foreign currency exchange

[Cleopatra]

Consumer Focus wants the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate what it believes is complex charging and poor information for travellers spending money abroad.

 

 

How do you plan your spending abroad?

Personally I always take sufficient british currency with me and change it when I arrive at my destination. That way I get a much better exchange rate than I would have got in the UK. The banks/exchange bureaux all offer a much lower exhange rate, thus robbing us of quite a few pounds we could spend abroad.

I never ever use a credit card abroad because of the high charges of doing so.

[Evil Sid]

I never go abroad. Come to think of it I rarely go out of the county.

[Wireboy]

I use a cash passport that you can top up throughout the year when the exchange rates are good. The cash passport is like a switch with a pin and it works like a normal credit/debit card in Europe. Not sure about any where else.

 

It is a good principal and it keeps your money safe just like your cards do here. But you still get stung at the exchange place as you only get what the exchange rate they offer. Also some, not all cash machines charge for cash withdrawals much like some cash machines here.

 

Pretty miffed at the charges highlighted in the news today. Might look at other options if/when I go away again.

[Stallard12]

In the 'old days' I did quite a lot of foreign travel, mostly business. I always used a Visa card for everything. Apparently, the banks give the credit card institutions a much more favorable exchange rate, part of which Visa passes on to the consumer. It results in a much lower cost than Traveller Check fees and high street bank exchange rates. Plus, Visa paid the insurance on any car rented using the card.