Bureau de Change Rates

Hi guys

Hoping to start a good topic on best current foreign exchange rates from institutions (US Dollars preferably).
I saw that BOI yesterday are offering to sell US dollars (notes) at 1.17 euro.

Has anyone seen any other institution that can beat that exchange rate given that the RTE Radio 1 mentioned that euro is trading against the dollar at 1.21 today?

Many thanks

Ciaran

It’s not just the exchange rate but the commission, etc. that you need to take into account. So just ask how much foreign currency you can get for X amount of euro after commission, etc. is taken into account. I phoned around the main banks and bureau de change yesterday for a quote on a large amount of a particular foreign currency – not USD. AIB came out the best – but that is not to say that they would be the best for the currency you want. I found that the rates the banks were quoting were about 2 to 3 % in their favour over the rates quoted on Yahoo. [broken link removed]

Hi there

I use www.xe.com for reference.
I agree, commission is the biggest problem but the bank's rates always seem to be significantly lower that the actual exchange rate!

Preloading your credit card and making cash withdrawals abroad in non € zone countries can often be the most cost effective way to change money. For example PTSB VISA charge a 1.75% forex margin and no other charges. Some other credit cards may charge a higher forex margin and/or a per transaction charge (fixed or a percentage of the transaction possibly subject to some min and max amount etc.) and/or some foreign ATMs may charge a local fee (e.g. US ones that I used said that a charge "may" apply but it never did!). So check out all the charges that may apply but definitely check out the cost effectiveness of using a CC In this way. This Indo article (unfortunately the table accompanying the printed version is not online) might be of interest (free registration required):

www.unison.ie/business/pe...si=1179466

I had planned on taking a mixture of cash, travellers cheques and preloading my CC.

Thanks for the input guys

Cheers