Where to exchange pound for yen? Need recommendations please :)

snake282

Hi all,

I am going to Japan in late October to November and was wondering where to exchange?

I'm with tsb at the moment.

The best exchange rate online is travelfx according to mytravelmoney (sorry, can't post links as I'm a new user)

Should I exchange money out there? But does TSB have a 2.99% charge on overseas transactions?

Look forward to your replies.

Thanks in advance,

Owen.

Coraline

Today (27/9/2013)'s closing rate is 158.5 JPY (yen) for GBP (pound) according to xe.com.

What is travelfx offering you to exchange your pounds for yen? (I tried to check but they make you log in to their website to do so, which automatically turns me off).

Rounding up your bank's 3% charge on overseas transactions (I assume this is for cash machine withdrawals from a debit card), would mean for you to withdraw cash from a bank in Japan would mean 1GBP = 162.74 JPY. (are there additional fees on top of the percentage they take for the exchange?)

So, in a nutshell, if travelfx can offer you more than 162.74 JPY for your 1 GBP, then you would come out ahead.

On the contrary, if the rate they offer is less than that amount, then you would be better off by withdrawing from your account at a cash machine in Japan.

snake282

Thanks for your reply Coraline.

Travelfx are using a rate of 156.2 at the moment.

My bank 'tsb' charge:

Debit cards: A non-sterling cash fee of 1.5% of the value of the withdrawal. The minimum charge for each transaction is £2.00 and the maximum charge is £4.50.
---
The amount is converted to sterling on the day it is processed by Visa, using the Visa payment scheme exchange rate. There’s also a non-sterling transaction fee of 2.99%.

How did you get the 162.74?

I can also only get £300 a day out maximum and plan on spending £2000 overall.

What option do you think comes out on top?

Cheers!

Owen

snake282

I just used visaeurope's exchange rate:

Currencies fluctuate every day. The rate shown applies to transactions processed by Visa Europe on 28 September 2013 with a currency conversion fee of 2.99%.

100,000.00 YEN = 650.20 POUND STERLING
* * * * *
1 YEN = 0.006502 POUND STERLING
- Or -
1 POUND STERLING = 153.798831 YEN

I guess travelfx are best option then? As long as they're legit

Voyager2002

Yes, Travelex are legitimate.

However, if you live in or near London you have time to open an account with Metrobank and transfer money into it: there is no fee nor exchange rate loading on cash withdrawals overseas using a Metrobank debit card.

Otherwise, read the guide on this site and apply TODAY: you probably just have time to get a Post Office credit card (use this for spending overseas but not for withdrawing cash) and perhaps some of the other recommended options.

Coraline

snake282 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Coraline.

Travelfx are using a rate of 156.2 at the moment.

My bank 'tsb' charge:

How did you get the 162.74?

I can also only get £300 a day out maximum and plan on spending £2000 overall.

What option do you think comes out on top?

Cheers!

Owen

Thanks for your reply Coraline.

Travelfx are using a rate of 156.2 at the moment.

My bank 'tsb' charge:

Quote:
Debit cards: A non-sterling cash fee of 1.5% of the value of the withdrawal. The minimum charge for each transaction is £2.00 and the maximum charge is £4.50.
---
The amount is converted to sterling on the day it is processed by Visa, using the Visa payment scheme exchange rate. There’s also a non-sterling transaction fee of 2.99%.
Hi Snake,

Ok...it seems to me like with the bank I use for household expenses, yours has "double fees" as well. They're charging you 1.5% to withdraw, then another 2.99% to convert the currency with a "Transaction fee" which make it 4.49% total to withdraw foreign currency, which is a rip off.

Like Voyager mentioned, Metrobank if you can get to London (I think they have several other branches in the surrounding area but not sure) is the way to go, I have a current account with them solely for travel and it's awesome.

I made a maths blunder...and calculated the 162.74 Yen number by multiplying the exchange rate of 158.5 JPY x 1.03 (to tack on 3% based on the fees on your first post).

I did it backwards, and should have multiplied 158.5 JPY x 0.97 to subtract 3% in value due to the fees, which would be 153.75 JPY.

But it's actually ~4.5% fees...so assuming the rate is 158.5 today.... 0.955 X 158.5 = 151.4 JPY.

So if TravelFX is offering 156.2 yen, they're taking a small profit of 2.3 yen per pound, opposed to over 7 yen per pound that your bank would effectively charge.

Since you get 156.2 yen/£ from TravelFX, and your bank would wind up effectively giving you 151.4 yen/£, then it's definitely a better deal to go with exchanging with TravelFX.

Hope that clarifies it...and I don't think I'll ever do calculations after a couple glasses of wine in public again!!

totallybored

If you're in London Thomas exchange off Regent Street normally has decent exchange rates.

When you're in Japan use the ATMs in 7-11s. Maybe I was being thick but I couldn't seem to find one that looked like a normal one in a bank!

snake282

Thanks all for your replies.

Unfortunately I don't live near London so can't go for the Metrobank.

What I decided to do in the end was go for bestforeignexchange who currently have the best pound to yen exchange rate of 157.1

I shall look into getting a debit card with zero loading and withdrawal fees for the future though.

Cheers!

Owen

jaybeetoo

Just read the advice on this web site http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

beowulfthebike

Travel fx ltd ripoff
Like others on this site I have suffered at the dubious conduct and cynical exploitation of customers who entrust Travel FX Ltd with large sums of money, expecting an honest and speedy exchange transaction.
I was unfortunate enough to telephone them on a Thursday for confirmation that, should I order them, would I receive £500 worth of euros by noon the following Monday (cutting it fine I know as we were leaving on the Tuesday morning.
I was assured that I would receive them by pre-noon Recorded Delivery and they proceeded to suggest it would be easier to take my details there and then over the phone.
I'll try to keep this short but basically they withheld the exchange on the grounds that they said they had emailed me to ask for a further £2 and a few pence to round up the amount to make it more convenient to package the euro denominations. I wouldn't have minded at all but I never saw the email and when I rang them after the delivery deadline they said NO they hadn't sent them, NO they wouldn't be sending them and NO I wouldn't get my £500 back in time to purchase euros elsewhere. This disgraceful business practice, which they were obviously well practised in, left me only a few hours to madly arrange to get another £500 and to obtain euros at a far worse exchange rate.
My point is that (a) they could have rounded the transaction down and refunded the difference or (b) provided £500 worth which is what I'd asked for and the order value they'd accepted or (c) telephoned me when the extra £2+ hadn't arrived after a short time. Heaven forbid that they use option (d) which would have been to complete with the rounded up figure and requested the tiny difference after the event.
Any of these would have been what any decent company would have done but no, Travel FX Ltd would rather cause innocent holidaymakers an enormous amount of inconvenience and cost, totally out of proportion to the petty extra £2+ which they said they'd asked for.
Needless to say, they DIDN'T refund my money for several weeks and then had the audacity to charge me £71.02 in, I assume, cancellation fees for an exchange which THEY prevented from completion and reversal fees for changing my £500 back to sterling which is obviously nonsense as they never changed it into euros in the first place. It is really annoying to think that they hold us customers in such contempt that they think we'd accept this type of behavior.
I am not accepting this and took legal advice. They have 14 days to pay the rest and then they'll be dragged through the small claims procedures which, at the very least, will cause them no little inconvenience as I will summons them if they ignore it. I know £71 odd isn't a great deal of money but why should I allow them to take it from me. I hesitate to use the word steal even though that is what I believe it to be.

dzug1

beowulfthebike wrote: »

I'll try to keep this short


.

You've failed dismally


The £71 would have been at least partly the difference between buying and selling rates


What they have done appears to be within their T&C, for better or worse

Where you are buying a minimum quantity (to get a better rate or avoid fees) it's always best to be a little generous in rounding up to avoid things like this.

And never do it over the phone.

And don't waste your court fee.