Euro (€) Currency Thread

adecor

jeremystar wrote: »

Hello there. I have a few questions that hopefully someone can help me with!

I am currently in New Zealand but travelling to Europe in August. All of my savings are in New Zealand Dollars.

I am arriving in England and hold a British Passport. I plan to spend a few weeks in England and then travel to Spain and France for an indefinite period of time.

I am trying to work out how to best access my money.

Does it make sense to open an account in England and transfer all of my money there, even though I will be using Euros much of the time?

Is there an English bank that has particularly good rates for accessing money in continental Europe and converting money from pounds to Euro? Or is it possible to have Euros in an English bank account to avoid the conversion fees?

How easy is it to open an English bank account and how long does it usually take?

Thanks for your help!

Presumably you are planning transferring a largish amount in which case I'd use an FX Broker. There are several to choose from and it's often worth ringing 2-3 for different quotes and always ask if it includes all charges. I have personally used these at various times, but there are many more companies around.
http://www.moneycorp.com/
http://www.currenciesdirect.com/
http://www.hifx.com/
If you are in a position to open an English bank a/c you would be best to go for Nationwide as the exchange rate you receive is excellent when using their debit card in Euroland. Can't help with the time frame of opening an account though.

inspector_monkfish

1.1705 trading now

inspector_monkfish

1.1675 trading

inspector_monkfish

1.1620 trading

Donedoingdebt

If anyone's interested, they've been offering between 1.12 & 1.14 in Kalamaki, Zakynthos this last 7 days. However, in the next resort along, Tsilivi, they were offering only 1.10.

Eager_Saver

1.153 trading now

inspector_monkfish

1.1515 trading now

bombardier

Do you see this picking up at all today? I only have a week to go before holiday and as Best Exchange are top at present I can't leave it too long because of the bank transfer making it to them.

inspector_monkfish

cant see alot of change between now and the end of the week
obviously the rate will fluctuate, but prob not enough to make a great deal of difference to you now.

a few figures out this week, such as inflation and unemployment that could make things a little jumpy if they come in weak.

on the other hand, if they come in good, it could mean good news for the pound.

depends if you want to take the chance and wait for the release of the upcoming data, or just do it now !!??

inspector_monkfish

1.1520 trading