Thailand - best to get US or GBP Travellers Cheques?

Voyager2002

EagerLearner wrote:

Thanks Richard but we don't fancy carrying all that cash around and / or paying a withdrawal fee each time we need cash. Plus we don't know that each place we go to will have an ATM, whereas travellers cheque exchange shops seem to be more of a cert...

Travellers Cheques would be the most convenient as we could cash one in when we needed it?

I'm open to suggestions, we just want to pay lowest fees possible.

I travel a lot, and the last time I used travellers' cheques was 1998!

When I was in Thailand in Summer 2005 there were ATMs everywhere, even on the little island (Kho Samet) where my OH and I went to get away from it all.

With the Nationwide flex account there are no fees for foreign cash withdrawals, and if you are nervous about carrying lots of cash then make sure that your travel insurance covers a reasonable amount of cash. (I used to bank with First Direct and used their travel insurance, which offered plenty of cover. I think I once had a claim for cash and I don't remember any difficulties getting them to pay out.)

Oh: if you still want to take TCs then do check out Marks and Spencer's.

Hope you have the wonderful holiday that you so richly deserve.

EagerLearner

Thanks guys, I am grinning with excitement at the prospect of having to make such a difficult decision for once - ooooh, will it be dollars or pounds? Ooooh - cash or Travellets cheques? Rather than court related decisions...:beer:

I don't think I have enough time to open the Nationwide account as we leave on 16th Dec - shame, should have thought about that one earlier - doh, bad moneysaver!:doh:

Donnie

prudryden wrote:

EL -
Just so you know. The exchange rate between the £ and the Baht is a function of each currencies exchange rate against the dollar. When you convert £ into any other currency, it first goes thru the dollar and then into the other currency. Banks don't show you this transaction. So, in theory, it shouldn't matter. But, because you are a £ resident, the point made above about returning to the Uk with $ TC and then converting back to £ is a good one.

Useless post. Sorry, but it's true.

If she bought US$ TCs, she would receive them at an unfavourable exchange rate. The spread would certainly be more than the 0% to 1.5% she would pay for Sterling TCs.
So she would be losing out there.
For example; Travelex has an exchange rate of US$1.8953 for £1000 worth of TCs. Compare that with the rate on https://www.xe.com of US$1.96.

That's a 3% loss straight away. Plus any losses sustained when changing unused cheques in the UK.

Donnie

EagerLearner wrote:

Thanks guys, I am grinning with excitement at the prospect of having to make such a difficult decision for once - ooooh, will it be dollars or pounds? Ooooh - cash or Travellets cheques? Rather than court related decisions...:beer:

I don't think I have enough time to open the Nationwide account as we leave on 16th Dec - shame, should have thought about that one earlier - doh, bad moneysaver!:doh:

Unless you are getting the TCs for free or at a very reduced price, I would stick with American Express. I have heard of some places not accepting VISA cheques.

prudryden

I agree. It was a wasted post. It was for information only. No apologies necessary. What should happen when you exchange £ TC vs. Baht - the dealer will take the £ thru the $ and then into the Baht. You will not see that transaction unless they wish to show it to you. Here in the UK, some institutions do show it e.g. Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs. So, in essence, either way you go should cancel each other out. But, I did agree with you, it would be cleaner to take £ TC's.
I noticed the link you sent gave the cross rates - the cross rate is a function of each currency vs. the USD. E.Q. take the cross rate of the GBP VS AUD. Then take each currency's rate vs. the USD and divide by each other - BINGO the cross rate.

Donnie

Erm.... What on earth? You seem to be completely ignoring the different spreads applied. The spread that you receive from Travelex et al differs from the spread that you receive from VISA, which differs from the rate offered by Thai banks who sometimes differ from each other.
Which is why we spend time looking for the best combination.

Are you just bored today?

Donnie

EagerLearner wrote:

Thanks guys, I am grinning with excitement at the prospect of having to make such a difficult decision for once - ooooh, will it be dollars or pounds? Ooooh - cash or Travellets cheques? Rather than court related decisions...:beer:

I don't think I have enough time to open the Nationwide account as we leave on 16th Dec - shame, should have thought about that one earlier - doh, bad moneysaver!:doh:

BTW, there might be enough time to open a Flexaccount if you pop into a branch. That way you can present all of the papers straight away.
If it doesn't arrive in time, there's nothing lost.

I'll be there too, so if you have a problem, drop me an email.

prudryden

What do you mean by spread? Are you referring to the markdown/markup of the exchange rate which is what the traders take as commission? You quoted $1.96 USD/GBP spot rate and then $1.89+ by dealer = 700 pips. If that is what you meant - yes I ignored that because I have no idea what will be taken on the Thai side - but it will probably be double to offset going from £ to $ to THB. Using your link £1000 = 70,604 THB, or £1000=$1,969 =70,655 THB. Same result.
As I said before, El should probably take £TC's if they are as readily convertable, as others have pointed out, as $TC's. The downside of $TC is when you return and you have to do another conversion.
Try and be a little nicer. There is no argument here.

Donnie

I should have put more 'smileys' in my posts.

But I still don't see the point of your posts.

Donnie

Ok, let's follow your logic here.

Following your logic, if we changed our £s to US$ TCs and then changed them to baht in Thailand, It would be the same as just taking the £TCs to Thailand and then changing them there.
(Of course I quoted a 'Spot' rate against a UK dealer rate. How else would the consumer buy US$?)

Take this example; http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+Bank/Web+Services/Rates/FX+Rates.htm

The buying rate for US$1 TCs is 35.80baht against the https://www.xe.com rate of 35.8887 baht. A difference of around a 0.25%.
The buying rate for £1 TCs is 69.775 baht against the https://www.xe.com rate of 70.54 baht. A difference of around 1.1%.

You've already paid 3% for your US$ cheques, so that adds up to 3.25%.
Even if you pay max 1.5% for your Sterling TCs, that's 2.6% off the xe.com 'spot' rate.
That's without taking into account having to change unused US$ back once in the UK.

It's a much worse situation if you take cash as you get hit with a poorer exchange rate if you change bills less than US$50. This doesn't apply to the £.

The lesson here is, don't convert outside your currency unless you have to do so.