have tried at least a two dozen times. Not one single time was the card accepted - either the cashier said "Nein danke" (or something to that effect) or the machine refused the card. My SAGA VISA credit card (no charge in Europe) came to the rescue every time - which I think is major progress because credit cards used to also be only accepted sparingly. 2 cash withdrawals with the Nationwide card worked great, both in Germany and Switzerland.

May be I was just unlucky, but I would certainly not rely on the Nationwide debit card as my only method of payment, anywhere on the planet.

BTW - I also have had problems using VISA Debit cards, from Citibank, Cahoot and Nationwide, on the Internet when I made dollar or euro, or even GBP, purchases. This includes the Cahoot Webcard. This was on all sorts of websites, definitely not just german ones (who more often than not don't accept any cards, for starters).

Back to the original subject now: do you happen to know whether you can use the Nationwide debit card for purchases in Ireland?