The Cheapest Way to Spend Overseas Discussion Area

pin

dzug wrote:

The problem with Travelex IIUIC is that although ordering in advance from them gives the best exchange rate, you also have to pay in advance using a credit or debit card and hence get clobbered for cash advance charges that way.

Has anyone done the sums to see if it still makes them best buy?

Probably the case for most credit cards HOWEVER some debit card providers DO NOT charge, such as Nationwide. I have used Travelex a few times with Nationwide and have not had any other extra charges.

crossleydd42

hammy_the_hammer wrote:

please i'm putting this thread back to the top ....pin has gone to the trouble of putting down what i also believe to be the current best ways to obtain currency. to be pedantic if you believe the post office or lloyds tsb offer a better rate than say mark and spencers post up the rates that both are offering.
this question comes up on here nearly every single day and i think pin along with many others are only carrying on contributing because they don't want to see people lose money.

I don't see anything negative in the non-pin posts to cause pin to get upset - (S)he hasn't complained. And many of us start our own (we hope) useful threads elsewhere on the site with useful information. I feel that many of the subsequent contributors have given me a greater grasp of this thread, but give pin full credit for starting it off.

tonyfaestoney

crossleydd42 wrote:

I don't see anything negative in the non-pin posts to cause pin to get upset - (S)he hasn't complained. And many of us start our own (we hope) useful threads elsewhere on the site with useful information. I feel that many of the subsequent contributors have given me a greater grasp of this thread, but give pin full credit for starting it off.

I agree Pin is not upset. Pin had gone to the trouble of providing his definitive list which I would agree with his choices. The reason I believe Pin did this was at the time there were several posts with people saying what a great rate they got at such & such. Some of these rates talked about definitely could have been beaten, hence the list Pin drew up.

I don't think it was the posts on this thread that prompted hammy to pass comment, it was the fact that people were posting other threads stating great rates etc.

Tarquinius

I wanted to open a Nationwide FlexAccount in order to get the cheapest way of withdrawing cash overseas - but Nationwide are being very slow in opening my account.

So I figured the next cheapest way to get cash is to pre-load my Nationwide VISA card with a CREDIT balance. This way, when I use the card to withdraw cash, I'll just pay the 2% cash advance fee and will avoid the 18.9% interest (which would apply from the date of withdrawal to the date I pay the balance off).

Does anyone know of a cheaper way to get o/seas cash?

Tarquinius

Tarquinius

Further to my last post above - I should have mentioned - my only alternatives to get cash abroad are:

* to change money before I go (eg M&S / Post Office etc) - this option. Their rates seem about 3% or 4% worse than the interbank rates, or

* use my First Direct debit card to withdraw cash which has a 2.75% loading I think.

If the Nationwide VISA uses the interbank rates less 2%, then this would seem to be the best rate for cash withdrawals.

Does this make sense?

hammy_the_hammer

crossleydd42 wrote:

I don't see anything negative in the non-pin posts to cause pin to get upset - (S)he hasn't complained. And many of us start our own (we hope) useful threads elsewhere on the site with useful information. I feel that many of the subsequent contributors have given me a greater grasp of this thread, but give pin full credit for starting it off.

let's be quite straight here ...over many threads over many months including this one people pass on the information about the best 'known' deals about buying currency. i know where to obtain my foreign currency but i think i try ( much like others including pin ) to point people in the right direction, as i'd hate to see them lose valuable spending money for nothing. what isn't helpful is where someone posts up a list of the best deals and for example travelex are giving 1.45 euros to the £.. marks and sparks are giving 1.445 euros to the £ and someone then posts you can't beat " the mugshire building society" who are actually only offering 1.40 euros to the £...now some poor so and so reads that as the last post and goes and buys the currency from "the mugshire"...
now if someone disagrees and offers a 'better' place to buy currency put the equivalent rates up on here so people don't go to "the mugshire" unprepared

crossleydd42

tonyfaestoney wrote:

I agree Pin is not upset. Pin had gone to the trouble of providing his definitive list which I would agree with his choices. The reason I believe Pin did this was at the time there were several posts with people saying what a great rate they got at such & such. Some of these rates talked about definitely could have been beaten, hence the list Pin drew up.

I don't think it was the posts on this thread that prompted hammy to pass comment, it was the fact that people were posting other threads stating great rates etc.

Fair enough - thanks for this extra information which makes 'hammy's' post the more understandable.

ManAtHome

Good list Pin, the ones I've used are in the right order anyway.. get it stickied!

Don't forget that you can often get a rate around options 2-4 by changing Sterling at your resort. Perhaps we should have a 'roll of honour' for this - I'd nominate Benidorm (but not for a lot else.. lol).

lympus48

Those who go a lot rarely if ever get Thai currency here as the rate in Thailand is always far, far,better - we usually change in the airport; for example as you exit from the inner area into the outer area where all the people are waiting for friends etc., look rightwards and you see several banks... THAI MILITARY BANK giving commission free on cash usually open 24/7; in Thailand use the high street banks not bureaus or hotels rates displayed everywhere

pin

Seems to be a bit of discussion about the "list". Sorry, have not really had a chance to read all the posts properly yet, have been very busy at work.

This "list" is a "work in progress" and I'm planning to update when I get a chance though.

However I do want to keep is a simple list of options, not one with lots of footnotes explaining one thing or another.