Frederick Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Ohhhhhh dear ! http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/256306/256306 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Why would anyone exchange at an airport. It is possible to get better exchange rates elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 [quote user="idun"]Why would anyone exchange at an airport. It is possible to get better exchange rates elsewhere.[/quote]Like Oxford St & Tottenham Ct RdK.[:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Yes in M&S in Oxford St, M&S don't do bad tourist rates at all, if a person has to have tourist rates, that or the Post Office, may be one of them on Oxford St? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 [quote user="idun"]Why would anyone exchange at an airport. It is possible to get better exchange rates elsewhere.[/quote]Because they are ignorant and stupid is why. Lot's of people do it though, how do you think the Travelex bureaux at most major airports exist, they suck the the punters in with their offers of no commission and buy back deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Just by going to The Post Office will get you 1.0759 Euros to the pound.http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/foreignexchange?type=buy&pageId=fex_main&catId=19300210&mediaId=21600429 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I went to Prague with a few friends. In France we could not buy czech koruna before leaving, nowhere would sell them to us. I used my card in a bank machine at the airport in Prague, a friend went to a little window in the middle of town and changed euros and got well and truly ripped off.I had told her not she shouldn't, but she did. And this is someone who is 99.9% of the time very cautious with her money. So yes, people do stupid things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 [quote user="Quillan"]Just by going to The Post Office will get you 1.0759 Euros to the pound.http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/foreignexchange?type=buy&pageId=fex_main&catId=19300210&mediaId=21600429[/quote] Trouble with these sites is that they only give the selling rate and not the buying rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Marks and Spencers early this morning were offering to sell 1.06 etc and to buy at 1.19etc. Nice little profit there nez pah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 [quote user="idun"]Marks and Spencers early this morning were offering to sell 1.06 etc and to buy at 1.19etc. Nice little profit there nez pah![/quote]With a "spread" like that they can afford not to charge commission.[B][:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Too true. It always makes me laugh when people tell me that there is no commission when they bring their euros back from holiday, no, there is not, just the exchange rate they get takes care of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 A friend of mine is a Bank Manager. He says the most expensive way to buy and sell euros is to do it in the UK (or any non euro country). Transporting a few hand fulls of euros about the UK is relatively expensive, so that charge is passed on. Even though they charge you to use your card when out of the country it is still cheaper than buying euros here. As ATM's are quite common in European Airports, Sea Ports and Eurostar destinations, the best thing to do is wait til you get to France and get your money there (and then keep some when you come home so that you've got enough for a snack or toilet when you next go). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Well, I think the best way is what we'll do when our daughter visits. We'll give her however many euros she wants, then she'll deposit the equivalent in sterling into our UK bank account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I have always exchanged £ and € with friends and family. It is of benefit to us all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 On one of my first ever trip abroad (0ver 30 years ago) the reps were very busy exchanging money on the airport transfers, they were giving a better deal than anywhere else and yet they admitted that they made a very healthy profit and understood why Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. SIC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 [quote user="JohnM"]A friend of mine is a Bank Manager. He says the most expensive way to buy and sell euros is to do it in the UK (or any non euro country). Transporting a few hand fulls of euros about the UK is relatively expensive, so that charge is passed on. Even though they charge you to use your card when out of the country it is still cheaper than buying euros here. As ATM's are quite common in European Airports, Sea Ports and Eurostar destinations, the best thing to do is wait til you get to France and get your money there (and then keep some when you come home so that you've got enough for a snack or toilet when you next go).[/quote] Obviously not a Barclays Manager then. I just got my new Bcard and the new T&Cs.The costs for overseas transactions were somewhat steep. The costs for withdrawing money at a non Barclay ATM was also rather high and they stressed that these costs were additive. In total taking money out of a French ATM outside of a major city where there might just be a Barclays will lighten the load by over 5%!!! No wonder the banks are bouncing back - needless to say I will not be availing myself of their services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Ouch! No he isn't Barclays he is HSBC. In the light of that I will phone him to ensure that his advice is still the same. I will also ask if it will save me money to have an account with whichever French bank HSBC owns as, I asked once before and he did say that transfers between HSBC banks ought to be cheaper, but he would check and I forgot to chase up the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 My information about HSBC in France, if you are already living here, is that you need to have a substantial sum of money in order for them to be interested in opening an account for you.Mind you, this is just from personal annecdote, so I am not sure if it's true.Will be good to have some facts, JM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 No actually you didn't need to have lots of dosh at one time. The HSBC owned some 'normal' banks too, and we went to one, then they sold it to the Banque Populaire, the bank we left to go to our new bank. Grrrrrrrr I daresay that they still own the CCF, we went in there and they were not interested in us and our little account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnM Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Reet nthen, I spoke to my HSBC friend and asked if he still thought the same way about the cheapest way to get euros and he said "yes". So I told him about Barclays and he said "Wow, that's expensive, well it's certainly the cheapest way with HSBC". I then asked about sending money between HSBC's and he said, "Probably not in France as CCF is a commercial bank.... but if you want to open an Hong Kong HSBC bank and a UK one, transfers will be cheaper.... " I hit him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 LOL not literally, I hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 LOL, literally, I hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Now with Travelex you can order on line and collect at the airport and this is what we used to do.It was absolutely amazing the difference in rate that we got using this method compared to what was on offer at the counter when we collected. Suppose they can offer terrible rates as they have a captive audience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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