currency exchange help please.

[dave21478]

I will be heading back to UK for a week or so, and wish to change about €1000 into Sterling. Is this best done in France or UK? Anywhere offering good rates? There is nowhere really local to me that could do it, but I assume there will be planty of places in and around Calais and Dover. I would also assume they will perhaps not be the best rate?

[pachapapa]

I find reasonable rates at travel agents that advertise that they will buy back any €uros without commission that you have not spent.

 

 

[idun]

Probably M&S or the Post Office in the UK or La Poste in France.

 

The trouble with the no commission places is that the exchange rate can be off enough to more than compensate for not charging commission. Not all do it, but some do.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="idun"]

Probably M&S or the Post Office in the UK or La Poste in France.

 

The trouble with the no commission places is that the exchange rate can be off enough to more than compensate for not charging commission. Not all do it, but some do.

[/quote]

Your point on no commission places is perfectly valid.

But I go to a travel agent in hereford who guarantee to buy back at no loss any euros remaining from the wad of euros that one has previously purchased from them before going on holiday.[;-)]

[idun]

So you have found someone that gives you the same rate, taking into account the daily variations? WOW, impressed. How do they do that then? Believe me when I say that no one around here does that. Are you a special customer?

I have pm'd you;

[Patf]

A euro doesn't buy many £s at the moment and the rate's going down.

OTOH  obviously it's a better time to change £s to euros.

[pachapapa]

No they have a big notice in the window, attracts punters to change there and not at a bank.

Another good deal is to buy travellers checks in the target currency, these are changed at face value; there was a place in portsmouth that sold travellers cheques at cool rates.

[Gardian]

I'd certainly avoid the Channel Port places.

Quite frankly, for the amount involved, I'd just walk in to your closest one of the High St banks and get it changed.

It mightn't, in fact almost certainly won't be the best rate you could obtain, but do you want to spend £20 in fuel trailing round the UK for the optimum deal?  If it was £20k, yes.  For £1k, no.  

[Dart16]

If it is something you might be doing more than once I would suggest you take a look at www.currencyfair.co.uk, register with them, register a sterling and a euro account and you can swap currencies between them at or very near to the interbank rate and it costs 3 euros per transaction. It seems to take about 3 or 4 days for the money to complete its journey

[Jo]

That seems a very good rate and the charge very reasonable indeed, is there a minimum/maximum amount allowed? Has anyone else used them?

[Benjamin]

[quote user="idun"]

Probably M&S or the Post Office in the UK or La Poste in France.

[/quote]

I wouldn't go anywhere near The Post Office!

Try http://www.travelex.co.uk/uk/personal/buyback.aspx

It's called Buy Back Plus and costs £3.99 a transaction.

[suein56]

[quote user="Jo"]That seems a very good rate and the charge very reasonable indeed, is there a minimum/maximum amount allowed? Has anyone else used them?[/quote]

Following Tinabee's advice I looked Currency Fair up. Satisfied and reassured I opened an account and have been using them to try and take advantage of the increase in the value of the £ this week. So far so good, though their present receiving Bank is a tad slow to credit your deposit but I understand they will be changing this Bank in the very near future. Trading is v fast, painless and transfers out are speedy and cheap.

For me the best thing is not losing sight of my money ... I can trace it at all times as CF's accountancy system seems pretty nifty to me.

So no complaints so far.

Edit: There doesn't seem to be any minimum values and some peole seem to be trading large house-size type sums, so the maximum must be high.

Sue

[idun]

[quote user="Benjamin"][quote user="idun"]

Probably M&S or the Post Office in the UK or La Poste in France.

[/quote]


I wouldn't go anywhere near The Post Office!

Try http://www.travelex.co.uk/uk/personal/buyback.aspx

It's called Buy Back Plus and costs £3.99 a transaction.



[/quote]

 

Why wouldn't you go near the PO B?  I have checked their rates in the past and they have been as good as I could get locally and an office sur place, rather than having to drive. Sometimes I have to take into account a tenner's worth of petrol to change money.

[Benjamin]

[quote user="idun"]

Why wouldn't you go near the PO B?

[/quote]

We have a Post Office within the Co-op in the village and whenever I go in to buy a stamp or something their exchange rates, especially for amounts of less than £600 (and very  little better for higher amounts), are eye wateringly low.

Thomas Cook are another exchange to try. I think you can order on line and then collect from your nearest travel agency. No idea how they fare on buy-back.

[idun]

It's a while since I used them, that is why I was wondering. I always check the rates before I buy though.

[Benjamin]

I'm a bit busy for the next few days (Bridge tournament) but I'll give you some actual rates later in the week.

[idun]

Benjamin, I don't need any rates. In fact I rarely exchange currency these days, we use Torfx for transfer income from France to the UK and that is us done.

Now if we can ever get our last jobs done on this house and the tax man paid we may start getting a few pennies together to travel a bit.