Euro (€) Currency Thread

slewis1972

Thanks, never knew that, shame though none are near me at all.

Hmmm, anyone know if the petrol stations in frances have atms, like on the calais to paris route?

Using the Visa atm finder proves difficuly without my french map so just wondering if anyone knows off the top of there head from experience.

Scott

harryhound

There are two motorways from Calais to Paris.
I went the East route and came back the West route (because I wanted to fill up the car with "stuff" at the big Boulogne hypermarket.)
The West route is the traditional N1 route (Route National now bypassed) It probably takes a little longer but it is a little cheaper and as the Calais Boulogne stretch is free it allows you to get currency from a Bank ATM & to fill up with Hypermarket road fuel (paying in cash if necessary to avoid "dynamic currency conversion").
That said the East route has some large service areas, which almost certainly have commercial ATM's

It is a bit like the choice out of London M1 or A1(M) only both roads to Paris are motorway standard all the way.

The choice is yours.

belfastgirl23

slewis1972 wrote: »

Does anyone know, using your Nationwide Debit card, can you get Euros out in the UK via a ATM and hence get the better exchange rate than at the travel agents?

Scott

There are definitely Euro ATMS right across Northern Ireland anyway - there's one in Belfast's central train station and one in the city centre (prob more I don't know about). There are also some across the UK - see this for more info
http://www.tescofinance.com/personal/finance/finance/travelmoney/store-locator.html

Hope you find one, it's really a great system.

dzug1

slewis1972 wrote: »

Hmmm, anyone know if the petrol stations in frances have atms, like on the calais to paris route?


Scott

Bear in mind that if they do (and I've no idea) they are the sort that might charge a fee.

leedspete_2

does anyone know if its easier to take euro tc to italy than the usual american express sterling ones?

giant08

Rockee wrote: »

On BBC 1's The One Show tonight they featured the best placed to buy your currency (as of 2nd May 2008).

On the High Street it was M & S
whilst online it was http://www.crowncurrencyexchange.com

I have used M & S before but have never bought currency online. Has anyone used Crown Currency and are they good? Or can anyone recommend anyone better?

(we are going to Spain at the of end of July)

Cheers
Rockee

Crown are excellent - I usually convert £2500+ into Euros and get a better rate - also pay by bank transfer so no charges by my bank A&L...

vinylmusic

Like many I will be travelling to Europe this summer and choose the cash card as being the best option.
My first choice was to be Caxtonfx. The only drawback was that I can only transfer money through my bank account.
When I leave I will have most of the money available to me in cash but have to put the money into my bank and transfer it over.
Wouldn't it be far easier if I could just walk into a branch and hand over the cash.
Thomas Cooks almost won me over
You can just walk into any branch and get a card over the counter paying in a minimum of 150 Euros and walk away with a Visa electron card. With Caxton you have to send a deposit and copies of Passport and a utility bill which of course takes time

Almost decided on T Cookes I enquired after the exchange rate they would use. They told me 1.15 euros to £1
This is an apalling rate when on the same day other places, including the post office are giving 1.21 or 1.22
I asked Cookes why so low a rate and they said that the pound was falling against the Euro daily.
It looks like I'm either going through with purchasing from Caxtons after all, Either that or purchasing cash.

scottish_lassy

Hello everybody
I am off to Portugal and France in a couple of months and have been looking for my currency options. I have $200 of travellers cheques left from last year and a Post Office credit card. What is the best thing for me to do??

dzug1

scottish_lassy wrote: »

Hello everybody
I am off to Portugal and France in a couple of months and have been looking for my currency options. I have $200 of travellers cheques left from last year and a Post Office credit card. What is the best thing for me to do??

If you are unlikely to use the $ (US presumably?) TCs in the foreseeable future then change them in resort for euro cash as needed. Don't change them here - you will pay two lots of costs if you do.

Put as much spending as possible on the CC

tobys_mummy_2

woohoo wrote: »

Hi,

I am almost scared to ask for fear of being dim but here goes.

I have the Abbey zero card - Martin says:

The overall winner is the Abbey Zero card, which has no foreign exchange loading anywhere in the world, plus charges no fee for withdrawing cash from an ATM. The only slight downer is that the interest rate when you use an ATM is the highest out of all my picks, at 25.9% APR; yet the lack of a one off charge balances this out, especially if you use the hole-in-the-wall a lot.

European Load Fee: 0%. Worldwide Load Fee: 0%. ATM Fee: £0. Interest for withdrawing cash: 25.9%.


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?)

Many thanks. I don't understand the 25.9% thing.

I also want to know this. I get that basically the interest on cash advances is higher, but say i paid it off in full as soon as the statement came would it work out cheaper than getting euros from say M&S before i went? Nationwide and the post office charge a slightly lower interest rate than Abbey on cash advances (22.9% and 20.83% respectively) but then charge 2.5% on each withdrawal so which works out better? Also the higher interest rates only apply if i use an ATM abroad doesn't it? If i used it in a shop or restaurant abroad i would get the introductory 0% interest rate for 6 months wouldn't i?