Question of the Week: When should I buy my foreign currency?

luci

https://www.comparetravelmoney.co.uk

horse54101

Got to tell all, bought a Fairfx euro currency card on the advice if MSE.
I have used the PO equivalent in the past. Post Office card OK but impossible to contact anyone who could help when I had queries. They also misled us as to what to do about refunding unused money and messed up on process.Of course I complained after 3 months without an answer and they ended up paying compo!!

Highly recommend the fairfx for convenience, transparency, ease of use and decent exchange rates. No problem loading the card by text whilst away, and prompt replies to queries on their website and a very clear statement of spending on my account.

Having read the way banks rip us off I am delighted.

By the way, also managed to pay a foreign utility bill for my mother using the card, which saved a fortune on exchange rates/cheques/bank charges!!:T

Ouchtheygotme

Dollar going down this week and according to Sovereign Society the FDIC is now unable to fund a bank run. I am out of $ and into Eoros big time.

Ouchtheygotme

Dollar going down this week and according to Sovereign Society the FDIC is now unable to fund a bank run. I am out of $ and into Euros big time.:D

techno12

If you're going to Prague get the bulk of your money over there. I have just returned and was shocked to see that most if not all of the street Cambio/Exchange outlets were offering to buy pounds for a rate much higher than the best I could achieve in the UK (which was Travelex, picking it up at Brum airport on the way out).

I know rates fluctuate, but one was offering 29.9 kc to the pound. The online Travelex rate that day was 27.4 kc. I didn't use one however, as I'd managed to make my £100 last the 3 days anyway, so there may have been caveats.

Just shows that maybe it's not always the wise move to get your money in advance in the UK!

<Edit> Just discovered that Barclays have slapped a £2 charge on my Travelex transaction, so I definitely won't ever be ordering money in advance over the internet again!

hearts

I'm off to SA for The World Cup next year and am considering changing my money now. My reasoning is that, SA will want to have a low exchange rate to increase income from the tourists. Is this possible? I don't know anything about currency markets so have no idea if a country can influence it's exchange rate.
Please feel free to give an opinion.

Lehman

I think pound is cheapest these days and if you are going to buy pounds, buy them now. If you need euros wait a while

Baldur

hearts wrote: »

I'm off to SA for The World Cup next year and am considering changing my money now. My reasoning is that, SA will want to have a low exchange rate to increase income from the tourists. Is this possible? I don't know anything about currency markets so have no idea if a country can influence it's exchange rate.
Please feel free to give an opinion.

Nobody can predict with any certainty what will happen to exchange rates tomorrow, much less in a year's time. If you look at the graph HERE, you'll see how volatile exchange rates can be.

The last time I visited South Africa, the rate was around 16 Rand to £1.

Lehman

Nobody can predict 100%, but there are fundamentals that give historical trend and probability. For example, GBP is said to be oversold and the only expectation for it is to go up. Bank of Englad is also the first one expected to increase rates, which usually increases the value of the currency.

alfe

how many people do you hear saying
i went to post office /travel agents etc saying they got travel money commision free.
It is not commision free. It is the tourist rate which is completely different from the actual exchange rates.
The commision has already been charged.
I use No 1 currency over hear or i wait until i go abroad where you get the current exchange rate (not tourist rate) - 2%
Last year Aug 08 rate was 1.18 euro to pound - 2%= approx 115.6 euros
travel agents were offering 111.4 on average/ banks 1.09
just keep your eye ceefax page 200 as a good guide for abroad