MSE News: The pound hits €1.40, should you buy now for the summer?

bigpat

In the footnote of his Euros editorial, Martin said "Interest rates are the price of money, if you drop the price, there is less demand... "

I think he's put the cart before the horse there. Dropping the price of something is designed to encourage demand which is why businesses have sales.

Did he mean "there is less demand, so the price has dropped"?

busylizzy57

Please can you tell me where I can get 1.40 euros to the £?

SaveTheEuro

busylizzy57 wrote: »

Please can you tell me where I can get 1.40 euros to the £?

Any cash machine in Euroland, using a fee-free card.

Pincher

adindas wrote: »

How do they convert it when you open transfer you £ to Euro. What convertion rate do they use ?? Their own, how good it is ??

https://www.caterallen.co.uk/euro-bank-account-for-individuals

rolo1_2

Any-one given any thought to the new travelex supercard due to launch in April? - seems a good fee-free option.
https://www.supercard.io/

AlexMac

busylizzy57 wrote: »

Please can you tell me where I can get 1.40 euros to the £?

Well, if you lived in London, late on Wednesday 11th, and til about 9.30am on Thursday you could have got it by pre-ordering online and walking in with cash or your debit card and Passport to the best of the bureaux identified here, on the MSE website - http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/holiday-money/

I did- well, nearly! In fact, I left it til late on the 12th, by which time the Euro had strengthened imperceptibly and so, I only got 1.39-odd, so 700 Euros cost me 2 quid-odd more than the £500 they'd have cost that morning! Swiz...

So, given that my holiday ain't til May, have I bought too soon? only time will tell. So will:

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=EUR&view=1W

BUT, given that the E700 cost me £50 less than they'd have cost in January when the rate was 1.27 and a stonking £90-odd less than I actually paid in Sept 2013 when it was 1.175, who cares if it gets a bit better; in effect, that's two free hotel nights in Spain compared to 2013!

Ole

Pincher

adindas wrote: »

+ your £5000 sit there earning interest next to nothing = Poor Decision.

You are thinking in terms of free banking for a sterling account, which is a loss leader unless you pay for overdraft etc.


It seems to be a half way house for people who don't reside in Europe, but has EUROs coming in.


If I was an interpreter, and I lived in Strasbourg, I would have a EURO account in France already. Now, let us say there are lots of work in London, and the income tax is cheaper than France (thank you Mr. Hollande), so I live in London, but I still have lots of work in Europe (thank you Ryanair and Easyjet), and the clients expect to pay in Euros. Need a bank account for them to pay into.


I wonder whether it applies to high class escorts, too?
Payments from "European Entertainment Services"?

benjus

I have a basic Euro account in France with Credit Agricole (Britline) registered to my UK address with customer service in English. Costs me €0.60 / month. I don't have a debit card - this would cost about €20 / year extra IIRC. Quite a bit less than the interest you could get on £5000 over a year in a cash ISA - the effective cost of having the money languishing in a Cater Allen account.

I've read on here that DKB bank in Germany offers a free Euro account that can be registered to UK addresses, but haven't verified that.

eDicky

Many banks have a branch in Jersey, offering accounts in GBP, USD and EUR, with attached debit card in each currency. Part of UK system for direct debits, free transfers etc. I have been with Santander there for 25 years (was originally Cater Allen then Abbey International), without ever visiting the island. Zero interest these days, but no charges for accounts and cards if you keep a minimum of a few thousand in each. Santanderpb.je One of many similar, also in IoM.

benjus

eDicky wrote: »

no charges for accounts and cards if you keep a minimum of a few thousand in each.

See discussion above.

In a cash ISA a "few thousand" could earn £100 per year. Used as overpayments on a mortgage it could be worth a lot more. So that's effectively what you're paying in account charges by being forced to keep them in an account just to maintain the account open.

The one I mentioned earlier is a lot cheaper than that.