Idiot question about Euros, but . . .

PhylPho

. . . but help would be appreciated: thanks.

My wife and I are going to Spain for a fortnight, departing five weeks from now. We have a Halifax Clarity card. Where we're headed involves taking a fair amount in cash (on arrival, we're paying 300 Euros cash for our car hire.)

We're also in a part of Spain where there are some small restaurants we use which don't take credit or debit cards. No problem; in previous years, Clarity has been our ATM friend.

However. . . seeing as we need to take at least 300 Euros in cash with us, and seeing that the Euro may be costlier to buy the nearer we get to June 23rd, then we're thinking of buying Euros now, not later.

Presently Tesco is quoting us £524 for 650 Euros, collection from our local in-store bureau.

I take it, then, that our Clarity card is going to be of use when we're actually travelling abroad, but there's nothing to be gained by using it to purchase Euros before we set off???

(Like I said, a stoopid question. But I am easily muddled. . .)

PS: if anyone has a crystal ball. . . can our logic be faulted here? Or should we leave it a few more weeks to buy our Euros????

Kernow666

if you buy Euros now then don't look at the rates before you go as it changes everyday , I sell currency for a living and don't know if its going up or down if I did I could make money


or you could just withdraw the cash when you get to spain as you will get a better rate than what's on offer here in the UK

Doshwaster

PhylPho wrote: »

However. . . seeing as we need to take at least 300 Euros in cash with us, and seeing that the Euro may be costlier to buy the nearer we get to June 23rd, then we're thinking of buying Euros now, not later.

On the other hand the rate could go in the other direction and the Euros may be cheaper to buy nearer the date.

On the other, other hand if you are only talking about €300 then the difference between the rates is unlikely to be more than a couple of quid so is it worth getting stressed about?

Personally, I just take whatever Euros I have left over from previous trips then stick my Clarity card into the first ATM I see in the airport on arrival.

eDicky

PhylPho wrote: »

PS: if anyone has a crystal ball. . . can our logic be faulted here?

It's not so stoopid to ask for a crystal ball, because that will be more useful than logic to predict currency movements.

Are you feeling lucky? you can 'lock in' your €650 for about £512 right now using Revolut on your smartphone, cheaper than Tesco:

https://revolut.com/

PhylPho

Thanks gang for speedy and helpful responses: much appreciated.

If only I had the foresight of Mr Osborne and The Treasury, this to know how better off / worse off I'll be 14 years from now; after all, I only want to know how I'll be, less than 14 weeks from now.

Anyway. To buy or not to buy. That is the question. I'm coming round to the suggestion that buy and close your ears / eyes because it ain't £000s that're involved.

I was surprised about revolut though: never heard of it, so extra thanks to eDicky for flagging it up. I've been over to the website and watched the various video tutorials. I'm also in sympathy (well, anyone would be) with the stated objectives of those behind revolut.
I can't work out though where they're going to make a profit: this is like enabling ordinary punters to exchanging at xe-com rates, the kind of advantageous deal ordinary folks are normally denied.

Am going back to the website to explore further.

Thanks again, everyone.

blink18

PhylPho wrote: »

Thanks gang for speedy and helpful responses: much appreciated.

If only I had the foresight of Mr Osborne and The Treasury, this to know how better off / worse off I'll be 14 years from now; after all, I only want to know how I'll be, less than 14 weeks from now.

Anyway. To buy or not to buy. That is the question. I'm coming round to the suggestion that buy and close your ears / eyes because it ain't £000s that're involved.

I was surprised about revolut though: never heard of it, so extra thanks to eDicky for flagging it up. I've been over to the website and watched the various video tutorials. I'm also in sympathy (well, anyone would be) with the stated objectives of those behind revolut.
I can't work out though where they're going to make a profit: this is like enabling ordinary punters to exchanging at xe-com rates, the kind of advantageous deal ordinary folks are normally denied.

Am going back to the website to explore further.

Thanks again, everyone.

as with all card issuers they will get a small percentage for each payment processed, the fee the merchant pays is spread between various links in the chain, the card issuer being one of them.

they then have interest etc accrued on money held in the client account, it may not be a lot on your few hundred quid for a few weeks, but multiple that by tens of thousands of users and it becomes significant, and then of course there's the additional 2% charges if you withdraw over £500 a month from an ATM

And then there's the fact that the fee free model is only an introductory offer, no doubt later down the line charges will apply to certain transactions, or possibly even a small yearly fee or something.