How to buy travellers cheques or foreign currency

Yorkieds

Small amount of Euros for the obvious needs, ie those payments that will not accept plastic.

Everything else on Liverpool and Victoria, Credit Card.

You get the bank rate not the tourist rate.
Your money (£) stays in your interest bearing account.
You get 54 days free credit.
Pay off upon receipt of your statement.

As a regular visitor to Spain, Martins advice saves me around 2.5% commision and 5.5% interest on the cash.

Yorkieds ;D

nettles

I have been looking, and the best I can find at the mo is 1.4289 at the post office, 1.457 at m&s, 1.46 at currency express and 1.4601 at travelex.

Allexie

good old M & S for me!

Greenstuff_2

https://www.currency-express.com
I used them and they were brilliant, they had the best exchange rate I found and no commission, no charge for credit or debit card (although they remind you that your issuer might make a charge).
I ordered it on the internet and my Euros turned up the next day by special delivery (no charge).
They had a clear exchange rate and no hidden extra's.

superhoop

If you're flying and you want cash euros, I have used https://www.travelex.co.uk many times and find it the best service.

In my view they have the best rates (and guarantee them). They don't charge a cash advance fee if you pay by Switch/Maestro.

You turn up on the day and show your passport at the Travelex kiosk and you get the dosh. Simple as pie.

At Luton the Travelex kiosk is easy to find landside, and is open 5am - 10pm. I have also used it at Stansted with success.

(No I don't work for them!)

Steve

halloumi_2

I see that nothing has been posted on this thread since 28th Oct and I was interested in seeing if there were any gems here like all the others on this site

Anyway, I just thought I let you know that if you live in London and are in the vicinity of Earls Court then there's a couple of places that charge no commision and who's rates can't be bettered. I think it must have something to do with the amount of tourist in the area and the amount of sterling they sell ???

There are two of them (business must be great :P), they are called 'Raffles' and they can be found a couple of hundred yards in either direction of Earls Court tube station.

MarkyMarkD

I always use Travelex and they are always the cheapest.

Buy ONLINE not at their offices and it's always commission free. Pay on a Switch card and there's no credit card charges. (I actually always buy on a credit card (because I don't have a Switch card) but the Nationwide charge is only 1.5% and it's STILL cheaper than elsewhere including the Post Office).

As Martin says, the only answer that matters is "how many Euros do I get for every £1 out of my account". Even if you have to factor in a 1.5% credit card charge, that's easy enough.

1.40 EUR:£1 less 1.5% is 1.379 EUR:£1 which is better than 1.37 EUR:£1 "commission free" at the Post Office. (Those are the actual approximate figures from when I bought a few weeks ago).

Travelex also allow you to specify "small" "mixed" or "large" notes on their website - if you ended up with all 200 EUR notes, you must have selected large in error / by default. We always go for "small".

Stickems

M&S is fine for buying foreign exchange but if you need to sell some back to them they take a hefty 6.5% cut on the difference between buying and selling. They don't shew their buying rates on their web site, they offer commission free transactions. This was most unexpected from M&S.

MarkyMarkD

Everyone who does "commission free" currency makes money on the turn between buy/sell rates. They aren't doing it for charity, you know!

nmealey

I agree with martins advice regarding spending on your credit card, giving better rates, but with the US $ at 1.82 to the £ I can get $2000 for £1093.02 at travelex. Tis is guaranteed. I'm not going to the satates until late august, and cant say what I will get my money for at that time.

If the rate goes to $1.70 to £1 then I get $1858.10 for my £1093.02 - a difference of $141.90 which I would not have accrued in interest had I left it in the bank.

Does it still make sense to pay on CC. I don't think so unless I have missed something, which I usually do !

Neil