Euro (€) Currency Thread

lolarentt

woohoo wrote: »

My question is, basically is it cheaper to use the card in Majorca or to change the nmoney into Euros at say Travelex - order online and collect at airport? I would repay the card as soon as I got the statement. I have a 0% balance transfer on there - would it affect that - by paying off the lowest rate balance first (ie not the money I withdrew when away?)

.

The 'order online collect at airport' way is cheaper, no commission, no debit card charges. Your high interest rate on the Abbey CC means you'll be paying 2%+ before you get the card monthly bill anyway.

These days I have a foreign (euro) bank account as well as UK ones so have the luxury of using european ATMs without this worry!

For some years I've also had a Cater Allen 'euro' bank account, which allows you to pay sterling in in UK without exchange charges (ie you get near the business rate ER) and this is credited as euros - you get a Visa debit card with this which means you can buy from shops abroad, and withdraw cash from any ATM in eurozone with no charges at all. There are no admin charges on the account either. They also offer a dollar/sterling account which works the same way. These days Cater Allen is part of Santander, as is Abbey.

Biggles

lolarentt wrote: »

The 'order online collect at airport' way is cheaper, no commission, no debit card charges. Your high interest rate on the Abbey CC means you'll be paying 2%+ before you get the card monthly bill anyway.

But you'll be paying Travelex from 3 to 4% (hidden in the exchange rate), and unless you guess very lucky, you'll take too much money and be charged extra to change it back. With the Abbey card, not only is it cheaper, but you just draw what you need, when you need it.

lolarentt

Biggles wrote: »

But you'll be paying Travelex from 3 to 4% (hidden in the exchange rate), and unless you guess very lucky, you'll take too much money and be charged extra to change it back. With the Abbey card, not only is it cheaper, but you just draw what you need, when you need it.

It's not 'hidden', all the exchange bureaux use tourist rate, but if you buy direct at the air/seaports you pay up to 3% on top.
Also with the eurozone now stretching across to the far east Med (Cyprus changed this year) there are so many places where you'll need euros that it's not worth changing spare back to sterling, particularly if you're making good use of a no charge CC as well.

DGJsaver

when we went last year we bought money to pick up from travelex at the airport and they wanted to charge to redeem unused ones , negating the good rate we got in the first place

co-op travel exhanged it FOC if that helps anyone

Biggles

lolarentt wrote: »

It's not 'hidden', all the exchange bureaux use tourist rate, but if you buy direct at the air/seaports you pay up to 3% on top.

When I say 'hidden', I mean not shown separately and not declared as a commission charge. It doesn't get much more hidden than that. ;-)

I'm not sure what you mean by 'tourist rate', as all BdCs use their own rates, which are normally 5% or more over the rate you'll get with the Abbey (or Nationwide etc) card. Travelex were the ones quoted and I believe their charge is only 3 or 4% if bought online.

lolarentt

Biggles wrote: »

I'm not sure what you mean by 'tourist rate', .

Not difficult - by 'tourist rate' I mean the rate you will find in the national press listed as 'tourist rate'!
This is normally around 3% lower than business rate.

TuftyMatt

Biggles,

It was to confirm that the name on the card / passport match and also the photo matches the face.

They had chip and pin which I used and I also had to sign their copy of the till receipt.

All that for a bottle of water and an ice cream!!

nobblyned

lolarentt wrote: »

Not difficult - by 'tourist rate' I mean the rate you will find in the national press listed as 'tourist rate'!
This is normally around 3% lower than business rate.

So you agree that the tourist rate offered by the bureaux (and Travelex) is worse than that available by withdrawing cash on your Abbey card?

Usually more than 3% at Bureaux too.

Rather takes us back to where we started with this one.....

easter65

Hi Everyone....Just wondered if anyone could give us some advice please...My son is going to Greece next week and has a Halifax Card Cash account ( the basic one) and has to use his card at the ATM machines there due to the way his wages will go in while he is away...Could anyone tell me if he can use this card in greece and if so what are their charges like....I dont travel abroad so I'm no help to him what so ever...Thankyou so much to anyone who can give us any advice...:D

jennyhicks

Has anyone purchased euros online recently and if so, was the service good and did they get a good deal? I saw The One Show last week saying buying online was good but as I have always bought from the high street, I wondered what online purchasing was like.