Where's the best place to transfer £ into foreign currency?

dowie said:
Soooo wrong

Don't use a credit card - in general they will charge you a fee and its counted as a cash transaction so charged at their cash interest rate from the day you make a withdrawal. Use a debit card!!!
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No, he is right. The right credit card is cheaper than all debit cards bar the zero account from Santander.

Are you confusing it with buying currency on a card?
 
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Minxy said:
I tend to use the post office as I haven't found anywhere else in this country that gives a better rate than them usuually.
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Really.....! The post office rates are pants.

The Co-operative travel is best in our town, most travel agents match or better the best rate you find locally.
 
Actually my Aunt has always used M&S and claims it to be excellent. Couldn't tell if that was through laziness or if they provide decent rates.

Now that people are mentioning it here it's worth a gander.
 
You will get the best rate (and commission free) if you pre-book online with Travelex and collect at the airport. They even have a rate guarantee so if you happen to find anywhere else with a better rate (for that day) after you have ordered then you can send them the details and they will refund you the difference. If you are likely to bring back a large amount of unspent currency then you can also pay £3.99 for their 'buyback' which will guarantee the same rate when you change back into £.

I fly most weeks with my work. Trust me - I researched rates a lot when I started travelling and Travelex's online rates were almost always the best.

However, the flip side is that you should never just turn up at Travelex without pre-ordering online as you will get a really poor rate.
 
[TW]Fox;17532711 said:
No, he is right. The right credit card is cheaper than all debit cards bar the zero account from Santander.

Are you confusing it with buying currency on a card?
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I'm not confusing anything - the thread is about buying foreign currency.

If you use a credit card to withdraw cash abroad it will count as a cash transaction - you will pay a fee, a % of bp above interbank rate for the ccy and will be charged interest from the date of the purchase at their (higher) cash rate - if you already had a balance on the card from purchases then you'll need to pay that off before you stop getting charged the interest on your cash transactions.
 
Selekt0r said:
You will get the best rate (and commission free) if you pre-book online with Travelex and collect at the airport.
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Depends on the ccy I think.

We pre-ordered Latvian lats via a friend of a friend who worked there and sorted us out a discount - despite getting them at a better rate than posted on their display at the airport the rate I got from using a cash machine whilst in Riga was better still.

I suspect though that something like USD or EUR would be cheaper via travelex.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I ended up exchanging it at my hotel in the end. I got a very good deal which was very close to the rate on Xe.com.
 
dowie said:
If you use a credit card to withdraw cash abroad it will count as a cash transaction - you will pay a fee, a % of bp above interbank rate for the ccy and will be charged interest from the date of the purchase at their (higher) cash rate - if you already had a balance on the card from purchases then you'll need to pay that off before you stop getting charged the interest on your cash transactions.
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Only if you do so on the wrong credit card. Using the RIGHT credit card (Which is what the advise was, not using any old card) you can make cash withdrawls abroad with ZERO fee and exchange at the Visa base rate.

The ONLY charge is that your interest is charged from day of transaction not statement date.

Two cards which offer this:

1) Santander Zero. 18.9% APR charge from Day 1. No other charges, Visa bank rate.
2) Halifax Clarity. 12.9% APR charge from Day 1. No other charges, Visa bank rate.

If you pay off the balance within a month or so, effectively you are getting Visa bank rate cash withdrawls for a 1%ish handling fee.
 
Just wondering whether anyone has experience of using the pre-load top up mastercard/visa cards instead of carrying around cash. Been looking online at some of them and they have very good exchange rates and a fixed ATM withdrawal fee (which I think for the US was $3). One downside which I've come across so far is that you cannot view the balance remaining on the card.

I was looking at using http://www.fairfx.com/travelcardl though I know loads of people offer them like the post office, travelex etc.
 
Use the Santander Zero Card. Best for overseas as the company has merged and have made a point to be the best abroad in doing so.

Also, NOT THE POST OFFICE.

As fox said, rubbish rates, goto any of the places with the neon boards etc, and find the best rate witout commission if you need the cash before you go. Else, CARD.
 
I just took a quick look at the Post Office rates, they charge 2.5%+ so you can beat that with a 0% credit card or pre-paid card.
 
If you pick the right one, you get the current rate, no spread.

However change your money in the bank and you pay spread.

The term 0% commission is just balls, they make money on the spread.

You can get specific FX cards which track the true exchange rate, you load them up so no interest.
 
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