Sterling in freefall
 

Yep the pound has lost 6 cents off of its exchange value in 19 days. Nobody seems to bat an eyelid about it anymore.

On saturday we walked into Thompsons and exchanged £500 into euro for this friday. Got a tourist rate of 1.181. This morning the business rate was just 1.17. Now that is some drop in value in such a short time.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Sorry of i am wrong but the way I read this is that the euro has lost value aganist the pound. If you got 1.181 to the pound on Saturday and the rate today was 1.17 to the pound that means that the pound has got stronger.

Or am I reading it wrong?

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Sooner it gets back to 1€ to 1UKP the better.. I´m trying to buy a car over there!

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

It's the other way round. You are looking at how many Euros you get to the pound so the bigger the number the better the deal.

The current problem is with the Dollar. It has dropped badly in the last few days so both the £ and the € have gained against the $. Unfortunately when this happens the $ always gains more than the £ so the £ drops against the Euro.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

chers for the quick explanation fred, I always seem to forget about what the dollar is doing. I'm fixated on the sterling/€ exchange because of the monthly mortgage payment;)

Just because the euribor increased slightly, last month my mortgage soared by 26€. This month with an exchange rate like that its going to cost me even more, (fewer € to the £ for the guy who asked)thumbdown:

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

There is still a good exchange rate to be had at

http://www.travelmoneyservices.co.uk/

I was buying yesterday at 1.2493 But it will soon drop.
Grab it whilst you can... delivery is only in a months time.
We have used this site for a while and never had any problems.

:)

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

There is something very odd about the rates they are quoting.

They are currently looking at about 1.16 and then it suddenly jumps to 1.23 and then back down again.

The rate you quoted is higher than is has been for a year and that's the interbank rate!

Very odd.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

The drop from 1,22 to 1,17 in a week is frightening. Most of our income is UK based and despite having a small Spanish income as well, we could not survive on those figures if they persist at that level of decrease for too long.

At a push we can even survive at parity, but there would come a time when it is no longer feasible to live with such an exchange rate.

I don’t suppose we would be alone on those ferries heading home.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

These things come in cycles. At some point Germany (never mind Spain, Italy etc) will need the Euro to come down a little in order to remain competitive. Problem is knowing when this will happen. Spring next year is my guess, but it's only a guess

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

For years now, it’s been a strange way to live. We were stone rich with the Peseta, and the euro when it started at 1.67 to the pound. We didn’t want to be stone rich, but we did want to some stability in our lives.

We’ve got none now, we’re living in a casino world. Someone, somewhere is gambling with our money and there’s nothing we can do about it. A strange guy called Soros could be in control of my destiny, and I don’t like it.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

I think we've been here before lets hope it settles and hopefully picks up a bit. However BOE making comments re more quantative easing won't help

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

There was a prediction that we would be back to aroound 1.35 to the £ by the end of this year, can you honestly see that happening? All I know is with the interbank rate now going up instead of being static, and the exchange rate coming down. Paying my euromortgage is going to get very expensive in coming months.

Unless of course the eurobank relents on keeping the euro artificially high as it has been for the last year.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

I imagine they buy forward and still have some left to sell?
We've used them for a couple of years and never had a problem.
:)

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Its the other way round, the US and UK have been keeping their currencies artificially low to help reduce their debts by quantitative easing.

The European bank has done some QE, but not at the same levels.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

When in the last two years has the rate been 1.25 for them to trade it:confused:

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Plus the fact that if that had some that they had bought at 1.25 they would be pretty stupid to sell it at that price when no one else is giving better than 1.16.

They are there to make money after all!

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Well I can vouch that they do deliver at that price. Not used that particular company but have experience of Crown Currency who are similar and offering 1.23 today for in 31-50 days.
they do have your money for a month. Perhaps they can earn something with it. Considering the size of the company they could have many millions of other peoples money on deposit all the time. Delivery in cash by post is a bit scary for large sums.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=olivia;8870244]Well I can vouch that they do deliver at that price. Not used that particular company but have experience of Crown Currency who are similar and offering 1.23 today for in 31-50 days.
they do have your money for a month. Perhaps they can earn something with it. Considering the size of the company they could have many millions of other peoples money on deposit all the time. Delivery in cash by post is a bit scary for large sums.[/QUOTE]




I doubt I could sleep wondering if I was going to get notifyed they had gone into liquidation:eek:

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

It has happened before a few years ago. For me a bird in the hand.....etc.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

They sound like a pyrimid scheme to me. I definitely wouldnt use them

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Worth the risk. 1.16 today.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Maybe not as I believe they have gone bust

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

It's certainly looking that way for Crown.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...y-falters.html

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=Rotor;8870566]Haqve you got crystal balls??;);)

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

It seems that Travel Money Services is part of the Crown Currency group.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is too good to be true. But good call from Rotor.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Very depressing news - The chief economist of the Institute of Directors has called for another £50 billion to be pumped into the UK economy. We may well see a wheelbarrow economy within the next 2-3 years in the UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...K-economy.html

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=JLFS;8892492]
I wish, it would be a good party piece getting em out:rofl:

When dealing with what I consider large sums( more than a couple of months salary) I`d rather pay a little more using a high st bank and sleep better.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

The world economy is in dire srtaights and I for one will be very surprised if we can get out of it. We have many problems but the most serious are peak oil and peak population. Without oil the planet can support about 1.5 billion. There are currently about 6.5 billion people in the world today. We have reached a peak in world oil production at roughly 85 million barrels a day but demand is still on the rise. That is whats wrong with the world markets. The worlds economy relies on infinite growth which is not possible with finite rescources. We have hit the peak of the bell curve and the decent down the other side might be painfull.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=CBANDY;8899341] The worlds economy relies on infinite growth which is not possible with finite rescources[QUOTE]

Yes that's the problem, the whole concept of banking is a con!

The other day, I learnt how banks come up with the money to give you a loan or mortgage. They basically type it into their computer and there it is in your account in exchange for your signature i.e. they create it from nowhere! I used to wrongly think that the bank must have the loan they gave you as part of their assets e.g. savings or bonds etc, but no, its just invented!

No wonder the banks were giving away as many loans as possible. It was quite literally money for nothing. While the working population have to slave away to pay the loans back.

For me the concept is nothing short of criminal and immoral. I'm thinking of inventing an alternative online currency now where you can trade for goods and not involve the banks or the tax system :D

As they say, debt is wealth these days
And debt is also slavery to the banks.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=cricketman;8899422][QUOTE=CBANDY;8899341] The worlds economy relies on infinite growth which is not possible with finite rescourcesThe world economy is the biggest pyramid scheme ever.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=cricketman;8899422]Not quite, it debits or credits various other machines with ones and noughts.

Now you know have they felt when the UK went off the gold standard and people received an IOU from the Bank of England.

Jim

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=cricketman;8899422][QUOTE=CBANDY;8899341] The worlds economy relies on infinite growth which is not possible with finite rescourcesNo, this is not how banks work.

They borrow at one rate (what they pay on your deposits and the rate from other banks.)

Then they lend it to you. They can borrow at less than 2% at the moment and many mortgages cost over 4%. Very good business.

And not one conjured up through tapping out numbers on keyboards.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

I was oversimplfying shortly, but that is basically the long and the short of it.

I'm not saying everything uploaded onto Youtube is correct, but this is enlightening and convincing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb...eature=related

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=frigilianafreddy;8899767][QUOTE=cricketman;8899422]So when the government borrows from the bank of england, who print the money, at interest. Where does the money come from to pay back the bank of england interest? Its the exact same in the U.S. with the federal reserve. There is never enough money in the system to pay all the interest. Remember, one pound [U]sterling[U] used to be the same value as a pound of sterling silver. Nowadays money is actually worthless. Its value set by energy prices, ie.oil, and who in the world controls most of that? Remember the oil shock of 2008? Expect lots more and worse. I predict $200 oil by 2018. And thats being optomistic.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/51712


Read this from the post carbon institute. Some sobering thoughts.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

[QUOTE=frigilianafreddy;8899767][QUOTE=cricketman;8899422]The government require the banks to hold a reserve, the rest can be lent out.
This is a US example but applies to UK although the reserve requirements may be different: http://money.howstuffworks.com/perso...king/bank1.htm

Not only that but thay can also borrow money at cheaper than they can lend out.

Sterling has been on a run up in recent weeks/months, it's just that the euro has also been. We are just about at a critical point in the next few days/weeks.

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

The £ is rising sharply against the $ but falling rapidly against the €. That should tell you that the € is spiralling out of control, I can't understand why the eurobanks are crying out for other nations to help reign in currency rises, when they obviously cannot control their own. Yep the € is going skyhigh against other currencies, but what is that going to do for their own manufacturing deficit?

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

I think you've got the analysis upside-down, for me, that means the $ is on the run

Most of exports from Euro-zone countries are to other Euro-zone countries so that wont affect them. Or they are for premium products (think German manufacturing) that isnt so price sensitive

Re: Sterling in freefall
 

Strong currency is bad for exports but there is a currency war going on at present - the US want to devalue their currency to keep their stock market up. However, Japan want to weaken their currency to give their exporters a chance.
The EUR and £ are caught up in the middle to some extent.