Help needed - exchange rates

mickey54

Hope there is someone ( or a few) who can help. I am going off on holiday, and the exchange rate is terrible. Please advise if I am better biting the bullet and getting my currency here. Buying in Canada - or, using my debit card when I am away for everything... If I use my credit/debit card, do I get a better rate?

I think my bank (Halifax) charge for withdrawal in foreign currancy.

Thanks in advance

dzug1

Unless you can get an exceptionally good rate here (which means not on the High Street and not at the airport - have a read through the currency section in the travel and transport section linked at the top of this page) then using your Halifax card wisely is likely to be the least bad option. Yes its charges are bad - but so are those applying on the High Street here.

You will get a (much) better rate with your debit card - most of that better rate will disappear in charges though

You will get an awful rate if you just walk into the PO, Thos Cook, etc, here. No overt charges (they all scream NO COMMISSION at you), but an awful rate

scottishblondie

I would never use my Halifax cards abroad unless it was an emergency, the fees are terrible. When I go away I get currency from the Halifax, ordered online and paid for from my current account, and keep cash in a Nationwide Flexaccount for any withdrawals I need to make whilst I am away (used to be free, now only free in Europe I think).

glider3560

scottishblondie wrote: »

I would never use my Halifax cards abroad unless it was an emergency, the fees are terrible. When I go away I get currency from the Halifax, ordered online and paid for from my current account, and keep cash in a Nationwide Flexaccount for any withdrawals I need to make whilst I am away (used to be free, now only free in Europe I think).

Nationwide FlexAccount is definitely the best account for use abroad, even with the new 1% fee.

Halifax charge £1.50 per debit card transaction, plus they have a 2.75% exchange rate loading. You'd be incredibly naive to use this card abroad for anything but an emergency. As a comparison, HSBC don't have the £1.50 charge for debit card transaction but they do charge for ATMs (not sure of the exact fee) and still load the exchange rate by 2.75%.

RHB

I travel to Canada about twice a year, and have previously found you get much better rates buying from TD/Scotia Bank/CIBC than even the best rates over here. However I just ran it on the travel money thing and in C.London you can get something like 1.53-4 right now. As an example TD will give you 1.52 (FX rates on their website), which apart from being 25% down on the CAD:GBP rate in Summer 2008 ain't so bad. Additional $5 fee if you don't take an account holder with you changing over there generally, but they've waived this at least half the time without me asking.

dzug1

scottishblondie wrote: »

. When I go away I get currency from the Halifax, ordered online and paid for from my current account,/

Yes - but do you know what you are paying for that in fees (OK none) and exchange rate loading (I'd guess around 5%). That's not a lot different from the fees for using the card overseas - in fact slightly worse for other than small transactions.

dzug1

glider3560 wrote: »

Nationwide FlexAccount is definitely the best account for use abroad, even with the new 1% fee.

Halifax charge £1.50 per debit card transaction, plus they have a 2.75% exchange rate loading. You'd be incredibly naive to use this card abroad for anything but an emergency. As a comparison, HSBC don't have the £1.50 charge for debit card transaction but they do charge for ATMs (not sure of the exact fee) and still load the exchange rate by 2.75%.

HSBC charge a higher ATM fee than Halifax

Halifax £1.50 flat rate - purchase or ATM
HSBC ATM fee 2% min £1.75, max £5 though waived with certain accounts

Edit - having looked through the list - Halifax are in fact the best of the major banks for overseas cash withdrawals

But yes Nationwide still wins, every time.