Crown Currency

[Chilly]

When you order your money with Crown Currency do you put your real flight date or do you say you are flying earlier to make sure you get it in time?

 

[crabbie1]

I didnt I put in 2 weeks before to ensure delivery on time plus I got a better rate having it delivered earlier

 

[wayneg]

I wouldn't use them but surely you might as well get them delivered as soon as you can for the best rate possible, for example their best rate now is 31/01/11 - 12/07/11, is there any reason to leave your money with them until July when you can have it on 31st Jan?
Getting the best rate possible and your money back ASAP has to be the way to go rather than anything to do with your flight.

 

[Chilly]

I didnt I put in 2 weeks before to ensure delivery on time plus I got a better rate having it delivered earlier

Thanks

I wouldn't use them but surely you might as well get them delivered as soon as you can for the best rate possible, for example their best rate now is 31/01/11 - 12/07/11, is there any reason to leave your money with them until July when you can have it on 31st Jan?
Getting the best rate possible and your money back ASAP has to be the way to go rather than anything to do with your flight.

Why would you not use them Wayne?

 

[kristieuk]

Just to echo in part what Wayne has siad, I get the delivery the earliest date I can within the price bracket I have chosen, just makes sense to have it in hand asap.

I don't want to put words in Wayne's mouth, but I think some people decide they are not willing to take any risk whatever with their cash, even if it does mean getting a better rate. As you will appreciate, you pay for currency today that you might not get for a couple of months or however long you choose, and there is no financial guarantee if anyhting were to go wrong. However, many people here have used them many times - including myself - and they have continued to provide a reliable service. It's a matter for the individual

 

[wayneg]

Basically you are giving money to a company not covered by the FSA, they have financial problems chances are you lose your money but they have been trading a while and have many happy customers, to me its not worth the risk, others think its an acceptable risk.
If you search there are loads of threads about them.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2024200&highlight=crown

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2225857&highlight=crown+currency

 

[wilma-bride]

Claire, I'm with Wayne on this one - not a risk I woud take for the sake of a few dollars.

If you take, for example, the rate that CCE are currently offering for delivery from 1-24 Sep (assuming that is what you are looking at), for £1000 you will get $1517.60.

With Fairfx, as a comparison, if you opened and loaded a new Fairfx card today, for £1000 you would get $1480. And, if you left it until 1st September (when you would get your money from CCE), you might even get a better rate anyway (or any date in between - the point being at least your money is accessible to you still if the rate improves in the meantime).

Personally, for the sake of $37.60 I would rather go with a company where I have some comeback if something goes wrong.

 

[ford family]

Claire, I'm with Wayne on this one - not a risk I woud take for the sake of a few dollars.

If you take, for example, the rate that CCE are currently offering for delivery from 1-24 Sep (assuming that is what you are looking at), for £1000 you will get $1517.60.

With Fairfx, as a comparison, if you opened and loaded a new Fairfx card today, for £1000 you would get $1480. And, if you left it until 1st September (when you would get your money from CCE), you might even get a better rate anyway (or any date in between - the point being at least your money is accessible to you still if the rate improves in the meantime).

Personally, for the sake of $37.60 I would rather go with a company where I have some comeback if something goes wrong.

Not sure I follow this argument.
If you left the transaction until 1st September you might equally get a worse rate, no?
Is Fairfx covered by the FSA?
If you put $ on the card sometime before you go and Fairfx go bust in the meantime is your money safe?
What comeback do you have with Fairfx that you don't have with Crown?

Just curious.

ford family

 

[tinks_1989]

I would put the first date possible in your date bracket I am but due to work as need to be in to sign for it.

I personally wouldn't ever use a fair fx card but we are all different

 

[wilma-bride]

I personally wouldn't ever use a fair fx card but we are all different

Just out of interest, why not?

 

[wilma-bride]

Not sure I follow this argument.
If you left the transaction until 1st September you might equally get a worse rate, no?
Is Fairfx covered by the FSA?
If you put $ on the card sometime before you go and Fairfx go bust in the meantime is your money safe?
What comeback do you have with Fairfx that you don't have with Crown?

Just curious.

ford family

I didn't say you would necessarily get a better rate - the point I was trying to make is that I wouldn't take the risk for the sake of $30ish.

Fairfx itself is not regulated by the FSA as such, however the card is issued by Newcastle Building Society who, in turn, are authorised and regulated by the FSA. So, yes, I think you probably have more peace of mind with Fairfx than Crown Currency.

All I am doing here is giving an opinion, which I am perfectly entitled to do. If you read my post (which you quoted) I did say 'peronally'

 

[2Tiggies]

Personally, for the sake of $37.60 I would rather go with a company where I have some comeback if something goes wrong.

Or to put it in a different perpective, if Crown offered you insurance on your £1000 to guarantee you the money and charged $37.60 for it, I am sure some folk would take up the offer. Just a thought.

Just out of interest, why not?

Well whatever the reason, it can't be to do with customer support. They have been faultless and I "test" new companies I haven't used before by emailing questions over a period of time to see how they respond, how quick they are and whether they address my questions adequately. I made them work for me and even after I got my card I needed some help and information and their efficiency was faultless.

 

[ford family]

I didn't say you would necessarily get a better rate - the point I was trying to make is that I wouldn't take the risk for the sake of $30ish.

Fairfx itself is not regulated by the FSA as such, however the card is issued by Newcastle Building Society who, in turn, are authorised and regulated by the FSA. So, yes, I think you probably have more peace of mind with Fairfx than Crown Currency.

All I am doing here is giving an opinion, which I am perfectly entitled to do. If you read my post (which you quoted) I did say 'peronally'

I appreciate you are only giving your personal opinion, I was just just curious why one looks better to you than the other in case I was missing something important. I have not used either company as yet.
The Newcastle Building Society as issuer seems irrelevant to me, they are just performing a service function in the same way as Mastercard do on another Fairfx card, they are not responsible for the financial probity of the company.
I notice that Crown are registered with the FSA for their role under the Payment Service Regulations.

In a very real sense you "pays your money and takes your choice". I was simply interested in what factors drove people to choose different paths.

ford family

 

[fuse04]

We have used CCE several times without any problems and I choose the earliest delivery date for the best rate I can get. Last year we used them and broke even on what we could have got when we were in US.

This year we got $1.76, compared to $1.42 at the post office today which is a 'saving/profit' of £215 on a £900 investment; think of it getting 23% discount on everything we spend in US

 

[crabbie1]

We have used CCE several times without any problems and I choose the earliest delivery date for the best rate I can get. Last year we used them and broke even on what we could have got when we were in US.

This year we got $1.76, compared to $1.42 at the post office today which is a 'saving/profit' of £215 on a £900 investment; think of it getting 23% discount on everything we spend in US

Ditto but we only got 1.58 but are happy with that £1200 =$1896. First time with CC and am a bit wary after reading some of the reports but also trust people that have used them loads before. Delivery 3/09/2010 so fingers crossed.The luck Im having tiggs2 you never know

 

[Chilly]

Thanks for everyone's POV

 

[london75]

I think they are at their best when the live rate is falling as they frequently have future rates that exceed todays rate.

When the rate is rising, they are not such good value.

I've used them on numerous occasions and saved significant amounts of money and I really mean significant, ie well over $1000 dollars in profit over high street options or Fair FX.

This trip in August, however, my trusty Nationwide debit card is my best friend and I've not ordered anything from them

 

[PChef]

I have ordered some currency from them for August delivery. I know there is a small risk but I am happy with it to get the rate I wanted. It is just a small amount to have cash in hand when I get there, the rest of our spends will be on our Nationwide cards.

 

[tinks_1989]

Just out of interest, why not?

Nothing against them I shouldn't of said fair fx card I jst mean card in general as we don't purchase any thing of large amount only a few dollars for drinks and I wouldn't want to slow ques down for using a card on 4 or 5 dollars but after the recent report of card fraud I think these cards are a good idea for charging to the room.

I love the smell of dollars and get excited about going to change our money it's the bgining of the holiday for us



What's minimum you can put on the card

 

[Disneymad]

I wouldn't want to slow ques down for using a card on 4 or 5 dollars

I'm not sure if this is what you're referencing and I'm reading it wrong, but most places you don't have to sign for purchases under hmm, fuzzy memory says $50. Therefore you literally just swipe your card and you're done - if anything it's faster than paying in cash as you're not messing about with all those silly pennies.

I know that's not what this thread is about, but as it came up and as a person who puts most of her spends on a card in one form or another on holiday rather than use cash I figured I'd throw that snippet out there