Euro (€) Currency Thread

racheybabes_2

Hi, I am off to Fuerteventura in 3 weeks (YIPPEE) but me and my husband both bank with the Halifax so using our debit cards seems like a bit of a no no at the moment. We would normally take travellers cheques away with us but have noticed that you can get these pre-paid cards now. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice as to which option would be best travellers cheques or the pre-paid card?
Thanks, Rachael.

aramo

purple_cat wrote: »

Hi did anybody have any ideas on changing currency back? somebody suggested to me changing my euros to dollars and holding on to them for a while?

I wrote up my experience of Euro to Sterling recently, have a look at
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=14061513&postcount=576

As to going from Euro>Sterling>Dollar if that makes sense then your crystal ball is better than mine. AFAIK there is no way to go direct from Euro to Dollar using UK retail exchanges so you will have to pay two exchange rate fees..

As to your question about do you want a lower or higher 'rate' - I know the feeling hence my use of "how much Sterling will you give me for 1000 euro". If the rate your looking at is something like 1.25 then the LOWER the number the better as it means 1.25 euro will get you 1 pound sterling, seeing as you have euros and want sterling the lower the number the more sterling you will get for your 3000 euros. If however you see a number like 0.80 then everything gets reversed and you want a BIGGER number - thinking as I type it occurs to me that as you know 1 euro is valued less then £1 then the CLOSER the rate is to 1.00 the better it is for the guy changing from the CHEAP currency (euro) to the EXPENSIVE currency (sterling). This arguement works with any two currencies as long as you know which one is the CHEAP one, anyone care to comment? Oh don't forget commission fees if your trying to compare two brokers.

aramo

racheybabes wrote: »

We would normally take travellers cheques away with us but have noticed that you can get these pre-paid cards now. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice as to which option would be best travellers cheques or the pre-paid card?
Thanks, Rachael.

Hi Rachael, I've never used TCs but you already know how they work. I recently bought a Travelex Cashpassport card which the guy at the Travelex desk told me it was the TC of the future - what-ever - anyways I got a sterling one so it cost me £203 (cash) to get a card with £200 loaded all I needed was my passport which they photocopied and I told them my UK address all told took less than 5 minutes.

Observations on the card, it's not cheap to get cash from an ATM the fee is approx £2.50 a pop and it's very expensive to use it in any currency other then the currency the card was issued in as they charge almost 7% iirc to convert from card base currency to local currency though thats not an issue if you buy a EURO based card and always pay in Euros.

It makes sense if your going for over £100 worrh of Euros to buy the card online from Travelex by attempting to buy Euros and they taking the CashPassport option for collection that way you get the better online rate rather than the airport rate. You will pay online [see notes elsewhere about cash advance fees] and collect at the airport. The Euro card is free as they already make some money on the currency exchange part of the deal.

mr_boneman

Money saving can be very simple - especially in the matter of obtaining foreign currency.

As has been pointed out many times, you should get a Nationwide Debit Card to be able to use ATMs -FREE- abroad, where you can withdraw up to £250 per day.

What has not been made so obvious is that it is a good idea to take out TWO Nationwide accounts : get yourself an ONLINE savings A/C and then you get a good rate of interest on your money and you can use the internet to transfer money as needed to your debit A/C : this can be either before you leave on your hols or even whilst you are away, if you can get on the internet. Transfers are simple and instant.

Job done ! Best rates, least hassle. Guaranteed !

cheekybell

Im goin spain soon and need my euros Ive got a Nationwide debit card, is it right that id be better to get money out over there? ive done this b4 just as a back up but never realised it could be better then exchanging money before i went. also the atm gives you 2 options to how you want your money takin off your never really understood this and randomly picked one, which should i pick? thanks.

fifeken

cheekybell wrote: »

Im goin spain soon and need my euros Ive got a Nationwide debit card, is it right that id be better to get money out over there? ive done this b4 just as a back up but never realised it could be better then exchanging money before i went. also the atm gives you 2 options to how you want your money takin off your never really understood this and randomly picked one, which should i pick? thanks.

Yes - Nationwide debit card at an ATM out there is best. Read Martin's article for more details.
At the ATM don't accept the offer to charge you in Sterling. The ATM owner will then give you a crappy rate. If you are charged in Euros on a Nationwide card you will get that day's Visa rate and no charges.

belfastgirl23

I can confirm this system works really well - I've used the NW debit card abroad many times and never had a problem.

Kauptd

I hope there are some here with a better understanding of this than o;ur family!

Basically we are in the process of booking a holiday in a French gite next summer. The gite is long established as a favourite with holidaymakers and the owners are a nice couple.

To reserve the accommodation for next year, they would like us to pay a 25% deposit now with the balance 8 weeks before departure.

Where payment is concerned, it has to be in Euros not sterling. They can accept a cheque drawn on a French bank (we don't have one) or by PayPal, though they point out that PayPal will charge 4% commission which we will have to pay. (They cannot process card payments themselves and so offer PayPal instead.)

They have also given us details of their French bank / bank account for a bank transfer, and don't seem to think our UK bank would have a problem in making a Euro payment.

We do our banking online and have no idea how to set up a foreign bank as a payee or to fix the payment in Euros, so it seems we will have to go into our bank anyway.

My question is, does anyone know of the most cost-effective way of making a payment in Euros from the UK to a payee in France?

We would rather not get "stung" with PayPal commission, or large bank charges!

birtles1010

Hi - I have the same problem & posted this message but have had no reply as yet!!

Sterling to Euro bank mandate - costs!!
I have to pay someone a holiday deposit in Euros from the UK, it costs approx £19 for a bank mandate - this is a fixed fee

This French person does not have a paypal a/c, does not accept credit card payments and has a French bank a/c with a bank called Banque Chaix. She has given me all the bank details Inc IBAN no

I do not have a Euro a/c or a French bank a/c and am in the UK.

At £20 a throw this is not cheap and will happen again when I settle up the remainder of the cost of the reservation next year. I am even wondering whether it is worth opening a Euro a/c with an English bank or even with a French bank that I can access online

Would welcome your advice - with the economic situation the way it is there must be more people choosing to holiday within the eurozone and finding the same problem

Kauptd

birtles1010 wrote: »

Hi - I have the same problem & posted this message but have had no reply as yet!!

Sterling to Euro bank mandate - costs!!
I have to pay someone a holiday deposit in Euros from the UK, it costs approx £19 for a bank mandate - this is a fixed fee

It does seem to me very unfortunate that this thread, dedicated as it is to Euro currency matters, contains nothing about Euro payments from the UK to a European mainland bank.

Why not?

The thread is replete with talk of ATM payments and getting sterling back for Euros etc etc etc, and is presented as a kind of the "definitive" Euro thread.

Yet it actually misses out half the relevant coverage.

Your post is entirely accurate: as more and more people in the UK put together their own holidays with suppliers in mainland Europe, they must therefore contend with paying deposits and balances either by credit or debit card, or transfer from their UK bank, to the payee's French/Spanish/Italian/ whatever bank.

I certainly think it would be helpful if the moderator here could ensure that if this thread is to be "definitive", it at least accommodates some much-needed information about the cost-effective payment, in Euros, of holiday bills, or any other kind of bills, from the UK.

As I've received no response to my query on this thread I've searched elsewhere and it seems that moneybookers.com is an excellent vehicle for cost-effective Euro payments (or any other currency, for that matter).

BUT: there is a drawback. Although it's easy enough for anyone to sign up to moneybookers and open an account for the purpose of paying Euros to a mainland European bank, the recipient must also have a moneybookers.com account.

At the moment, very, very few private individuals on the European mainland (owners of gites, for example!) have moneybookers.com accounts and don't seem particularly disposed towards acquiring one.

So we're left with the situation of either incurring high bank charges on exchange transfers (and this includes Nationwide, regardless of all the tub thumping here about its ATM performance) or PayPal, which at 4% seems now to be the best bet.

I know not every thread on this forum can answer every question, but one which is said to cover all aspects of the Euro is disappointing when it so plainly does not.