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Best £ to € exchange rates?
nick205 - 17/6/16 at 08:38 AM

Hi All,

Off to Portugal in July for summer holiday and looking for the best £ to € exchange rates. Locally (Winchester) the best seems to be €1.2414 to £1.00. Don't want to appear tight, just interested in getting the best deal.

Does anyone know of a better rate and where to go for it?

Thanks,
Nick

prawnabie - 17/6/16 at 09:25 AM

I wouldn't hang on for too long!!

Jamesc - 17/6/16 at 09:32 AM

I've also been looking at holiday money recently. Found this quite helpful:

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

Not sure whether to buy half now and half after the ref...

harmchar - 17/6/16 at 09:48 AM

Check Tesco. They are doing a deal for loyalty card members just now. My better half has been digging around and Tesco is best for us just now.
Regards
Charlie.

nick205 - 17/6/16 at 09:53 AM

I fear you're right to get it done sooner rather than later!

Hadn't looked at Tesco, but will see what they offer - thanks.

steve m - 17/6/16 at 10:54 AM

Buying foreign currency is not all about how good the deal is to buy, but also the deal to sell back the remainder when you get back

steve

nick205 - 17/6/16 at 11:50 AM

quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Buying foreign currency is not all about how good the deal is to buy, but also the deal to sell back the remainder when you get back

steve



Not wrong, but as I don't plan to come back with any it's not a great worry for me this time

MP3C - 17/6/16 at 11:59 AM

I got from my local place 250 euros about 3 days ago for £202, wasnt a bad exchange rate and alot better than the post office I went to.

was a booth in the middle of Kettering but the compayn is euroexchange

Matt

mcerd1 - 17/6/16 at 12:30 PM

I mostly just take my credit / debit cards now.
My credit card gives me commission free purchases in Europe and uses Visa's exchange rate (which is about as good as you can ever get)

For cash with the debit card I get charged £1 per withdrawal + 1% on top of the visa rate


Just have to be careful to do the transactions / withdrawals in euros - that way I get these rates - some machines offer you the chance to do it in your own currency, but then you pay their banks rates which are nearly always more....


See the rate here
https://www.visaeurope.com/making-payments/exchange-rates

Obviously it changes daily, but you've nothing to sell back after.....

[Edited on 17/6/2016 by mcerd1]

coozer - 17/6/16 at 02:38 PM

I tend to wait till the rate is over 1.40 then buy a couple thousand...

Check the rate on Bloomberg then go down the shops and find the best rate (avoiding the postoffice)

The jewellers offer the best rates ( lowest spread) round here.

Dave Bailey - 18/6/16 at 09:42 AM

Whatever rate you get don't do what we did. Look around get the best rate, leave them on the kitchen side then have to buy again at the airport at a horrendously poor rate!

Matt21 - 18/6/16 at 07:47 PM

I use fairfx credit cards for the bulk of my travel money now.

I've used the dollar and euro ones and they're spot on. You just add what you want before you go (or top up when you run out) and use it as a normal card.
When you get home you can withdraw funds from a cash machine, I think it charges you a small amount. But I always aim to spend what ever I put on it in the country I'm visiting.

I tend to find the supermarkets give the best and easiest exchanges for cash.