paying for euros

ANGLICANPAT

Im too stuffed up with a cold to think this through for myself today and I have to go out and buy some Euros so sorry if its a thick question. Thomas Cook offers a rate of 1.346 to the £ , and Halifax clarity card offers 1.37ish which makes a difference over a large amount.

Will the Clarity card rate overide T.Cooks rate then if I buy the euros from them with the card, and then pay card off immediately. (or am I not allowed to pay off till they bill me as I have a DD set up to do it?

msallen

If you buy your Euros from Thomas Cook you get the Thomas Cook rate and pay in pounds - regardless of what card you pay with!

That must be one hell of a cold

grumbler

ANGLICANPAT wrote: »

Will the Clarity card rate overide T.Cooks rate then if I buy the euros from them with the card,

No, as the card will be charged in pounds, not euros.

Don't blame cold. I am suffering from the worst cold in my life.

ANGLICANPAT

Ive got very 'thick ' catarrh lol . Head feels like lead lol !! Thanks both.

ManAtHome

You could always use the Clarity card to get ATM euros at the other end (most airports have ATMs). I believe there is a sprinkling of 'free' euro ATMs at UK airports, but never used one myself - noticed it in a recent thread.

You can pay the Clarity as soon as the transaction hits your account.

chattychappy

ManAtHome wrote: »

I believe there is a sprinkling of 'free' euro ATMs at UK airports, but never used one myself - noticed it in a recent thread.

Yep! it was this one: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5213984

ManAtHome wrote: »

You can pay the Clarity as soon as the transaction hits your account.

Yes, if the previous statement has been cleared. Else the payment will be allocated to the previous statement balance and not the cash transaction.

OP: you say "Thomas Cook offers a rate of 1.346 to the £". I'm guessing there will be some kind of commission/charge on that? Remember if you use Clarity in a foreign ATM or a MoneyCorp ATM (as in the thread above), AND don't fall into the trap of selecting "conversion into GBP", then you won't get any charges at all. (Some foreign ATMs have a local charge, just as in the UK.)

chattychappy

adindas wrote: »

Regarding Euro Cash machines there are a few of them available in the UK Airports/ London Tube stations provide by Travellex, Thomascooks, Raphael Banks, etc which dispense Euro banknotes. But again do not use them if you want a good exchange rate, as you will be billed in Sterling and then converted to Euro using their own exchange rate.

Not necessarily. See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=5213984

grumbler

adindas wrote: »

...But it will never be able to beat the Visa/Mastercard global wholesellers exchange rate.

If the ATM charges a card in $, it will be the rate.

I agree, the only point in doing this is when you need a big amount of cash well before the trip.

grumbler

adindas wrote: »

AFAIK, Cash machines which debit you in EUR or US$ INSTEAD OF CONVERTING it do not exist in the UK anymore. It is a lost making business.
...
If anyone has sighted a cash machine of this kind in the UK it would be good if they could share their knowledge.

Did you actually check the link before replying twice after it was posted and even quoting it?

chattychappy wrote: »

...
But the MoneyCorp machines were great. They offer USD and Euros. You get a choice - you can choose to be billed in GBP (at the rip off rate) or in USD/EUROs.

That said, I don't understand either how they manage to make profit from this 'business'.

grumbler

adindas wrote: »

We could only know for sure if someone withdraws the cash and compare it with VISA/Master conversion rate on that date.

chattychappy wrote: »

I withdrew US$100 and received 5 crisp new $20 bills. No fee from the machine at all and a receipt showing I was billed in USD. As I was using Halifax Clarity, there's no loading/charge from them either.

Are you implying that chattychappy was so happy to be charged more than $100 for withdrawing $100 in Heathrow, that s/he rushed to post about this here and soon repeated the same with € in Gatwick?

I take it for a fact that the card was charged $100 for withdrawing $100 and €400 for €400.

SimonSays

My local tesco has a EUR machine that bills in EUR so does my local thomas cook in Manchester