Getting a better deal than the Money Expert Advice

bencat

I am going to Spain today and checked the Money Expert for the best currency deal which as I needed to collect was Tesco at 1.174.

I know it says that the high street is not the best place to buy but as after a little walk to a few shops I came across Thomson's offering 1.18 but you had to change £1000. However between myself and my wife we needed to change £1450 and they agreed to do this as one transaction with us both paying our share with our debit cards and gave us 1.185 . As we both use HSBC debit cards they do not charge for currency purchase it is s good deal.

I know that often on line is best but I am sure if you are going on holiday with friends if you all go together and do it as one transaction then you can agree a better deal for you all . Check that the bureau can process it as one buy and let you pay your part on individual debit cards or even all just take the cash along and then divide it up later. The more you change in one transaction the better the exchange rate they will offer so if it is big group you could get even better rates.

ailuro2

It changes all the time though...... online using MSE tool you can get nearly 1.182 now, no £1000 minimum.

I agree you should keep an eye out for local deals though... if you're passing that way anyway.


Worth noting though if you're going to think an extra 0.005 cents is worth looking out for... the XE.com visa exchange rate today is 1.2005, therefore if you hadn't have left it till the day you went on your hols you could have used a fee free credit card for the majority of your spending and got the business rate posted on XE, thereby saving nearly 2 cents in every Euro spent;)

photome

The OP will also get charged a cash advance fee ( not mentioned in his post)

Donnie

In fact all good Bureau de Change will negotiate. Use to do it all the time. But of course these days there are better ways than running around with wads of foreign currency.