Currency exchange rates in the Med

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changeman

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We will be cruising along the coasts of France, Italy and Greece this summer over an extended period.
Usually, when travelling for short periods we find we get a better exchange rate abroad than in the UK, but all are these countries now in Euroland.
So, what currency should we take and in which countries can we expect the best exchange rates?
Also, I have noted from previous post that the the generally accepted 'best' way of getting cash abroad is to get a Nationwide Flexaccount with a visa debit card.
Should this be a Euro account?
 
I just use my debit card in ATM's abroad in the meddy, no problems. Of course you only need one currency for the countries you are to visit.
 
You are correct that Nationwide seems to be currently the best Debit card with no loading (usually 2.75%) or withdrawal fee (usually 1.5%).

As I don't bank with them, I used my Liverpool Victoria Credit card this year which is one of the few with no loading in Europe. The exchange rate was always excellent. There is the usual CC 1.5% (min £1.50) charge for cash advances, but until very recently this gave you free credit until the payment date of next statement. Unfortunately they have now fallen in line with most others and interest is charged from the date of the advance. Of course, it is always best to pay as much as possible directly with the card.

An interesting observation: when the chip in my card was destroyed...not locked..by a EuroMarche checkout operator, it would still work in many ATMs so these must still be using the magnetic stripe (with online verification of PIN) rather than the chip. Fortunately wife's card on same a/c still worked fine.

Vic
 
True, they charge you, for card transactions, but try and exchange cash?? See how much they charge you. If you have pounds, then it doesn't really matter how you take them abroad, it costs.
 
I have a Euro account that gives me a debit card. I transfer some sterling in (via InterchangeFX or somesuch exchange place to get a good rate) then spend the Euros from the debit card. Withdrawls from an ATM do not attract any charge which is very handy.

Rick
 
Hi Rick,

That's an interesting method. Is your Euro account set up through your 'standard' bank, e.g. LlysdTSB, Barclays etc? And how do you contact/deal with InterchangeFX - I've never heard of it!

Would appreciate some info. PM me if you'd prefer.

Cheers Jerry
 
Oh, I did PM, sorry. Here it is again: InterchangeFX are one of a number of currency transaction places now - I've always found they did good rates for me (compared to the spot rate offered by my bank for instance). Obviously the more you do transfer in a single transaction, the better the rate...

As for a euro account, I think most banks are doing them though with varying functionality. Barclays were promising to have a visa card that could be 'attached' to a euro/dollar account last time I spoke to them a while back, but I fell out with them /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. I'm using Citibank (although you need to watch for their 'minimum balance' rules).

Rick
 
That is interesting. However Interchange are only selling Euros at
two hundredths less than the Post Office, which is the cheapest place
to buy Euros in Brighton. So for one short/medium length trip, where you take a
reasonable (or in my case unreasonable!) amount of cash with you,
the Post Office is very simple.
However Natwest were charging £2.19 plus "ERTF" £2.51 for 1000 Kuna,
using a Switch card in an ATM, nearly £5 every time!
No doubt a Euro account is a very good idea!
Do Interchange issue their own cards!?
 
Had a quick look at the link - the next question is what do the receiving banks charge.. I have a Royal Bank of Scotland account and I have a Euro account with them... I transfer funds from my current account to Euro account - FREE OF CHARGE -

With my Euro account cheque book I draw a cheque to myself and pay it into my French BNP Paris Bas account - now they charge me 'only' €17.50 per transaction because I am a 'special' customer otherwise it would be double! They credit my account within 5 days irrespective of when the funds actually reach then (no interest C/A)

The exchange rate is a small variation on the day I move the money from my UK C/A to my UK Euro A/C... Best method I have found so far..

Before I was with Credit Lyonnaise who charged around 25€ and took up to 6 weeks to receive the transfer and credit my French account. I left them and went to BNP Parisbas..

I would never try to give a UK euorcheque to anyone other than a bank - they would not thank you because of the time and costs involved at the Receiving end.

Not sure why it should be but major banks do not seem to to charge for putting money into Euro accounts or for handing it to the foreign bank.

I think when cruising a couple of credit cards which offer the best rate is the way to go....

Michael
 
If you're going buy the rates on the website ("Todays cash and travel rates"), I'm not suprised. You need to phone these places to get the better rates. Its the same with banks - they'll have a 'rate of the day' which is pretty poor and only changes during the day if a currency moves considerably against them during the day. However you'll often find you can get a 'spot' rate which is significantly better - though you may need to be transfering quite a bit more to get that rate.

Rick
 
Re: Brit account

swmbo sorts this. However, i believe Credit Agricole are doing an account specifically for brits, and hence transfer into that account is at commercial rates, not tourist. Then you get french chequebook and euro debit card too.
 
I thoroughly recommend a Nationwide debit card which is associated with their Flex Account. I used it exclusively last year on our voyage to Gib and back to withdraw cash from ATMs.
There are no transaction fees and their exchange rate is very good. If you have a Nationwide credit card, again they do not levy transaction fees.
 
Credit Agricole

Certainly the best for transferring £ into €, they give you bank rate BUT

You'll pay to draw € from a non-French bank (usually a charge by the ATMS owner) and there will be a charge for all cheques across national boundaries.

In fact you do have to pay - but it's a fixed charge (however small the £ cheque) + 0.5% on the value which is infinitely better than most others - so if in France I'd recommend it as the most economic way of getting £sterling over there (better than the Nationwide Flex account which still only gives you the Visa rate).
 
Re: Credit Agricole

What it seems to come down to is, take along a pile of Euros, bought in the UK at the best rate before departure.
Have an appropriate debit card on hand for emergency spending.
Now, where can I stash the cash????
 
Re: Credit Agricole

I really would not walk around with more cash on you than you can easily afford to loose. And maybe have a bit of violence inflicted at the same time!

Whilst stashing the dosh in the boat is probably OK and there are stacks of places it really is not 'street wise' to go to the café, shop or supermarket with large amounts of dosh in your pocket, purse, wallet. Use CCs even if it costs a little.
Michael
 
This seems to be the best so far. It's not the exchange rate that usually gets you, it's the hidden charges on top that come as a surprise.
 
We have opened a Halifax savings bank account in Spain. We needed to open it with 600 euros and we pay approx £25 a year so that we do not have to keep a minimum balance. They speak English and we can manage our account electronically. They have an English help line so its really easy to manage. We opened it from the UK and they posted everything to us, we only needed to visit a local Halifax branch to get our proof of id documents certified.

I also have a Halifax account here, we can transfer funds from that to our Spanish account in euros free of all charges and at a reasonable exchange rate.

Our Spanish account gives us a debit card which we can use in shops and in a number of cashcard machines free of charges, so for us thats the best way to get euros.

I also have a Bank of Scotland Euro account into which I transfer money bought through money brokers Travelex or HIFX - we use these for larger conversions and they both give considerably better rates than banks, though as always the larger the amount changed the better the rate. We are buying a place in Spain and we will only keep this account open untill the place is paid for because it needs a high minimum balance.

What you have to watch with many overseas banks and in particular Spanish ones is that they will often make a charge of 0.35% of the incoming funds just for receiving them. On large transactions this can come as a painful surprise
 
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