Currency exchanging....

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
Gonna be in England for about a week and a half on vacation, figure I'll be blowing lots of coin.

Any good tips on getting a good exchange rate? Right now its basically $.50 per pound, which just sucks major ass... why couldn't thosse guys use the Euro instead... hence every little bit helps. I know to avoid the airport vendors, my past experience is that they are often high.

I figure I'll use my CC, just talked to them to find out their rate... was a little ambiguous, guy said "we just use what's posted in the Wall Street Journal" + a 3% conversion fee.

We use the NC credit union, anybody know if their debit cards can be used to auto-exchange also?
 
Not sure about the auto-exchange, but be sure and let the credit union know you will be out of the country if you plan on using your debit card there. Otherwise, their fraud system will block any foreign transactions.
 
Well like i have Bank of America and they have partners in London ,Germany and other country's that let me use my debit/credit card for no fee and gave me the best exchange rate. I just got back from a month in Austria
 
Interesting..... my CC is with Bank of America. When I called and talked to them (to mention I'd be in the UK so they wouldn't block it, this is an important step) they didn't mention anything about that... just said use it for any CC payment and it would auto-convert.

Hoe did you go about finding said partners?
 
Get a wee bit to start you out at the airport, then once in country, go to the banks or banks atm, they generally have the best rates going.
 
Use the local ATM's they tend to have the best rates. Just look to see if they are on your "Network" match the little symbols on the ATM with the little symbols on the back of your card (NYCE, Plus, Interlink).
 
I just spent a week in london not long ago. the best exchange rate we got was using a credit card to pay for stuff. Airports are generally the next best place to go so you can have cash. and yes, the exchange rate currently sucks.
 
Heehee, thanks for bringing this back up - it reminded me to call the bank.
They said using ATMs is no problem, except $.75 fee. Plus of course what fee the ATM bank may change. And they said that Visa will charge a conversion fee too but didn't say how much it is.... MasterCards is %3 so I'd expect it to be in that range or so.

Stupid dollar... when we were looking at hotels etc, I was like, sweet, 80 pounds.... oh shit, thats 160 American bones...
 
Yeah, but when has $1 ever been equal to 1 pound in the last century? It's not bad exchange rates, it's you looking at expensive hotels. :flipoff2:
 
Use your Debit Card. No exchange rate charges. Buy some AMEx travelers Checks to Exchange there. Are you going to be in London? I lived just south of London for 4 years and you can find Exchange places on every corner. Seeing as there are so many they are all pretty competitive on fees. Really the only thing you'll need Cash for is the Markets, and if you have time for them, I highly Recommend them! Great Deals to be had.

Take Travelers checks to a Bank and exchange them. You'll get better rates there than at teh Exchange Kiosks.

I haven't check rates recently, but is that a typo? $0.50 to 1 pound Sterling?????? That would put it HIGHLY in your Favor.... Or is that 50 pence to the Dollar? BIG DIFFERENCE!
 
RatLabGuy said:
They said using ATMs is no problem, except $.75 fee. Plus of course what fee the ATM bank may change. And they said that Visa will charge a conversion fee too but didn't say how much it is.... MasterCards is %3 so I'd expect it to be in that range or so.
Click to expand...


WHAT? I don't recall any fees on mine....
 
mbalbritton said:
WHAT? I don't recall any fees on mine....
Click to expand...

Sorry, yes, .5 pounds to the dollar. Basically 2 bucks per pound.

I called and talekd to a credit card rep. My card is w/ Bank of America, they said that Mastercard charges the 3% fee. Aparently this is a fairly new thing, just a year or so old. Wa never able to get confirmation on what/whether there is a similar deal with Visa... in my case that's a debit card w/ NCSECU and they provide the cusstomer service, not Visa directly... they didn't know....

Oh and that .75 fee iss just b/c it'ss out of the country, anywehre in the US i still free (plus whatever the ATM owner charges)
 
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