Travel money note denominations

Hotglove

Hi all,
my query is the opposite of most queries on this subject.
Most queries relate to larger denomination notes being difficult to spend, I have the opposite problem, I take cash in Euros to pay a large bill at the end of the holiday, so my cash sits in the hotel safe for 3 weeks. I prefer larger denominations simply because of bulk when travelling. My most irritating experience was with Barclays when I stipulated that I wanted 50, or 100 Euro notes only, but when I collected them I was handed a bundle of scruffy, filthy notes about the size of a house brick.
Can anyone recommend a bureaux de change in the UK that allows a choice of denominations? 

DullGreyGuy

Hotglove said:

my query is the opposite of most queries on this subject.
Most queries relate to larger denomination notes being difficult to spend, I have the opposite problem, I take cash in Euros to pay a large bill at the end of the holiday, so my cash sits in the hotel safe for 3 weeks. I prefer larger denominations simply because of bulk when travelling. My most irritating experience was with Barclays when I stipulated that I wanted 50, or 100 Euro notes only, but when I collected them I was handed a bundle of scruffy, filthy notes about the size of a house brick.
Can anyone recommend a bureaux de change in the UK that allows a choice of denominations? 

Why are you paying in cash? You'll get a worse rate than paying by a "travel" debit/credit card and in particular if you are using a high street bank.

https://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/ 

Personally tend to use the above to find those giving the best rate if for some reason I cannot use by Starling card (almost never now). Being in London there are hundreds of choices and most are more than happy to give large notes as 99% of people want the exact opposite. Obviously if you are doing a delivery order its a touch more difficult but most the usual suspects that come out cheaper have either a drop down to select note size preference or a free text box you can add the detail to. 

heatherw_01

There are many that do allow you to pick but the choices are not guaranteed.

You can often say "small bills, mixed, large bills".

These definitely let you pick: https://www.currencyonlinegroup.com/travel-cash

List of companies here: https://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/
You can just add how much you want to basket, start checkout and it should let you pick notes before you enter your details IF it is an option.

A lot will tell you not to bother with cash, but I too take cash as well as a fee free card as cash is often needed or wanted.

daveyjp

Some outlets must offer larger notes as I was in Ireland last week and a German visitor in a store very optimistically tried to pay a €30 bill with a €500 note - I had never seen one before.

Needless to say not even a major brands store was going to accept a €500 note.  He was advised to visit a bank and get it changed to smaller notes as even if he was spending €500 in store most stores would refuse to take it.

eskbanker

daveyjp said:

Some outlets must offer larger notes as I was in Ireland last week and a German visitor in a store very optimistically tried to pay a €30 bill with a €500 note - I had never seen one before.

Needless to say not even a major brands store was going to accept a €500 note.  He was advised to visit a bank and get it changed to smaller notes as even if he was spending €500 in store most stores would refuse to take it.

But presumably that was sourced from Germany rather than issued by a UK BdC?

The five-hundred-euro note (€500) is the highest-value euro banknote; it was produced from the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002 to 2019. Since 27 April 2019, the banknote has no longer been issued by central banks in the euro area, but it continues to be legal tender and can be used as a means of payment.[5]

[...]

The note is being phased out due to concerns of widespread use for illegal purposes. Printing of new €500 notes ceased in 2019, although existing notes will remain legal tender until further notice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_euro_note

Hotglove

Thanks for some very helpful advice, if it was cheaper to pay by card I would do so, equally, if I took Sterling the operator converts the Sterling to local currency and then again to Euros, so you are hit with a double whammy there, thus taking Euros is by far the best and a huge wad of low denomination notes is, quite literally, a pain in the a*** 

TELLIT01

Banks tend to give a poorer exchange rate than places like Eurochange and, I suspect, other Bureau de Change.  I was actually informed of that by a cashier in my bank some years ago when I went to collect foreign currency. 

I've never been given a block of filthy notes, and they do tend to be a decent mix of 50s and below (Euros).

DullGreyGuy

Hotglove said:

Thanks for some very helpful advice, if it was cheaper to pay by card I would do so, equally, if I took Sterling the operator converts the Sterling to local currency and then again to Euros, so you are hit with a double whammy there, thus taking Euros is by far the best and a huge wad of low denomination notes is, quite literally, a pain in the a*** 

Why isnt it cheaper to pay by card?

If you're paying say €2,000 then Barclays today are saying it would cost £1,782 to order notes whereas Starling debit card would cost £1,703. Where is the £79 saving being eaten up?

My only guess, given you mention a "local currency" is that you are talking about a pegged currency and therefore the vendor may be using a blackmarket rate to get into Euros but cannot charge Euros to a card? Would be interested in a real world set of numbers and a date too see what it would have really been. 

sandsy

My local Post Office is always more than happy to give me the denominations I request on popular currencies such as USD and Euros. I order in advance online for better rates and tell them the denominations when I get to the FX desk to collect it.