I'm going on holiday soon and just wondered if Hexalites generally buy their currency before their holiday, or just use an ATM out there (which is what I usually opt for)
If so where do you get your currency, and do you bother comparing rates?
I'm going on holiday soon and just wondered if Hexalites generally buy their currency before their holiday, or just use an ATM out there (which is what I usually opt for)
If so where do you get your currency, and do you bother comparing rates?
if its just a weekend, then I'll probably use ATMs, I generally keep a few EUR and USD to hand anyway. I wouldn't like to go abroad without 50GBP equivalent in hand (or USD if not local ccy).
I also have an agreement with my bank (I think its standard on plus, or it might just be Premier with HSBC) that allows me to waltz in to any branch and get up to $10K for emergency.
I don't like the idea of carrying large amounts of cash, but when I am going somewhere I know I'm needing it, I generally look at a couple of the FOREX places in London, one place, which is just by Victoria Station and another by London Bridge.
You can look at any forex place and get an idea how badly they take the piss by the 'spread'. That is to say the 'spot' of 1 GBP in USD is about 1:1.56 right now, but they would only bid say 1.46 and offer 1.66, this is quite a high spread, and not very good, shop around more.
Places to avoid:
The post office, M&S, supermarkets, the money shop.
Good places to try:
Oxford street, hit or miss, sometimes they will have too many EUR or USD and be willing to come quite low. Last time I went to the states I knew I was going to be buying a lens from a very reputable seller, so decided on cash. I was able to get just 3 cents away from the spot with about half an hour of my time.
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M0nkeyb0Y (27-07-2010)
when i get a job and start travelling i shall be using fairfx money cards & for cash ill be comparing at the good ol' mse
http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/
hth![]()
M0nkeyb0Y (27-07-2010)
I've not pre-bought money for foreign holidays in a fair few years and have never had any problem simply waltzing up to an ATM and grabbing what I needed. That said, I've mostly holidayed in the US and northern Europe, so I've always been pretty sure of access to an ATM. Were I going somewhere more exotic, I would almost certainly be tempted to get £50 - £100 in advance just in case. I think the last time I pre-bought currency was at the Post Office - had no issues at all.
On an off-but-related-topic, I last *sold* foreign currency (USD) at a little exchange place just opposite King's Cross station, and they were very friendly and had decent rates. Only useful if you live in London or travel to King's Cross regularly though, I guess...![]()
M0nkeyb0Y (27-07-2010)
I use an ATM and credit cards. Choose your CC/Current account carefully though. I keep a Nationwide account open mainly for that purpose. Generally you get a better rate using those forms of conversion - and if you are using plastic - DON'T accept a retailer's offer to convert to sterling - always pay in the currency and use your bank's conversion rates.
For relatively small amounts I don't think it's worth comparing rates. Although The Animus doesn't recommend them, bith the PO and M&S are convenient and if it is only for (say) £50 for pocket money on arrival, the small additional cost is far outweighed by the convenience.
For currencies other than the Euro or Us Dollar, that might not be true - so check rates and commission rates carefully. "Commission free" transactions make their money by offering slightly poorer rates - so the overall cost may depend on amount you are converting.
Oh yes - be careful accepting refunds on a card! I was shopping in the US - the wrong item was scanned and the cashier, rather than null the transaction did a refund. As the rates for conversion in each direction are different, a zero transaction cost about $4 in conversion rates!
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M0nkeyb0Y (27-07-2010)
In London if your going to take the Gatwick express say, the extra 5 minutes would save you at least £2 on £50.
But I agree for those amounts it is hardly worth going out of your way
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As Jack linked to... great website. I've got myself a FairFX cash card and a post office credit card to use abroad. There are special cards for europe and USA for FairFX but since I'm going to Australia I had to get the world wide card... but even still it's pretty good. I got the card free via moneysupermarket.com (usually £20 iirc) and if you load £500 on you get another £5. Then it's just 1.5% for everything you spend on it, whether it's ATM's, in shops, etc. So over £500 that's only £7.50 then there's the free fiver I got too so it's cost me £2.50 to know that my cash is safe and I don't have to carry it all round with me. I believe the rates are better for europe and USA though.
As for the post office card, it's totally free to use abroad (apart from ATM's) so I will be using this to pay for a lot of stuff in shops. Then just get cash out with the FairFX card.
Edit: Sorry I know I've gone off topic a bit, but the above cards give some of the top rates as well.. so for peace of mind and the best rates, I'd go for the above cards.
We pre-ordered from the post-office last time we went abroad (Turkish Lira). You pay online and collect at your local branch, needs to be done a little in advance but I think we got a good rate as a result. (The Mrs organised it)
They told me I was gullible ... and I believed them.
Had my nationwide cash card when I was back in hong kong and the spread was 0.25%. Too bad they are withdrawing this capability from the basic account.
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As i'm abroad alot i tend to keep around £50 in euro's and dollars (with smaller amounts of other currency's) but most of the time i tend to use a atm or pay by card.
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