JEFFJAGUAR

Marks & Spencer is supposed to be one of the very cheapest (M&S has a large store on Oxford Street!)

rico567

This is what we've learned to do. We live in a medium-sized Midwestern city with a large public university, but if there's a place to do reasonable currency exchange (even to € or ¥), we have yet to find it.
We use a card from Merrill Lynch that allows us 52 fee-free withdrawals a year.
Yes, there are always ATMs in the airport, but I think it's a good idea to have a minimal amount of the currency of he destination country in hand before departure. I have a ¥ 10K note left over from our last big trip....also some € and yuan, not sure how much.

JTbeatsNYC

JeffJaguar - do all M&S have currency exchange in-house? I used to live in Bayswater and do not remember a center within that particular store.

lhrsfo

Banks make money by giving a less favorable exchange rate and by charging commission, either flat rate or percentage. Those banks offering low or no commission usually offer worse exchange rates - the spread can be as high as 15%. Shopping around is the only method, as charges are extremely opaque. By using debit cards you will benefit from exchange rates with massively lower spreads (even though your US bank may add its own %age on top of its fee. Nevertheless, it's normally significantly cheaper to use a debit card in an ATM - and far safer than carrying around loads of dollar cash

jedikiah

Not all M&S do currency exchange. The rate is not that brilliant IMO, compared with the likes of Thomas Exchange Global for example.

JEFFJAGUAR

Actually, I was just going from what I've read and heard about Marks and Sparks and no, only the large department store branches tend to have currency exchanges.

JEFFJAGUAR

Let me give you an example of how this works and you can decide. The key rate for currency exchange is something called the interbank rate. This is available to the seconde by gong to xe.com (it is constantly changing but not by much). this is the rate established by banks which exchange millions of each currency between themselves and is the basic rate used by mc and visa.

Let's say for simplicity sake, the interbank rate of the GBP and USD is $1.60 for £1 (it's actually a little bit better than this right now). Go to an ATM and request £100 and you should be charged $160. To this, visa and mc usually add 1% so when the transaction reaches the visa/mc systems (visa and mc control the shared teller networks plus and cirrus) the transaction will now be $161.60. Conversion done and sent to your bank. Your bank may pass along the 1% fee and debit your account for $161.60, may add another 2% and debit your account $164.80, may eat the 1% and debit your account $160.00...all this is up to your bank. They may also add another fee of whaqtever they choose for an international ATM withdrawal (the same mth works for credit card transactions).

Now....if you went into a currency exchange on that same day, you will most likely find a chart saying something to the effect USD buy $1.75 sell $1.45. That means if you get the same £100 from a currency exchange, that will cost you a base rate of $175. To thjis, they may add % fees or a flat fee (this will come off the £100 so you might get only £98 or even less).......£15 lost on a £100 withdrawal. (It also means if you came in say as a Brit and wanted to change £100 for US$ for a trip to the USA, you would receive only $145 plus they would subtract a %fee or a flat fee and you'll be lucky to leave with $140.

Changing in the USA will be worse probably. The only sane way to travel in the 21st century, at least the way I see it is:

1. Credit card everything. You will find that at least in London, credit cards are taken for most everything and few places enforce minimum purchase requirements. On a typical day in London, before leaving my hotel for whatever, I will stop by a convenience store and pick up a few goodies (bottle of water, aero bar for instant energy...will cost something like £1.40 or so, credit card. Lunch at say pret a manger for around £4 credit card. Theatre tickets...credit card...fill my oyster card...credit card. Snacks for half time at the theatre (picked up before the theatre) credit card, theatre tickets credit card, dinner credit card snacks before arriving back at the hotel credit caqrd. Not one need for any cash whatsoever and believe me, I don't eat at top of the line restaurants. Make sure you have a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.

At le3ast in England, I just don't see any need what soever for all that mucdh cash.

JTbeatsNYC

This is excellent. Thanks Jeff.

I am heading into town for the Olympics and figure I need cash for street vendors, etc. In those instances, i just want to keep fees minimal. Of course, when possible, I plan to pay by card.

Also, I usually use debit cards (chase, Suntrust) and charge them as credit. Does anyone know whether fees are different for debits charged as credits v just using a credit card?

ijgordon

It depends on the card/bank. You'll have to ask your bank. The fee usually varies from 0% to 3% of the transaction amount. Your debit card will only work as a credit (signature) transaction overseas.

And as others have said, even with the 3% fee and a charge from your financial institution for using a third-party machine, ATMs are the best way to get foreign cash. Credit/Debit is at least as good (depending on your fee) as you won't have the extra ATM fee.

jedikiah

I think for a time they were ahead - and outside of the London specialists they are still not that bad.

ecaarch

When I first started traveling to the UK, I had the same questions as the OP. 60+ visits later and I have to concur with the excellent advice given by multiple people in this thread:

1. Find out if your US bank has a UK bank "partner" where you can utilize the CashPoint machines for free
2. If no "partner" bank in the UK, use any bank operated CashPoint - avoid the ATMs in convenience stores, pubs, etc.
3. Use your credit card where possible. Tell the cashier that your card does not have a "chip" so they know to provide a pen for your to sign your receipt.
4. Avoid the hassle and fees of converting currency in the US.

teflon

You can search for M&S branches with bureaux de change on their website. Many Post Offices will exchange foreign currency too, with not unreasonable rates. Their branch finder lets you search for the ones that do.

^
though that said, this applies to MasterCard and Visa only - Amex is not universally accepted, and I don't remember the last time I saw somewhere that accepted Diners Club.

JEFFJAGUAR

Noted and logged! However, perhaps I'm naive. I don't know very many people who have Amex and don't have either mc or visa!

lhrsfo

As a minor wrinkle to this, some merchants have minimum credit/debit spends of £5 or £10. Where this is the case, it's often possible to get them to waive the minimum for a credit card, but not a debit card. This is because the merchant charge for a debit card is a flat rate (35p or 50p per transaction, IIRC), whereas the charge for a credit card is a %age.

Also, the more off tourist track you go, the more likely you will find merchants who either won't accept signature credit cards, or charge extra for them, because of the extra risk involved. Finally, as has been repeated in many threads, generally automatic machines won't take signature credit cards.

stifle

Whatever you do, if the merchant/ATM/etc. offers to convert your charge to dollars for you, reject this and insist on being charged in pounds. I have yet to find a bank that offers a worse rate than the rate charged in stores.