How to buy travellers cheques or foreign currency

washerdoc

i am going on holiday shortley and i have used travelex for exchanging my money i use internet banking so i make sure that i have sufficient funds in my current account i then go to travelex web site where i change my money with my bank debit card and pick up my currency at the airport on the day that i am trvelling so it saves alot of trouble up to now i have not encured any charges for doing this either from the bank or travelex . i personally would recomend them to any one if any body knows of a better site please let me know

rappius

When I last went to Luton I discovered TTP which was giving a better deal than Travelex. I have just returned from Israel and found that the rate there was substantially better than UK rates at the airport. I haven't tried M & S or the PO.

I generally use my goldfish card for most purchases particularly restaurants and expenses of more than a few pounds and I have found that the rate used to convert my expenditure back UKP's is usually reasonable.

grumbler

rappius wrote:

...I generally use my goldfish card for most purchases particularly restaurants and expenses of more than a few pounds and I have found that the rate used to convert my expenditure back UKP's is usually reasonable.

It looks reasonable until you compare it to the Visa exchange rate that you can get by using Nationwide CC:
http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_ex_rates.jsp?src=look
Spending Overseas: Cut the cost by over 6%

heaven_scent

My nephew in Oz wants cash as a wedding present (don't they all these days!).Does anyone know the best way of sending the money please, to minimise commission and maximise security?

bazzzer

try thompsons cheaper than the post office and m+s

grumbler

heaven_scent wrote:

My nephew in Oz wants cash as a wedding present (don't they all these days!).Does anyone know the best way of sending the money please, to minimise commission and maximise security?

Sending Money Overseas: Moving money large or small

Sending money overseas discussion area

elegy

A few people are confused about using debit/credit cards for buying their money -
All credit card companies treat buying Euros, dollars etc as DRAWING CASH on the card, not buying goods, so they charge both a fixed fee and then interest on your statement - until the payment is cleared so charges will be on 2 months statements..

Using a debit card is the same as using a hole-in-the-wall machine - you pay a disloyalty fee if you use a debit card in a machine other than your banks own machines. Therefore ask the travel agent/bureaux which 'group' of cards their machine covers - 'Visa' group or 'Maestro' group, otherwise there is a charge shown on your bank account for the other one, its not charged by the agent but your bank.

Banks and card issuers will use a rate of exchange for conversion that they set themselves, there is no 'national' fixed rate that they all use, and then some will also add a fixed fee as well. You pay your money and take a chance on what it costs to buy something/draw money, AND whether the rate is rising or falling when your spend is converted affects the cost as well!

grumbler

elegy wrote:

... using a hole-in-the-wall machine - you pay a disloyalty fee if you use a debit card in a machine other than your banks own machines.

This is simply wrong. On very rare ocasions I use my bank own ATMs and I have never been charged.

Banks and card issuers will use a rate of exchange for conversion that they set themselves, there is no 'national' fixed rate that they all use,

This is incorrect too. For non-sterling transactions Visa or Mastercard rates are used. See, for example, http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_ex_rates.jsp?src=look . Banks apply their own fee (usually 2.75%) based on this rate. However, I don't think that purchase of foreign currency in UK is treated as a non-sterling transaction. And the rate is the travel agent's/bureaux' rate, not the bank's or Visa's.

and then some will also add a fixed fee as well

Usually yes, but not all banks do this.

However, you are absolutely right that most people don't know that majority of banks/BS charge 1.5%+ for using debit cards to buy currency. In my post #49 here I tried to draw attention to this fact and suggested this information to be included into the original article.

heaven_scent

grumbler wrote:

Sending Money Overseas: Moving money large or small

Sending money overseas discussion area

Thankyou so much grumbler- looks like Paypal for me!

StockportGerbil

elegy wrote:

A few people are confused about using debit/credit cards for buying their money -
All credit card companies treat buying Euros, dollars etc as DRAWING CASH on the card, not buying goods, so they charge both a fixed fee and then interest on your statement - until the payment is cleared so charges will be on 2 months statements..

Hi!
I thought I'd found this out last month (see posts 166-170 in this thread) but the credit card bill came through and it was treated as just another transaction, i.e. no fixed fee or interest.
I am shortly going to want £1000 worth of travellers cheques and currency - I'm wondering whether to chance it or not.....
Regards
Kev