Should I change my currency now or wait?

[penlanspice]

I have a currency dilema! Just looking for some advice!!

We have to change £10,000 to pay for our wedding and a company has offered us $1.86 (the buisness rate) so my dilema is should we hold out until after this fedral meeting this week and hope for a rise or buy now incase there is a decrease???

Thanks guys

Sam

 

[carolfoy]

BIG decision!!! yeek! last year I bought currency at £1.86 and the rate went up just slightly for about a week after, I think the max it went to was about £1.90, it dipped really quickly though. If it was me, I'd buy now.

 

[Oddjob]

Buy Now!!
It cost me 1.66 in December...

 

[Amyrlin]

It is a difficult one, The Fed Reserve meets on May 10th, if they put intrest rates up then the dollar will stregthen (the rate of $ to the £ will go down). However, the Fed, prior to this drop in dollar value, indicated they would not be increasing interest rates, if they don't it will probably get even weaker (more $ to the £), so we don't know.

If you arer happy with the current rate then it is probably worth taking the plunge and getting some. By the lok of many banks, that are keeping the rates down, they pappear to think the dollar will strengthen.

 

[gilld]

Why don't you buy £500 now and wait and see for the rest?

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I would buy now, the rate is very good at the moment.

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

I'm going to our nearest M&S bureau this afternoon to get some dollars just in case it drops after this meeting. It is a dilemma as you have a lot of money to change. I hope it works out for you.

 

[kristieuk]

It's impossible to know the best to thing to do, but if someone had offered you 1.86 a couple of months ago, I'm sure you would have jumped at the chance, so I say go for it too....the rate has fallen only slightly since yesterday, but if interest rates do go up tomorrow, you will be kicking yourself.

We are in a similar position to you in that we have a lot of wedding stuff to pay for in $ (although not enough to get the market rate), and we have just been trying to buy when the rate is good - I changed our last £1k today and got 1.825 - I had budgeted on getting a rate of $1.74 back last year, but have always got more like 1.80, so it's a bonus for us.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[penlanspice]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Looks although my question has kind of answered itself anyway! we have our money in premium bonds and we originally told we could get it within 3 days, now we have gone ahead with the withdrawal and have to wait around 5. So that takes us to the end of the week! Lets hope for good news on the dollar after wednesday (well good news for us brit's anyway)

Kristie - We budgeted on $1.75 so anything above that is going to be a bonus for us, we already have quite a few grand in our US bank account that we have take over the last few times and had a good rate on that also. A few weeks ago we were a little worried as the dollar was quite bad and looking like our Disney wedding was going over budget!!! So Yeah for the dollar

 

[musketeer]

I think i would buy now

 

[kristieuk]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Looks although my question has kind of answered itself anyway! we have our money in premium bonds and we originally told we could get it within 3 days, now we have gone ahead with the withdrawal and have to wait around 5. So that takes us to the end of the week! Lets hope for good news on the dollar after wednesday (well good news for us brit's anyway)

Kristie - We budgeted on $1.75 so anything above that is going to be a bonus for us, we already have quite a few grand in our US bank account that we have take over the last few times and had a good rate on that also. A few weeks ago we were a little worried as the dollar was quite bad and looking like our Disney wedding was going over budget!!! So Yeah for the dollar

Good luck - I really hope you get a great rate. I was getting a little worried about the $ too a couple of months back - it wouldn't even seem to hit 1.70. At least we under-budgeted, and it picked up again!

What $ account have you got? We opened a Citibank account which has a cheque book - the main reason we needed it was to write deposit cheques etc - but we had some $ in cash which you can only pay into a Citibank branch - so it means a trip to London or Manchester for us I'm afraid!!

 

[penlanspice]

We have a Suntrust account, that we opened in orlando. It has been great for us. You only deposit money from her in the for of a cheque though. Thomas Exchange usualy offer good rates and I think we had a cheque/bankers draft from them for a couple of thousand for about £10. It's been really handy for paying Randy and Stan etc. Plus we usually take all our money in dollars and deposit it into our account and use our card instead of carrying cash.

 

[lawlesslovewdw]

We have a Suntrust account, that we opened in orlando. It has been great for us. You only deposit money from her in the for of a cheque though. Thomas Exchange usualy offer good rates and I think we had a cheque/bankers draft from them for a couple of thousand for about £10. It's been really handy for paying Randy and Stan etc. Plus we usually take all our money in dollars and deposit it into our account and use our card instead of carrying cash.

How easy is it to open a us bank account being a UK resident. We dont own any property in usa. What would we have to take with us in forms of ID?

 

[brer rabbit 28]

I got mine with travelex.I ordered it online at $1.79,then you collect it from your nearest travelex stand (in my case manchester airport).This is great as you don't have to worry about good old royal mail losing your holiday dosh.

Incidentally,the rate to buy over the counter at travelex on monday was only $1.70-massive difference if you are getting a substantial amount.

 

[penlanspice]

How easy is it to open a us bank account being a UK resident. We dont own any property in usa. What would we have to take with us in forms of ID?

It's really easy, you just need your pasport and I think your driving licence. I know some people have had problems in the past. But it was really simple and only took around 20 min.

 

[lawlesslovewdw]

It's really easy, you just need your pasport and I think your driving licence. I know some people have had problems in the past. But it was really simple and only took around 20 min.

Thank you Will give it a go when we are out there

 

[penlanspice]

Just to let you know our gamble kinda paid off. Our money came through this morning and have now just bought at $1.87. We didn't have the nerve to wait until next week and see how things pan out!! Oh well it's better than the $1.75 we budgeted at.
Thanks for the advice.

Sam

 

[Miffy2003]

That is a great rate Sam, well done!