Travel Money & Foreign Exchange Tips guide

trevjl

I need to change £8K into Euros in a week or so. Take that as read, I need the cash to pay various bills for a group of us going away. Last time a couple of years ago I used moneycorp at the airport pre ordered and got a decent rate at the time. I had to do half and the wife half as they wouldn't do it in one hit.
This time, it appears that Currencyclub or currencyonlinegroup are best.
As somebody who exchanged a similar amount with Crown Currency 3 weeks before they went bust, I am cautious about using these firms i have never heard of. Is there a way I can check them out

eDicky

trevjl wrote: »

I need to change £8K into Euros in a week or so. Take that as read, I need the cash to pay various bills for a group of us going away.

Are these bills only payable in cash, not by card or bank transfer?

trevjl

yes, far too much hassle to pay by card, just have to take my word for it. Nothing underhand, just a large group of people to collect from and pay for.

Bigbob999

Long time reader, first time commenter

I am going away for 3 weeks on my honeymoon. Mainly Germany.

At the moment i do not have any travel cards. I was thinking of getting a travel credit card and take cash for smaller shops etc. But would you advise taking less cash and using credit card to withdraw at ATMs anyway. I will have access to wifi so can pay it off as required.

I just see fee when withdrawing but i see alot of comments on here saying its not much.

Will be looking at spending £3-4000

Cheers

eDicky

Bigbob999 wrote: »

I just see fee when withdrawing but i see alot of comments on here saying its not much.

The recommended credit cards for travel have no fee, there's just the interest incurred daily after withdrawing. It stops as soon as that withdrawal is paid off, and is an insignificant amount if paid within a few days or so.

The exchange rate you get by using such cards to withdraw foreign cash is always better than buying it from an exchange bureau (on the same day)

FedUpWithHikes

I don't know why Martin doesn't mention the CaxtonFX prepaid card.. it's Mastercard, and doesn't have fees (cash or purchases). If you load euros or US$, you get the exchange rate when you load it, and it you need a different currency (like Czech koruna), load with GBP and get the exchange rate when you spend or withdraw cash.
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eDicky

FedUpWithHikes wrote: »

I don't know why Martin doesn't mention the CaxtonFX prepaid card.. it's Mastercard, and doesn't have fees (cash or purchases). If you load euros or US$, you get the exchange rate when you load it, and it you need a different currency (like Czech koruna), load with GBP and get the exchange rate when you spend or withdraw cash.
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The exchange rates are worse that those of the prepaid cards currently listed in the article. It was listed in the past, and it's not the worst possible choice, reliability and customer service relatively good.

FedUpWithHikes

eDicky wrote: »

The exchange rates are worse that those of the prepaid cards currently listed in the article. It was listed in the past, and it's not the worst possible choice, reliability and customer service relatively good.

Thanks. It usually beats the rates I see for getting cash, and for the relatively small amounts I spend, the rates are OK. ATM fees are a bigger factor as I tend to make plenty of small cash withdrawals. It's a bit annoying that ATM receipts don't show the available balance, but the app covers that.
I'll have another look at the others.
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debtdalek

Beware when using the comparison tool for your foreign exchange. I used it last week to check out Swiss Francs. Rate advised was 1.618 with No 1 Currency.
Ordered online and went to collect on the Saturday morning and the rate I actually got had been dropped when I ordered - but I hadn't noticed, to less than the comparison tool was still showing the two following days.
Anyway when I first got there she first told me that they had sent Chilean money - obviously not au fait with the three letter code being CHF.
After that panic was sorted, I discovered that they had also sent a third of my money in 50 swiss franc notes after the branch had assured me when I called them that they would send a message to ask for no greater than 20's.
As there was no answer on Saturday, I have been trying to sort it all out since Monday, with no promised call back from them.
Doesn't help either that I collected from Cash Generator and of course it's two different companies and they just order in your money so unlike a bureau du change, have no notes to swap them with.
Will be back to the Post Office next time!

eDicky

debtdalek wrote: »

Will be back to the Post Office next time!

Why punish yourself even further? Forget about losing money every time you buy cash - use a suitable fee-free credit card or prepaid card at perfect rates instead..!