vegas

Anyone noticed how far the pound has dropped in the last month it is now down to 1.76920

cindyabs

Hmm, since we're using USD to pay UK bills, no complaints here.

sid_s

I think it's because I have just sold my house in the UK and no longer need to send USD home to pay a huge mortgage in pounds

Dimsie

Since my state and civil service pensions are paid into my US bank accounts, there might be a few complaints here though, if it continues to sink.

Any ideas on possible reasons?

woodsey

same with us, long may it continue to drop..hopefully back to around 1.30, by next Sunday when I go home..

ScotsmanInTexas

Yes, I've been keeping my eye on it. The US$ was at an all time low though, so it's hardly surprising that a recovery was on the cards. On the one hand we lose a little, but on the other it makes the cost of going home a little more tolerable. When I was over just over a month ago I used mostly British cash I had over there since the exchange wanted $2 for a pound. It will actually suit the British tourist industry to see an improved dollar. I have been expecting a recovery for some time. My wife disagrees though and thinks the dollar will sink further. So it's probably all down to the time of year. The British holiday maker will be getting screwed as usual... Keep your British dosh until the back end of the year in the hope the dollar sinks again!

IrnBru

Cindy, Im not far from you, Im in Savannah

snowbunny

While the UK does not use the Euro, most of the rest of the EU does, and the Euro's been falling because no one can seem to come up with a constitution. Blair ain't looking too good right now.

Usually when one goes down, there's another darling currency.... anyone know if something's gone up significantly?

Some of us actually import our Harry Potter books ya know so it's a welcome change.

I saw a sign at a Greek/Italian restaurant here in town:
* pizza
* salad
* drink

all under 6 Euro

lol..... wonder what they would do if I walked in and tried to pay with Euros.

ScotsmanInTexas

Same as they'd do in Britain I expect. What are those exactly? If I peel the foil off can I eat them?

snowbunny

hate to think about shitting Euros.

but I guess my shit would be worth something then!

ScotsmanInTexas

Hey human shit's a valuable commodity to farmers in some of the new EU member states...

cindyabs

Well you little monkey you! There's someone in Hilton Head and someone over by Statesboro.

ScotsmanInTexas

Hmm the Am Express site in the UK, is paying only 1.711004 per pound in Cash & also Travellers cheques right now! I'm slightly puzzled to see both figures are the same, usually they are slighty different? Any thoughts?

sibsie

Same here, well not the state pension but my other pension. I have my stash of cash in Euros so I'm getting hit on all sides. One explanation I heard from my financial dude was the recent referendum in Europe over the whole proper unified Europe. The resounding no sent them dropping. He could well be talking bollocks and I rarely pay attention to anything he says, but there you have it.

dunroving

I think most of the drop has just been in the past 24 hours - my daily XE.com updates have been hovering between a rate of 1.80 and 1.82 for most of June, from what I remember. Just yesterday it was 1.79. It wouldn't surprise me if it's back up above 1.80 within a week. However, during May it was higher (1.90-ish). XE.Com has an interactive table that lets you look at past exchange rates: http://www.xe.com/ict/

Compared to the stable rates over the past 10 years (around 1.40-1.60), the pound is still pretty high. You can see longer term rates here: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/EXUSUK.txt

Even compared to the past 12 months or so it's not really that much lower - 1.83 this time last year for example, and 1.66 two years ago.