Ordering holiday money in small denominations

zagfles

stephb34 wrote: »

That rate was last Thursdays it has risen since then.

The Mastercard rate last Thursday was 21.436972. https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/index.html

19.96 is 7.4% worse.

I was merely stating its not very often you get small notes out of cash machines abroad

Depends how much you take out. Or if you do get large notes and the bank is open, just nip in and change them. I've done this a few times, never had a bank refuse.

or normally when you order off the internet. At the end of the day some people actually like to support the high street, we've enough charity shops on our high street.

More like people are too gullible to realise what they're being charged. I reckon all money changers should be forced to use the interbank rate, and then declare a commission charge (of whatever they want).

Wonder how many people will support high street money changers when they see "7% commission" advertised.

benjus

stephb34 wrote: »

At the end of the day some people actually like to support the high street, we've enough charity shops on our high street.

I like to support the high street too. I do so when the high street differentiates itself in some way from other channels (e.g. better service, bespoke items, etc) or if I need goods now and cannot wait for a delivery.

However, deliberately paying over the odds for an identical product/service just to support the high street is ridiculous. These are businesses, not charities.

peachyprice

stephb34 wrote: »

At the end of the day some people actually like to support the high street, we've enough charity shops on our high street.

It's possible to use the high street and get good rates, usually by avoiding Thomas Cook.

agrinnall

benjus wrote: »

...and ATMs usually dispense small denominations.

Not when I took out 1 million Vietnamese Dong on my first day in HCMC only to find the ATM giving me two 500,000 Dong notes .

When I worked on the RBS Travel Money system, back in the days when you placed your order over the counter in branch and received your money a day or two later, the system would allow the teller to specify the denominations the customer required, although it was never really publicised so I was probably one of the few people who ever did it. However, I don't think Mexican Pesos was one of the available currencies at that time (we're talking 15 years ago) and the system has been completely rewritten since then so they've probably removed the facility anyway.

stephb34

peachyprice wrote: »

It's possible to use the high street and get good rates, usually by avoiding Thomas Cook.

I suppose it depends where you live because in our town Thomas Cook beats all the banks, the post office and Thomsons, we don't have any supermarkets selling currency or any money exchanges.