Please could you help me with my problem, I am going to Spain in a few days and don't
know if I should buy travellers cheques in pounds sterling and exchange them there or
buy them here in England in euros and cash them there, How do I find out which will
give the better deal?

Regards

Oliver

On Sun, 4 Aug 2002 23:27:00 +0100, "Oliver Lfc" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Please could you help me with my problem, I am going to Spain in a few days and
    >don't know if I should buy travellers cheques in pounds sterling and exchange them
    >there or buy them here in England in euros and cash them there, How do I find out
    >which will give the better deal?

Can you not just use a money card (ATM/debit card)? They have holes in the wall in
Spain, too.

************ DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) ***********
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * ******* My typos are
intentional copyright traps ******

Take as little currency with you as you can, 100 Euros should be ample and use your
ATM card as David suggested and get money from one of the many ATM's they have there,
it's cheaper and safer. In some area's the ATM's are enclosed and you have to swipe
your ATM card to get inside the little room and then again to get money out. I have
been robbed twice in Madrid in Spain and also had one near miss in Barcelona. After I
was robbed I phoned an international credit card help number immediately to cancel my
credit and ATM cards and they arranged for me to get 500 dollars worth of Spanish
currency next day at Western Union (I think), just had to give them a reference
number that the credit card company gave me. Enjoy your trip, take simple precautions
like using the hotel safe and not carrying large sums of money with you. As for
travellers cheques most people stopped using them about 10 years ago but the banks
still make a lot of money out of them.

"Hatunen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Sun, 4 Aug 2002 23:27:00 +0100, "Oliver Lfc"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > >Please could you help me with my problem, I am going to Spain in a few
days
    > >and don't know if I should buy travellers cheques in pounds sterling and exchange
    > >them there or buy them here in England in euros and cash them there, How do I find
    > >out which will give the better deal?
    >
    > Can you not just use a money card (ATM/debit card)? They have holes in the wall in
    > Spain, too.
    >

I could do that, but I would have nothing to fall back on if the card was lost, dont
the banks also use a basic rate of exchange I thought you could "Shop around" for a
higher rate.

On Sun, 4 Aug 2002 23:30:56 +0100, "Oliver Lfc" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >
    >"Hatunen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected]...
    >> On Sun, 4 Aug 2002 23:27:00 +0100, "Oliver Lfc"
    >> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>
    >> >Please could you help me with my problem, I am going to Spain in a few
    >days
    >> >and don't know if I should buy travellers cheques in pounds sterling and exchange
    >> >them there or buy them here in England in euros and cash them there, How do I
    >> >find out which will give the better deal?
    >>
    >> Can you not just use a money card (ATM/debit card)? They have holes in the wall in
    >> Spain, too.
    >>
    >
    >I could do that, but I would have nothing to fall back on if the card was lost, dont
    >the banks also use a basic rate of exchange I thought you could "Shop around" for a
    >higher rate.

It would be very difficult to find a rate of exchange as good as you will get with a
debit card. You can find current "interbank rates" at http://www.oanda.com (among
other sites).

Likewise for credit cards; the use of a credit card for most purchases makes it
necessary to only carry a limited amount of cash.

We carry two money cards from two issuers, ourselves, and a few hundred in cash for
backup (dollars in our case, of course) and two credit cards.

************ DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) ***********
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * ******* My typos are
intentional copyright traps ******

Good advice all around, my little extra if you are traveling with another be sure
that each of you has a separate card in case you lose one and have to have it
stopped, you will have another ready to use. TCs are increasingly a dinosaur and in
some places difficult to use.

On Sun, 4 Aug 2002 23:30:56 +0100, "Oliver Lfc" <[email protected]> let us
in on their opinion by saying:

    >
    >"Hatunen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected]...
    >> On Sun, 4 Aug 2002 23:27:00 +0100, "Oliver Lfc"
    >> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>
    >> >Please could you help me with my problem, I am going to Spain in a few
    >days
    >> >and don't know if I should buy travellers cheques in pounds sterling and exchange
    >> >them there or buy them here in England in euros and cash them there, How do I
    >> >find out which will give the better deal?
    >>
    >> Can you not just use a money card (ATM/debit card)? They have holes in the wall in
    >> Spain, too.
    >>
    >
    >I could do that, but I would have nothing to fall back on if the card was lost, dont
    >the banks also use a basic rate of exchange I thought you could "Shop around" for a
    >higher rate.
    >
You can drive yourself nuts trying to chase the best rate. Are you going on holiday
or just trying to count pennies? Or more like fractions of pennies.

It just isn't worth the time & effort to save a nickel on a $100 transaction.
--

Integrity is like virginity. Once you loss it, you are screwed and can never
get it back.

ZombyWoof

And even if you find a good rate, you still get screwed paying a commission when you cash them.

On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 00:33:53 GMT, ZombyWoof <[email protected]> wrote:

    >You can drive yourself nuts trying to chase the best rate. Are you going on holiday
    >or just trying to count pennies? Or more like fractions of pennies.
    >
    >It just isn't worth the time & effort to save a nickel on a $100 transaction.

Nickels, bull. I recently checked an American Express office that was charging 7% on
conversions, including buying travelers checks in another currency.

It's pointless chasing a quarter percent, but at least be smart enough to be sure
that's all it is.

************ DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) ***********
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * ******* My typos are
intentional copyright traps ******

"Oliver Lfc" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Please could you help me with my problem, I am going to Spain in a few
days
    > and don't know if I should buy travellers cheques in pounds sterling and exchange
    > them there or buy them here in England in euros and cash them there, How do I find
    > out which will give the better deal?

Travellers cheques are an expensive way to carry money and I haven't used them for
years. Now that much of Europe has changed to the Euro, I keep a stock of those at
home (it used to be French Francs and DM) and take enough cash with me for a trip
where I will pay for most things by credit card. I don't use muggers' piggy banks
(aka cash machines) and don't even know one of my PINs. I always get a transfer from
the airport to the hotel, where the bulk of the money goes into the safe, so do not
rate it very likely that I will get robbed while carrying lots of cash. It certainly
hasn't happened yet and I'm now on my fifth ten-year passport.

My personal view is that chasing the best exchange rate is rarely worth the
difference. It can, however, be worth looking for High Street deals, like Thomas
Cook's recent no commission exchange offer (they always do a no commission exchange
back of money if you bought from them) and buying Euros when they are around.

Colin Bignell

<nightjar> wrote:

    >My personal view is that chasing the best exchange rate is rarely worth the
    >difference. It can, however, be worth looking for High Street deals, like Thomas
    >Cook's recent no commission exchange offer (they always do a no commission exchange
    >back of money if you bought from them) and buying Euros when they are around.
    >
I read only yesterday that in Ireland at least, Thomas Cook gives some of the worst
exchange rates for Sterling/Euro and Dollar/Euro transactions. My own experience
tells me that standalone Bureaux de Change are even worse. The best rates for
typical tourist-scale exchanges are generally obtainable from the commercial (high
street) banks. The "no commission" deal is worth nothing if the exchange rate
applied is poor.

Personally, I favour ATMs.

PB

On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 03:34:18 GMT, [email protected] (Hatunen) let us in on their
opinion by saying:

    >On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 00:33:53 GMT, ZombyWoof <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >>You can drive yourself nuts trying to chase the best rate. Are you going on holiday
    >>or just trying to count pennies? Or more like fractions of pennies.
    >>
    >>It just isn't worth the time & effort to save a nickel on a $100 transaction.
    >
    >Nickels, bull. I recently checked an American Express office that was charging 7% on
    >conversions, including buying travelers checks in another currency.
    >
9 times out of 10 you are better off making the charge to your AMEX and they do the
conversion when they bill you. While traveling in Korea & Japan, this consistently
got me the best rate. I have never paid a commission on conversion.

    >It's pointless chasing a quarter percent, but at least be smart enough to be sure
    >that's all it is.
    >
True enough, that was the point I was attempting to make anyways. I have a CC I use
exclusively for travel. Other then small purchases made with pocket change, I put all
charges on that card. It is also the only card I carry when I travel. I also use it
for cash advances when I run out of my pocket stash.
    >
    > ************ DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) ***********
    > * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * ******* My typos are
    > intentional copyright traps ******

--

Integrity is like virginity. Once you loss it, you are screwed and can never
get it back.

ZombyWoof

"ZombyWoof" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 03:34:18 GMT, [email protected] (Hatunen) let us in on their
    > opinion by saying:
    >
    > >On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 00:33:53 GMT, ZombyWoof <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >
    > >>You can drive yourself nuts trying to chase the best rate. Are you going on
    > >>holiday or just trying to count pennies? Or more like fractions of pennies.
    > >>
    > >>It just isn't worth the time & effort to save a nickel on a $100 transaction.
    > >
    > >Nickels, bull. I recently checked an American Express office that was charging 7%
    > >on conversions, including buying travelers checks in another currency.
    > >
    > 9 times out of 10 you are better off making the charge to your AMEX and they do the
    > conversion when they bill you. While traveling in Korea & Japan, this consistently
    > got me the best rate. I have never paid a commission on conversion.
    >

Because paying by credit card makes the transaction an electronic currency
conversion, your point is irrelevent for non-electronic conversions, which is Hatunen
was referring to.

It's often worthwhile to compare more than one source when you need to make a
non-electronic conversion because the difference can be significant, particularly
since brokers use different means to calculate their cut. An easy way to get the best
value is to just ask the broker how much of X currency will I walk away with if I
give you for Y currency, so that there is no need to attempt calculate the factors
and fees yourself.

It's better to avoid cash and travelers cheque conversions except for emergency
reserves, but when you need to do it, shop around for a little bit first.

On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 12:25:49 GMT, "J Quick" <[email protected]> let us in on their
opinion by saying:

    >
    >"ZombyWoof" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected]...
    >> On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 03:34:18 GMT, [email protected] (Hatunen) let us in on their
    >> opinion by saying:
    >>
    >> >On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 00:33:53 GMT, ZombyWoof <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> >
    >> >>You can drive yourself nuts trying to chase the best rate. Are you going on
    >> >>holiday or just trying to count pennies? Or more like fractions of pennies.
    >> >>
    >> >>It just isn't worth the time & effort to save a nickel on a $100 transaction.
    >> >
    >> >Nickels, bull. I recently checked an American Express office that was charging 7%
    >> >on conversions, including buying travelers checks in another currency.
    >> >
    >> 9 times out of 10 you are better off making the charge to your AMEX and they do
    >> the conversion when they bill you. While traveling in Korea & Japan, this
    >> consistently got me the best rate. I have never paid a commission on conversion.
    >>
    >
    >Because paying by credit card makes the transaction an electronic currency
    >conversion, your point is irrelevent for non-electronic conversions, which is
    >Hatunen was referring to.
    >
    >It's often worthwhile to compare more than one source when you need to make a
    >non-electronic conversion because the difference can be significant, particularly
    >since brokers use different means to calculate their cut. An easy way to get the
    >best value is to just ask the broker how much of X currency will I walk away with if
    >I give you for Y currency, so that there is no need to attempt calculate the factors
    >and fees yourself.
    >
I wasn't talking about him anymore. I was talking about me & my method. I was
advising him of another method other then his planned.

    >It's better to avoid cash and travelers cheque conversions except for emergency
    >reserves, but when you need to do it, shop around for a little bit first.
    >
    >
    >

--

Integrity is like virginity. Once you loss it, you are screwed and can never
get it back.

ZombyWoof

On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 11:49:45 GMT, ZombyWoof <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 03:34:18 GMT, [email protected] (Hatunen) let us in on their
    >opinion by saying:
    >
    >>On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 00:33:53 GMT, ZombyWoof <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>
    >>>You can drive yourself nuts trying to chase the best rate. Are you going on
    >>>holiday or just trying to count pennies? Or more like fractions of pennies.
    >>>
    >>>It just isn't worth the time & effort to save a nickel on a $100 transaction.
    >>
    >>Nickels, bull. I recently checked an American Express office that was charging 7%
    >>on conversions, including buying travelers checks in another currency.
    >>
    >9 times out of 10 you are better off making the charge to your AMEX and they do the
    >conversion when they bill you. While traveling in Korea & Japan, this consistently
    >got me the best rate. I have never paid a commission on conversion.

The sbject isn't commissions, it's exchange rates. These are two different things.
Typically, you get good exchange rates and pay a commission or you get a worse
exchange rate and pay no commission.

But if you mean making the charge to your AMEX credit card I already pointed out that
cash card and credit card are the way to go.

************ DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) ***********
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * ******* My typos are
intentional copyright traps ******