Page 1 of Shop around for your holiday money

Asked at Thomsons travel agents yesterday for a quote on £1000 worth of Euros and was told that €1400 would cost £1025.

When I got home I checked around the web and found the same amount at a Marks and Spencers store would only cost £1003 so I printed the M&S quote and showed it to Thomsons and they dropped their price to £1002 , not a huge saving but there again £23 for 5 minutes work ;) .

Normally I would have said **** Thomsons and gone with the place that gave the best rates straight off but it was a lot easier for me to go back to Thomsons than travel to the nearest M&S with an in-store Bureaux de Change.

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I normally get mine at the post office




...look into my eyes

I have found that the best rates usually for $C & $US has been Travelex when booked on the net, possibly only slightly beaten (last year anyway), by a local branch of major chain of TA.

Keeping a close watch on rates at the present as theres been a 11% fall in value of £ to the $C since April, which is going to make my holiday more expensive, just as well I pre-payed some of my hotel bookings. ;)



I quite like the Helpdesk people in a benevolent (as opposed to malevolent) way as they do some valuable work in preventing us being inundated by every halfwit who can work a phone.

U.W. Post office quoted me £1016.

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Keeping a close watch on rates at the present as theres been a 11% fall in value of £ to the $C since April

Similar story with the € , it was up on 1.51 + a few months ago ( €1400 for £ 927 :( ) now it`s 1.39 but has been up and down like a tarts knickers over the last few days.

Travelex are quoting £1002 as well and they have the buy back offer where they give you back the same rate as what you paid on any unused currency so I will probably get the rest on this offer at the airport on Tuesday and if I do fetch any money back at least I won`t lose £60 worth of it by changing it back like I did last time >:( .

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If you are returning from your journey within 31 days, Travelex will buy back your foreign exchange and travellers cheques commission free at the original exchange rate you bought it. Secure the value of your currency for your own peace of mind for only £3.50.




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This item was edited on Saturday, 23rd July 2005, 23:27

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I normally get mine at the post office

and they dont charge you any commission when changing money back either.



`I am going to live forever, or die trying`...

If you open a Nationwide FlexAccount you can use ATM`s abroad without charge AND Nationwide use the interbank exchange rate rather than the tourist rates. Stick all your holiday money in your Nationwide account and use cash machines in the same way as you would here in the UK.

Have a look HERE for more info.

It is what I have doing for the past 2 years, and it saves you from walking around with tons of money or leaving it in your appatment/hotel.

JC

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Yet to get it, you need Nationwide`s bank account, and while its account isn't bad, it's not the best buy. (See best current account article).

For that reason I got a NW CC for use, but still need some petty cash. ;)

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normally get mine at the post office

Found that their rates were one of the lowest.



I quite like the Helpdesk people in a benevolent (as opposed to malevolent) way as they do some valuable work in preventing us being inundated by every halfwit who can work a phone.

This item was edited on Sunday, 24th July 2005, 13:41

You don`t have to transfer your account to Nationwide to have a FlexAccount. Just open one to use purely for overseas spending.