Has anyone used any of these online currency exchanges? I have just been on 'Martins Money' website and they have a really useful 'Travel Money Maximiser' whereby it searches all the best deals. Todays best is Thomas Exchange at 1.146 to the £. (£5 delivery charge). Has anyone beaten that rate, and more importantly, has anyone used this company? Get the heebie jeebies sending all my hard-earned money somewhere in cyberspace !! can you IMAGINE if you never heard from them again?? Saying that, I doubt such a high profile website would put them on if that was the case.
Hi Jo, I think I read last week that the rate was similar in Arillas... about 1.5/6 so it might not be worth changing it in the UK. It is still not that good though is it, we had friends who went to Corfu recently and they said the price of things weren't any different from last year really, although there werent many people in the restaurants, Ag. Geroge sth. not every night anyway, more and more people eat where they stay and alternate it.
We have never used online exchange or even the post office currency... we do change about £100 before we go either at the airport (very high rates) but thats because we never have much time to organise it before we go.. its just enough to cover the taxi and something to eat when we get there and bits and pieces.... like extra looooo rolls and wine!!
You must be excited you are off soon arent you?
Yes cant wait! We cant really change it over there as we have a large amount and it would cost us too much with the comission wouldnt it?
Ok you mathematicians, £2400 in sterling. Better to change here at 1.14 but only £5 charge or in Arillas? What would be the total amount of charges I would incurr on that amount?
We were there at the end of May, it was extremely quiet. We changed our money over there as the rate was a little better than at home, I intend to do the same again when we go in August.
We returned end June and used the ATM with Nationwide debit card, we averaged 1.17 over the 2 weeks. Mick.
Thomas Exchange and Crown Currency Exchange are the same company. In May this year we used Crown Currency and got free delivery as over £300 exchanged. Got 2 cents higher than travel agents just 2 weeks before leaving. Delivery was spot on.
We will be using them again for when we come to Arillas in September. If we buy now we can get 1.1725 euro to the pound. It has fallen this week because of the weaker exchange rate from 1.1875.
Hope this info helps and enjoy your hols.
Alan and Jan
Thanks for that. This mornings best is 'Best Exchange' at 1.178. Think I will bite the bullett and get ordering.
Sorry, last post should have said 1.148. In the end I rang my local Thomas Cook branch who matched the online price near enough, 1.14 commission-free so quite happy with that. Of course I'm sure the rate will soar next week now that I have taken the plunge! Cannot believe that a few years ago I was getting 1.58/60.
have,nt been on forum for a while,come to that have,nt been to arillas since 2007 either.its just that i cant get any good offers from belfast to corfu.however always willingto pass on anything that might help others.i have again just ordered euros fom travel money services.com and for delivery in dec.i am getting a rate of 1.1375 no comm.or del.charges.i simply post them a cheque.i am off to gran canaria in jan and portugal in may.and where ever in sept.we can only afford the extra holiday a year by being flexible and shopping around.with luck we might even get a bargain to corfu sometime.
Thanks for the tip about Online Currency Exchange Brian. I'll check it out before I travel next year.
Have you ever thought about Ryanair Belfast-Bristol connecting with Easyjet Bristol - Corfu. There are some good prices there.
Eileenx
OOh yes hope this exchange rate picks up,otherwise we will be camping on the beach.lol
Hi all
Have used Crown Currency Exchange for the last 3 hols and always got great rate plus delivery spot on , I always change enough for the whole hol and compared to local rates usually end up with a day's spending money for free . So well worth it .
Yammas
dave
Used crown currency exchange for the first time(thanks to this board)
Will deffo use again! No hassle at all.Good rate,no commision and free delivery! What more can you ask for?Thanks for the info,would deffo recommend.
Like I said when I started this post, the odds are always in the favour of these online currency exchanges but I just panic that my hard-earned cash would go missing in transit!
Hi Jo
Don't panic about your money going missing , you pay online ( or I think you can phone and use your C/C ) and delivery is by Royal Mail (Guaranteed Delivery you have to sign ) . As I said before used 3 times and not a problem , but I understand your concerns as I was concerned the first time I used them .
Yammas
Dave
I hate to sound so negative, but I received this from my foreign currency trader last night & it looks like the £ is going to drop yet again.
.................................................................
Today saw the release of the Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report which unfortunately forecasts inflation in the UK is due to rise sharply in the coming months. This has proved very damaging to the Pound which has lost ground against all major currencies, and follows the worrying news from Fitch that the UK's AAA credit rating was the one most at risk of all leading economies. The news has knocked Sterling off a 3 month high against the Dollar on Monday morning and nearly 2 cents from the highest point against the Euro in the last month. Even more worrying was Mervyn King's assessment that the UK economy wouldn't reach pre-recession levels again until late 2011 which took the markets by surprise and is likely to keep pressure on Sterling- good news if you are bringing money back into the UK but will also mean those of you holding out for better levels to send money overseas in the next few months are unlikely to get much in the way of stocking fillers!
Friday sees some important GDP data for Germany which will have an important influence on anyone with interests in the Euro, and next Wednesday sees the release of the Bank of England Minutes from their meeting earlier this month which again could be key to the short term future of Sterling.
Early trading this morning showing Sterling up against euro and dollar. Crown Currency currently offering 1.1455 euro against GBP for delivery between January and 25 April
1.1501 between jan & april but dont know weather to take a chance or not. Wish we had a crystal ball. Viv
I can't see it going up Viv....all the predictions are it will go down.
Wait till i've bought some Viv, it always goes up after.
riggers.
Sterling on a two month high against euro. Crown Currency now offering 1.1525 euro to 1GBP for delivery from January to April.
I've hung onto some Euros I had left over from my October visit along with some Travelers cheques, hope that will offset any nasty changes a bit! I think its going to be a long climb back to the 'old' exchange rates, if we get there at all!
Martin.
I had this link emailed to me today.
http://www.lovemoney.com/news/travel/the-best-way-to-get-your-foreign-currency-4186.aspx?source=1000421
Because we book independently and have to pay for the Hotel when we get there a pre-paid currency card looks like it could be the best option.
Has anyone used them yet?