Best deal to change £'s into Czech Korona???

ralphy

Does anyone know of any good places to change about £300 into Czech Korona, i'm off to Prague in July?

I've looked at Travelex.co.uk who are very reasonable, any others?

Also, i only have a debit card (Visa Electron), would it be beneficial to me to just take this and not Czech currency? What do other people suggest? I'm new to all this!

Any help will be most appreciated.

withabix

You probably won't get a better rate than Travelex.

grumbler

My traditional answer is:

you will get the best ever rate in a cash machine abroad with Nationwide debit card or cash card.

'The cheapest way to spend overseas...' article ...

ralphy

i'm with the halifax though

pin

If you live in London have a look at Thompson Global Exchange on Victoria Street, they are the cheapest I've found.

grumbler

ralphy wrote:

i'm with the halifax though

I am with Barclays, Nationwide, Lloyds TSB, A&L, Cahoot, Smile. These are current acconts only. You don't have to switch account or salary. Just apply for NW account and keep your old Halifax one.

odowdchr

Best rate is over the counter in Prague, as i found out last year to my cost.

ken2003e

Travelex are good, but do you want to queue at the airport to pick up your money? M&S and FirstDirect are good and both can deliver to home for free quickly.

Sure use nationwide if you want, but just cos they don't take a cut on overseas spending, it doesn't mean that they have the best exchange rates. I used my FirstDirect card and a friend used their nationwide card a minute after me in spain recently - even though my bank charged me, the transaction was cheaper than nationwide. So when something is free it doesn't make it the best or cheapest.

Hope this helps.

odowdchr

mark_jones13 wrote:

Are you joking. Over the counter in a foreign country will always be the most expensive way to exchange money because you're a captive audience and don't have a choice.

I've always found American Express Foreign Exchange (in all towns and cities accross the country) to be the best value for money by far.

Honestly, i got mine "commission free" over here via Travelex. My mates took English cash and got better rates both in the hotel and in the tourist booths.
Perhaps it was just Travelex?
I also took a VISA card to Bangkok this February and got overall better exchange rates from the "hole in the wall" than i did from the Post Office over here.

pin

ken2003e wrote:

Travelex are good, but do you want to queue at the airport to pick up your money? M&S and FirstDirect are good and both can deliver to home for free quickly.

Sure use nationwide if you want, but just cos they don't take a cut on overseas spending, it doesn't mean that they have the best exchange rates. I used my FirstDirect card and a friend used their nationwide card a minute after me in spain recently - even though my bank charged me, the transaction was cheaper than nationwide. So when something is free it doesn't make it the best or cheapest.

Hope this helps.

That's strange, because Nationwide uses the standard Visa rate and doesn't add a mark up. First Direct, from what I can see also use Visa, so the same rate would have been applied, but with First Direct adding their commission.

I.e. neither FD or NW determine the exchange rate used, that is done by Visa, but then each card issuer may add their own commission.

grumbler

ken2003e wrote:

I used my FirstDirect card and a friend used their nationwide card a minute after me in spain recently - even though my bank charged me, the transaction was cheaper than nationwide.

Pin said that this is strange. I'll say that this is incorrect. If you want to prove your point - post exact information about both transactions.
I gues this could happen if NW card was used for purchase and your friend was charged in pounds, but not in euros. See:

Something interesting on nationwide.co.uk

'Visa exchange rate information '