The continued plunge of £/€

[charles_reed]

Three weeks ago the £ reached a very respectable €1.20/£.
This morning, on all the bad news about UK recovery it had slipped back to €1.15/£.

That certainly makes budgeting hellish difficult, especially with all the UK banks charging you through the nose for the privilege of withdrawing your own cash in €.

I think I've found one that doesn't need you to keep your money in their hands, and - more importantly - doesn't charge you a premium when you use a non-UK ATMS.

Needless to say it isn't British or US.

More when I've actually drawn some money through them.

 

[dt4134]

Three weeks ago the £ reached a very respectable €1.20/£.
This morning, on all the bad news about UK recovery it had slipped back to €1.15/£.

That certainly makes budgeting hellish difficult, especially with all the UK banks charging you through the nose for the privilege of withdrawing your own cash in €.

I think I've found one that doesn't need you to keep your money in their hands, and - more importantly - doesn't charge you a premium when you use a non-UK ATMS.

Needless to say it isn't British or US.

More when I've actually drawn some money through them.

Are you seriously getting your Euros by making an ATM withdrawal from a Sterling bank account? Get yourself a Euro account (even if it is at a UK bank) and transfer amounts at the best rate you can get (and take advantage of the fluctuations).

 

[duncan99210]

Or get yourself a pre-paid Euro mastercard from a foreign exchange company such as Caxton. No charge for withdrawing your hard earned cash and a much better rate of exchange than using your UK bank card in an ATM. All top ups can be done either via the internet or mobile phone.

 

[jordanbasset]

Used to use the Nationwide Flex card, but since they started charging have opened a Fairfx account. Recommended by moneysavingexpert.com. If you go through their website also get the card for free instead of £12. Can load it up at time of your choice to optimise exchange rate. No withdrawal fees, been very good so far.

 

[curlysue]

Cumberland Building Society

We have just opened an account with the Cumberland Building Society to replace our Nationwide Flex account. They offer free withdrawals at foreign ATMs. This is a current account so has to have set amount going in each month.

 

[BlueChip]

Used to use the Nationwide Flex card, but since they started charging have opened a Fairfx account. Recommended by moneysavingexpert.com. If you go through their website also get the card for free instead of £12. Can load it up at time of your choice to optimise exchange rate. No withdrawal fees, been very good so far.

I have a FairFX card and as Jordon Basset says it's great, BUT there is a commission charge for each cash withdrawal, it's not a lot, maybe 1.5-2 euros each time, but if you use it for small cash withdrawals it actually has quite an effect on the effective exchange rate.

I also have a CaxtonFX card, that can also be had free but it doesnt have a commission charge. The rates offered are not quite as good as FairFX though, so its swings and roundabouts which is best. I generally carry both with me when in Europe.

 

[jordanbasset]

Hi Blue Chip, yes you are right, forget about that. As I get 500 euros out at a time I had discounted the 1.5 - 2 euros as negligible, but that cost definitely worth bearing in mind if you withdraw smaller amounts.

 

[lurob]

We have a sterling savings a/c & a euro current a/c with debit card, both with Citibank. No charges, works well for us.

 

[vyv_cox]

We have a sterling savings a/c & a euro current a/c with debit card, both with Citibank. No charges, works well for us.

But what exchange rate do they give you? One thing you can bet on: if the Euro card is supposedly without additional charge they will recover your money for themselves in some other way.

 

[Koeketiene]

But what exchange rate do they give you? One thing you can bet on: if the Euro card is supposedly without additional charge they will recover your money for themselves in some other way.

The Citibank exchange rate is not bad - better than most High Street banks.

For years, we had a US, UK and an account in a Eurozone country with Citibank. You could transfer money anywhere in the world FOC as long as it was from one Citibank account to another. Typical margin on a £ -> € transfer was € 0.02 which I thought very reasonable.

 

[duncan99210]

Of course they do but generally speaking the rates on offer are a good deal better than that offered by banks for ATM transactions.

 

[lurob]

Not sure what the exact exchange rate is, I think it's quite competitive though (TBH, it's the skipper who's currency manager!). We've had some good deals buying euros in bulk & paying this directly into the euro a/c, but just managed to miss getting stung badly with Crowne Currency exchange before they went bust!

 

[Andy and Lyn]

agree that there is no such thing as "for free" but for me CAXTON fx is as good as it gets. Just top it up when the exchange is good !!

 

[charles_reed]

There are, of course obvious charges, eg that Nationwide are making of £1 + 2%, that we can all be aware of.
I am a little surprised at those who claim they don't know the "profit" their card makes on their transaction, in addition to any stated charge. The only way to check the rate you get is against the mid-market currency rate.

Most credit or debit cards use either the Visa or Mastercard networks; right now Visa is charging 0.04% whilst Mastercard is generously giving 0.024%.
The two prepay cards make a whopping exchange charge in addition to the Fairfax declared charge - in the case of Caxton it's 2.54% and Fairfax 2.83%.
These all can and will vary as the £/€ rate varies.

You're all right - no-one offers quite as bad a rate as the UK banks, it varies between 5-8%.

Only the folk who have the Cumberland card appear to have done their research - that genuinely doesn't make a charge BUT you have to have a certain minimum income paid in every month and ONLY use that account.

In all cases you have to put your money in BEFORE you make a foreign ATMS withdrawal.

The card I have found makes no charges, either up front or on withdrawal, gives you up to 54 days to pay and uses the Mastercard network.
I hesitate to broadcast it - it does seem to good to be true - but will share it's name, as and when I've tested it through some transactions.

It does make certain prior demands - in terms of credit-rating and prior financial involvement.

 

[jordanbasset]

Hi Charles from moneysaving expert.com

"The Cheapest Overall: FairFx.
No spending or 'load' fees, plus free £5 bonus

The FairFX* prepaid card, which must be applied for online, charges no spending or foreign 'loading' fees, and can be topped up for free by debit card or bank transfer.

Apply via its own website and there's a £9.95 application fee, but the link above takes you through comparison site Moneysupermarket, meaning the fee is waived provided you load more than €10/$20.

To get the fee structure described here, you must select either Euros or Dollars - so obviously no good if you need a more exotic currency. If you go for the third option - the Anywhere card - you'll be hit with a 1.5% charge for every transaction.

However, with FairFx it's the rate on each day you load up (not spend) that counts. So if the pound strengthens after you load the card, you will lose out. Though conversely if it weakens you'd gain. You get a different rate each time you load the card.

The only cost is €1.50/$2 to withdraw cash from an ATM, less than most credit or debit cards. You get FairFx's own exchange rate, which changes daily but generally beats the other prepaid cards and cash rates (compare it with TravelMoneyMax.com's best)."

Having tried other cards (Halifax Clarity and Nationwide Credit) which were both recommended as giving good rates have found the Fairfx card better. Best feature is being able to fix the exchange rate when most favourable.
Would be very interested in the card you are looking at now

 

[Wandering Star]

The only cost is €1.50/$2 to withdraw cash from an ATM, less than most credit or debit cards. You get FairFx's own exchange rate, which changes daily but generally beats the other prepaid cards and cash rates (compare it with TravelMoneyMax.com's best)."

This card sounds as though it's just what I need. Looking at their website, it appears the maximum credit I can hold on the Fairfx card is the Dollar equivalent of £2400. Is that correct? I can't though, identify what the maximum amount I can withdraw from an ATM in one transaction is? Do you know?

I'm refitting my new (old) boat in Titusville, Florida and occasionally have cash transactions to settle for significant amounts of $1000+. I assume I can use the Fairfx card just like any other Mastercard in a normal retail outlet but for cash settlements, can I draw out those sort of sums instantly, via an ATM? (obviously provided the card is topped up beforehand so the balance is good for the amount).

Cheers, Brian.

 

[Alyssa]

I can't though, identify what the maximum amount I can withdraw from an ATM in one transaction is? Do you know?

Take a look at the FairFX website at https://www.fairfx.com/howitworks

"You can spend up to £2500, €3750 or $5000 per day, so long as you have sufficient funds on the card."

 

[Joker]

I've been looking at a Post Office Mastercard, for two reasons. First is that lots of places in Germany don't take Visa, the second is that although they charge at cash machines, they don't charge commission on credit card sales and give you the Mastercard exchange rate of the time.

How good the Mastercard rate is, I'm not sure. Anyone know?

 

[jordanbasset]

This card sounds as though it's just what I need. Looking at their website, it appears the maximum credit I can hold on the Fairfx card is the Dollar equivalent of £2400. Is that correct? I can't though, identify what the maximum amount I can withdraw from an ATM in one transaction is? Do you know?

I'm refitting my new (old) boat in Titusville, Florida and occasionally have cash transactions to settle for significant amounts of $1000+. I assume I can use the Fairfx card just like any other Mastercard in a normal retail outlet but for cash settlements, can I draw out those sort of sums instantly, via an ATM? (obviously provided the card is topped up beforehand so the balance is good for the amount).

Cheers, Brian.

Hi Brian, as above think you can take out up to 5000 euros a day but I have only taken out 500 euros at any one time as I do not want to leave too much money laying about. With my flex card was only allowed to take out 300 euros at one time - best wishes J.B.

 

[chinita]

The best thing about FairFx is that you avoid paying Ryanair their (otherwise unavoidable) £10.00 booking fee.