Euro (€) Currency Thread

eurofrustrating

Jammin
Can you see in that crystal ball when things are going to improve for the euro because I always think its not going to go any lower... and it always does! :mad: your prediction of 1.3 is on track anyway!

davidanddeirdre

jammin wrote: »

Nope. Best time to buy Euros is next Wednesday, as it will be 1.3 to the Pound then.

As I write next Wednesday, it is about 1.2735, so not quite, but it has gone up a bit.
It never ceases to surprise me how a little shopping around can give one quite a few more € for your £. In York city centre,the best € tourist sell rates used to be in Marks and Spencer, then it was Superdrug for a while, now it is usually The Money Shop or Ramsdens jewellers! Generally up to about 2 cents less than the main rate, and I've found several times after checking against current MSE advice, better than the internet suppliers, though you've got to go and fetch it of course. The best € tourist rate can be around 3 or 4 cents higher than the worst (as a general rule, avoid travel agents and the Post Office), so for £500 worth the difference between the best and the worst could be a largish round of drinks.

wallbash

so for £500 worth the difference between the best and the worst could be a largish round of drinks.

That does not take into account the act of the trip to the 'shop' ?
A few weeks ago my best bet was M & S , but the difference was not worth the drive to the high street , so for ease, it was back to the P.O

largish round of drinks.

So how much did you save ? Could you really pay for a Large round of drinks on £500 ?

zagfles

davidanddeirdre wrote: »

As I write next Wednesday, it is about 1.2735, so not quite, but it has gone up a bit.
It never ceases to surprise me how a little shopping around can give one quite a few more € for your £. In York city centre,the best € tourist sell rates used to be in Marks and Spencer, then it was Superdrug for a while, now it is usually The Money Shop or Ramsdens jewellers! Generally up to about 2 cents less than the main rate, and I've found several times after checking against current MSE advice, better than the internet suppliers, though you've got to go and fetch it of course. The best € tourist rate can be around 3 or 4 cents higher than the worst (as a general rule, avoid travel agents and the Post Office), so for £500 worth the difference between the best and the worst could be a largish round of drinks.

Rather than waste time shopping round for the best rates every time you go away, shop around once for the best cards. Current VISA rate is 1.279, Mastercard was over 1.28 when I last checked (site seems to be down at the moment). Get a card with a 0% markup/fee and that's the rate you get.

No carrying around large amounts of cash, no wasting time getting currency before you go, and you'll save enough for several rounds of drinks (if going to Eastern Europe) or half a shandy (if you're going to Norway) :rotfl:

davidanddeirdre

zagfles wrote: »

Rather than waste time shopping round for the best rates every time you go away, shop around once for the best cards. Current VISA rate is 1.279, Mastercard was over 1.28 when I last checked (site seems to be down at the moment). Get a card with a 0% markup/fee and that's the rate you get.

No carrying around large amounts of cash, no wasting time getting currency before you go, and you'll save enough for several rounds of drinks (if going to Eastern Europe) or half a shandy (if you're going to Norway) :rotfl:

We buy euros (and other currencies) in advance of travelling for several reasons- as a means of saving for the holiday, to know what rate we are getting and because where we go, mainly Germany and the Czech Republic, quite a lot of businesses only take cash, so carrying cash around is essential. We are often in York centre so it is not an extra travel expense to buy currency there.
It is true that some cards give a good rate for cash withdrawals/purchases, but most of them don't- we've got 3 credit cards, Sainsbury, BT, and Saga, and only Saga gives a good rate in currencies other than £. We also have an HSBC Premier debit card which does give good rates for cash withdrawals abroad. With all cards you don't know exactly what you got though until you retrospectively look at your account. You are also depending on finding an ATM when you want one, and that it is not out of order (once we were in Lisbon over Easter, and every cash dispenser was out for 3 days).

zagfles

davidanddeirdre wrote: »

We buy euros (and other currencies) in advance of travelling for several reasons- as a means of saving for the holiday, to know what rate we are getting and because where we go, mainly Germany and the Czech Republic, quite a lot of businesses only take cash, so carrying cash around is essential. We are often in York centre so it is not an extra travel expense to buy currency there.
It is true that some cards give a good rate for cash withdrawals/purchases, but most of them don't- we've got 3 credit cards, Sainsbury, BT, and Saga, and only Saga gives a good rate in currencies other than £. We also have an HSBC Premier debit card which does give good rates for cash withdrawals abroad. With all cards you don't know exactly what you got though until you retrospectively look at your account. You are also depending on finding an ATM when you want one, and that it is not out of order (once we were in Lisbon over Easter, and every cash dispenser was out for 3 days).

The best cards are much better than the best forex cash exchange (certainly in the UK anyway) and the average card is much better than the average cash exchange.

The risk of carrying a large amount of cash is greater than the risk of being without money because every single cashpoint in a city is out of order. Even if it is, you can get cash advances on credit/debit cards over the counter in banks, and even some bureaux de change places if it just so happens to be a long bank holiday weekend when all the banks are closed. In any case you can always find somewhere to pay by card if really desperate. Shops may give cashback on debit and even credit cards in some countries.

As for the rate, just check the best cash rate you can get before you go and assume that. You'll almost certainly end up spending less than you thought

poet123

Unless you are changing vast sums the point of shopping around escapes me. I just get what we need to tide us over for a day or so and then use a card which has always given me the best rate.

strawberries1

Hi all,

I'm off to Crete, Greece for a week in two weeks.
I haven't been on holiday for yonks and have no idea about getting foreign exchange.

I tried to read the page on travel money but its so confusing and almost impossible to figure out what's the cheapest and best.
I'm hoping not to spend more than Euros400.

Is it best to have some cash with me and get a card to use later?
I can figure out where to change cash from the page but how do I get the figure out the cheapest card please? Loading fees, intrest rates etc?? :embarasse

Thank you.

antenna

With around 400 euros to spend,take euros cash and your credit/debit card for emergency use only.........trying to get/use the best card will only make the difference of the cost of a sandwich on the plane.

zerog

you're in London so just go to bestforeignexchange.com or even better the euro ATM if you have a card which charges no commission