Changing Dollars To Pounds - Best Exchange Rate

beatsneedrhymes

By the time I fly back to the UK I will have about $1000 CAN left in my Canadian (CIBC) bank account (I'm surprised it will be anything seeing as I was on minimum wage!) - but will need it in pounds to clear my debts/generally survive.

What do people generally do in this situation? Should I exchange the dollars for pounds in Canada, in the UK, or do a bank transfer? What is generally accepted to be the best method?

I have UK bank accounts with HSBC and Aldermore.

Any help will be much appreciated!

benjus

The cheapest way to exchange money is to do it in cash with another person - so you might be able to sell the Canadian $ to someone directly (e.g. a British person who's just arrived in Canada and needs some $).

If you can't do this:

No idea what cash exchange rates are like in Canada.

Cash exchange in the UK: From http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/buy-back/ it looks like the best-buy exchange places in the UK will take a cut of about 1.5% for Canadian $. If you can't get there in person you'll have to allow for another £8 or so to send the cash via secure delivery.

Bank transfer: http://www.fxcompared.com/Content/money-transfer-from-Canada-UK-below-3000-amount-1000 suggests that using a best-buy FX broker will take a cut of under 1%.

In summary, for the amount of money you're talking about there's not much in it for the best-buy places - but don't just take it to the Post Office or transfer it from bank to bank without checking the exchange rate.

Voyager2002

Use a money broker: the one that I use (xe.com) is based in Canada and does not have fixed fees, so gives very good value for relatively small amounts. Note that you will always get a better deal for a bank balance rather than cash: moving cash around is expensive, and this is reflected in the exchange rate.

zerog

sell it on ebay. I'm not joking.

zagfles

zerog wrote: »

sell it on ebay. I'm not joking.

Yes, there was a thread here a while ago where someone was selling 20 Euro notes for £23 :rotfl: There are some moron buyers on ebay, presumably they get the exchange rate the wrong way round and think 1.15 is a good rate!!

zerog

zagfles wrote: »

Yes, there was a thread here a while ago where someone was selling 20 Euro notes for £23 :rotfl: There are some moron buyers on ebay, presumably they get the exchange rate the wrong way round and think 1.15 is a good rate!!

They need to get money out of fake paypal accounts, or tax evasion. 1.15 is ok if it's delivered to your home and your only alternative is to change at the airport because you live in the sticks.

zagfles

zerog wrote: »

They need to get money out of fake paypal accounts, or tax evasion.

Possible, but then the seller may get a lot of hassle/have their transaction reversed

1.15 is ok if it's delivered to your home and your only alternative is to change at the airport because you live in the sticks.

But not 1EUR for 1.15GBP :eek: Even the airport rates are better than that!!

jessypoppy11

a massive currency war is raged against dollar.Yen to benefit from it the most thereafter CAD and then AUD