$£ exchange rate ( if you're going soon )

[vernon]

Many companies use last nights closing interbank rate to calculate their "rate for the day" . As it's trading down 150 points from yesterday this morning, if youre planning to change money in the next week or so today might be a good day to do it.
P.S. obviously no guarantee it won't go back up again later this week but it does seem the corperate investors are buying $s at the moment.

Current interbank rate is 1.5655 vs 1.5800 last night.

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Thanks Vernon. Jane and I are off to WDW next week (FX: loud shouts of joy), so I'll try to get to the For.Ex shop at lunchtime today.

Regards

Rob

[vernon]

Have a great trip Rob :)

[MalcolmC]

Just back from Florida this weekend.

The best deal I could find locally before we went was at .............The Post Office!

They had the best exchange rates and no commission.

I spent 2 or three days following the tourist rates from various sources and the PO was consistently the best.

[Kenbar]

In our town centre today lunchtime a travel agent was altering its rate down as I was passing so did a quick check on some of the others and banks and sure enough when you calculate the commission the Post Office came out best 1.5117 net for bills and very slightly more for T Cheques.

Also beware Going Places They advertize
"NO COMMISSION
buy back"

The no commission only applies to any surplus foreign currency you want to exchange back after your hols and NOT to the original transaction so
Sterling to dollars £2000 - commission charged
Dollars to sterling $50 - free of commission.
:rolleyes: Well big deal :rolleyes:

Ken

[vernon]

I might have to start a business myself soon as I'm going to have A LOT of $s to go after my house sale closes :)

[Boo Boo Too]

Thanks for the head's up on this: went out and got my dollars from the post office this afternoon ($455 for £300.95) - so a little over $1.51 per £.

Boo

[giggler]

i went into my local marks and spencer and they have just installed f/x
i got $1.53 to the £ and it was commision free
plus theres no commision for buy back on currency or t/cheques

this was the best deal in norwich yesterday
so i bought £500 worth because of the good rate
i do believe you can order over the phone and as long as you order over £500 you dont get any charges

giggler
:rolleyes:

[pauldents]

www.ttt.co.uk have a special offer ($1.56 US - £1.00 GBP commision rate of 1.75%). Is this a good deal?

BTW The FX analysts reckon the dollar rise(against GPB) may be short lived, apararently there is no specific reason why it got stronger today and the current trend is for the Dollar to keep falling. They say it will start to fall again on maybe Thurs/Fri.

Either way, todays rate is still great compared to the $1.34 - £1.00 rate i got in March from Thomas cook.

Paul

[kazzie]

I went back to work yesterday after a weeks annual leave(I work in a FE).
I was disgusted to see that we have been told by head office to bring the rate down manually from what it is,by half or one percent.I think that is such a rip off.Why can't they compete for business by being competitive? Just because the rate is good for the public why tweak the rates down I can't see any justification for this.

Also the manager has unplugged the rate board so people have to come in and ask the rates,and because we can't 'change' the rate on the board as we have in the shop.I thought it was law you have to show your exchange rates in the window?:p :mad:

[twinz]

It's nice to know other countries watch the US Dollar rate. You guys in the UK get a MUCH better rate then us poor soles in Canada. When ours is high, and the US is low...it's time to run for the bank! LOL
It'd be nice to have the exchange rate you guys get :)

[Hilary]

Kazzie - I noticed one of our High Street TAs (Thomas Cook, I think) had unplugged their rates board earlier this week. :(

Frankly, I know I wouldn't be bothered going in to a TA to ask about the rate, but I'm quite happy to do it at the Post Office where I've never seen a board! :crazy: I can only explain that by thinking its because I know the PO usually have one of the best rates available. As they've never had a board I guess it must be 'legal' not to display the rates.

I agree with you that the idea of manually tweaking the rates to squeeze a bit more out of the customer isn't funny!

[MalcolmC]

Our Main Post Offices round here (Bangor, Caernarfon, Llandudno) all have rate boards in the windows. But you can check the rates online so you don't have to leave your computer.

That's how I tracked the rates of about 10 different suppliers for about a week before I bought my currency at the PO.

[neilybealy]

i'm gonna ask a dumb question.......

we intend to take travellers cheques with us and a small amount of currency......

changing up the cash now for dollar currency whilst the rate is high means more cash but how does it affect getting travellers cheques??

don't you just buy £1000 of cheques and then when you need to change them in usa you get whatever the rate is at the time?

cheers

neil
:D

[Fantasia Sam]

Vernon - that does sound like a good little racket you could be in to there - I think you'd find plenty of customers here but you'd have to offer a good deal, as we're a pretty picky bunch LOL;)

[Kenbar]

Hi Niel

You must get dollar traveller cheques. When people go to europe they have sterling t cheques and get the rate on the day they use the cheque. They have to change that cheque into euros (used to be pesetas, escudos or whatever) and then spend the local currency.
On no account take sterling T cheques to Florida. you will only be able to change them into dollars at a bank or the odd rip off booth. Take dollar cheques. these you treat as cash. If you sign a $50 dollar cheque for a $30 dollar purchase you will receive your change in currency.
The advantages of cheques are that if you lose them you are reimbursed, and you may get a cent or two more buying them instead of dollar bills

Ken

[neilybealy]

Originally posted by Kenbar
Hi Niel

You must get dollar traveller cheques. When people go to europe they have sterling t cheques and get the rate on the day they use the cheque. They have to change that cheque into euros (used to be pesetas, escudos or whatever) and then spend the local currency.
On no account take sterling T cheques to Florida. you will only be able to change them into dollars at a bank or the odd rip off booth. Take dollar cheques. these you treat as cash. If you sign a $50 dollar cheque for a $30 dollar purchase you will receive your change in currency.
The advantages of cheques are that if you lose them you are reimbursed, and you may get a cent or two more buying them instead of dollar bills

Ken

ok got it

so in buying dollar T cheques now you get more for your money with the high rate

neil
:)

[neilybealy]

the post office website says the rate is now $1.5202

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I've always found that Travellers Cheques are a right pain. You will get a better rate of exchange when buying cash (better yet, use your credit card), and some places will require photo ID when you want to spend them. We normally take a couple of hundred dollars in small denomination notes for minor things (snacks in the parks, etc) and put everything else on the credit card. This gives us the best exchange rate and an extra 6 weeks interest free credit on our holiday costs.

Regards

Rob

[neilybealy]

but by the time your credit card company applies the rate it could be a lot lower than it is now

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Or a lot higher... :)

And you'll be earning interest on your holiday money in your bank account rather than having cash/TCs sitting in a drawer at home.

Regards

Rob

[neilybealy]

true

[Kenbar]

Hi neil

No one knows if the rate will go up or down. Rob is correct. The rate is far better on a credit card because you get the business rate not the tourist rate which could be 5 cents more. But:D to compare like with like you would have to compare on the same day. :confused: I'm confused now!!
If you think the rate will go down more than 5 cents before you travel - change money now. if you don't think so - use credit card when you're there.
HOWEVER:D Not everyone has enough credit on their card to finance the whole trip particularly if you have an outstanding balance before you fly.

Also Rob. I could be wrong but I think you get a slightly better deal buying chex over cash.

Ken

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Originally posted by Kenbar

Also Rob. I could be wrong but I think you get a slightly better deal buying chex over cash.

Ken

You might be right Ken becuase I stopped using TCs several years ago. At the time it was the case that TCs cost me more than cash, but that may have changed now. From the bank's point of view there is more administration involved in TCs: cash is a once-only transaction (when the customer buys them), but with TCs they will have to sell them to the customer AND convert them in to cash when the retailer deposits them in an account. This may lead to higher charges for buying TCs reflecting the true costs.

Regards

Rob

[Tony Bush]

Neil,

We took Dollar traveller cheques with us instead of sterling. You can use them as cash - no hassle trying to change them up.

Tony

[neilybealy]

cheers for the advice

[Boo Boo Too]

We have given up using travellers cheques and now use cash (brought with us) and credit/debit cards. If we run low on cash, then we use are LloydsTSB VISA debit cards to remove cash from ATMs. There are loads around (especially if you have a car) and they have a cursory $1.50 charge fir use (okay if you take $150 or so out at a time).

Saves caring too much cash around (the reason why most people use travellers cheques).

Boo

[neilybealy]

nationwide do not charge for using atms abroad

[Boo Boo Too]

I don't believe that Lloyds does either. The $1.50 charge is the service change from the local bank/atm company (nothing to do with your own bank) - it seems fairly standard over there.

Boo