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

eDicky

Well, your euros would be safe, even Greece's Eurozone membership is not..!

digitaltoast

Ooof. I'm thinking about going to Europe in September, and looking at the rate going up and up now - http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=EUR, at £1:€1.405, and I had this great idea to take advantage of my MBNA "no charges until end of year" offer, thinking I'd load up a couple of hundred quid, and then I found that MBNA would treat it as a cash advance.

Although I don't have much spare cash right now, as you can apparently SPEND it in £ in the UK with no charges, I'm wondering about putting £200 into it as a sort of "currency bet". I can't see the Euro going too much lower against the pound.

But then, I'm the type of person whose only share purchase was £200 of Northern Rock.. I mean, what could go wrong?!

Hmmm... what's everyone else doing/thinking?

Kernow666

hardly worth it for £200 worth

digitaltoast

Getting interesting - pound hit high:1.43 about half an hour ago.
Dropped back a little but I think it might be looking good for us in the UK this week...

redmalc

jumped in and brought substantial amount at 1,396

alexinmancs

Is it worth loading up a Halifax Clarity card so I can take it out in Euros when I'm overseas? That way I'm thinking that I will avoid the interest from when I take the money out.
Has anyone tried this and is it wishful thinking? I can always pay the credit card on the same day (via online banking) but if I load it up surely there is no interest charged since the credit card is in credit?

digitaltoast

alexinmancs wrote: »

... if I load it up surely there is no interest charged since the credit card is in credit?

Wishful thinking (but someone correct me if wrong!) - no to both counts. You're not allowed to preload, and the rate you get charged is the rate on the day. You'd need a "euro preload" card like https://www.fairfx.com/moneysavingexpert6

From the Halifax FAQ page:

What exchange rate will I be charged on transactions made abroad using the Clarity Credit Card?

The exchange rate is set by Mastercard at the time that you make the transaction. Halifax do not apply any loading, fees or charges to this rate.


Can I put money on my card to increase my available credit whilst on holiday?

Credit cards are not designed to be used this way. Using the card in this way breaches the product's Terms & Conditions, which state:

7.7 You must not make payments or transfer funds from another credit or store card to your account that would leave a credit balance on your account. We may return any funds that exceed the balance owing on your account to the account from which the money was sent.

NFH

EUR/GBP plunged below 0.7000 this morning, having been trying to do so since yesterday afternoon. This is a significant psychological barrier in the wholesale markets, which trade the currency pair as EUR/GBP and not as GBP/EUR. Now that the support at 0.7000 has been broken, it could go a lot lower, not least as the continued uncertainty in Greece is causing further EUR weakness.

The equivalent inverted GBP/EUR rate of 1.4286 is of no interest to the wholesale markets.

digitaltoast

Thanks, @NFH. That's really interesting. Nice to have someone who knows what they're talking about, too.

I didn't realise that GBP/EUR "is of no interest to the wholesale markets", but it is for me if I'm thinking of visiting Europe!

However, it's absolutely killing farmers in the UK - meat prices are tumbling as the market is flooded which cheap meat from eastern europe.

theboyfromxtown

la banque postale

Cheque book, cash card online bank statements 1.05 Euros every 3 months.

jamesd wrote: »

To save some work for those who have Euros and want a Euro account:

Citibank: Must have CitiGold current account first. That requires £75,000 total average monthly balance across all accounts, including investment accounts, or £25 monthly fee.

Barclays: £7 per quarter if average balance below $2,000. £15 to make a SEPA electronic payment. Must have a Barclays current account first.

Lloyds Bank: Monthly fee of £7.50/ €8/US$10, minimum income £50,000 or £25,000 to invest.