Euro to Sterling..... Cheapest way?

B

Brynick

Guest
Going over to England this weekend on a shopping trip & wondering whats the cheapest way to exchange my euro to sterling. Should I lodge most of my money into my MBNA credit card and go down that route, Should I just bring my banklink with me & withdraw money over there when I need it or just do it the old fashioned way & exchange it at the bank before i go.
 
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On the basis of the exchange rates applied by MBNA, this option would seem a poor one.

Otherwise, it depnds on the charge and exchange rate applied by your ATM card provider. If this is expensive too, you might be better going the "traditional" route and shopping around the FX providers here.
 
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For what it's worth PTSB VISA charge 1.75% forex commission and no other charges on cash withdrawals off a pre-loaded account which is the lowest CC forex charge available as far as I know. Other cards also charge 1.75% or more and some cards also apply other charges even on pre-loaded cash withdrawals (as opposed to cash ADVANCES). Of course if you take out another CC just for this trip then you will have to pay the €40 stamp duty which will erode some of the savings over other routes. Have you check with your bank as to the costs and time involved in doing an wire/electronic transfer or something like that?
 
MBNA - worth knowing

Something else to bear in mind with MBNA - if you load your credit card before you go, MBNA will not accept liability for any fraudulent transactions on your card when it is in credit.

For example, if you lodge €1000 into your card, go on holidays, your card is lost/stolen & €500 spent on it, you are liable for that €500 as the people at MBNA say it's your money & not theirs.

Not alot of people know about this............
 
Your travel insurance might though. Most policies cover a certain amount of cash and/or CC spending possibly with an excess. Check the Ts&Cs of the policy to be aware of the level of cover available.
 
Going to the UK I just use my regular (UB) ATM card over there. I don't get charged anything more than here and the rate used is usually pretty comparable with XE.com on the given day.

Rebecca
 
Do you mean using your normal ATM or via the Cirrus, Maestro and/or Plus+ facility bundled with your card? Note that the latter usually levy a fixed charge for cash wothdrawals possibly in addition to the normal transaction charges if applicable. It may be nominal depending the amount withdrawn but be aware of the charges. Also be aware of the rate at which GBP£ withdrawals from your € account will be calculated. In general using a CC is the most cost effective way to transfer money assuming a reasonable forex margin and no other charges. See this topic for more on this:
 
I'll go back over my statements, but I'm pretty sure that if you use the Link network in the UK that there's no additional charge. Maybe this is just an Ulster Bank thing because of their UK lineage.

I know the cirrus network is charge free within the eurozone.

Rebecca
 
Rang Ulsterbank to double check this and they confirmed I was right. So long as you use an ATM part of the Link network (and from my recollection, most of them are as I never had to do anything to find one) then there is no extra charge and the rate is the rate on the day and doesn't include commission. I use my credit card for credit card transactions in the UK (and elsewhere) but my regular bank card for cash.

Phew, you had me worried :)

Rebecca
 
Sorry - not trying to worry you. Just trying to make sure that you're well informed. Do you know what, if any, forex margin applies in the case of GBP£ withdrawals from your € account in this case? These will probably not appear separately as charges on your statement but will probably be built into the conversion from GBP£ to € as is the case with most (all?) CC statements.
 
I always checked the rates applied to my GB withdrawals from my statement with XE.com and they were comparable. XE.com is probably not perfect but it's always been pretty close when checking GBP rates for amazon CC purchases and HKD rates for my CDwow CC purchases in the past.

Looks like UB should advertise this more, cos I thought everyone had it.

Rebecca
 
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Regardless of what rate is quoted on XE.com, rest assured that the rate charged by UB or any other bank includes a mark up on the wholesale rate at which they purchased the currency. A margin in the range of 3% to 5% would be typical.

While this type of charge is not exactly transparent, all banks have approval to apply them and they would lose tens of thousands by not doing so.
 
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