FWT

Seamus, I exchanged dollars into Euro at Travelex at the exchange rate that Travelex offered (the market exchange rate plus their commision). The exchange rate I got was 1EU for $1.34. The Euros were placed on the card so I wasn't using dollars on the card I was using Euro. So no worries about daily exchange rates when using a card in Euros in a Euro country. When I cashed back into dollars on return I got the market exchange rate without their commission. 1E=$1.23 It was the deal that was going on when I got the prepaid card. Normally, they will exchange at the market rate plus their commission. Maybe you are thinking that I got a prepaid card in dollars in which case you would have to worry about the daily exchange rates and whatever MC or Visa will add to that which is generally 3% of the transaction. Sorry if this wasn't clear in my earlier post.

FWT

Let me clarify the statement about the deal. The deal is in reference to the fact that I could cash back from Euro to dollar for the market exchange rate on the day I decided to change my Euro back to dollar. Not that the actual exchange rate was promised. The day I converted my Euro back to dollar the market exchange was 1 E= $1.23.

Seamus

FWT - not looking to argue, but what you are missing is that the exchange rate used by Travelex when you do that initial conversion to euros is not a good one. What you refer to as the "market exchange rate" is actually a "retail rate" set by Travelex which is worse than the interbank rate you get when using ATM. Right now XE.com shows a rate of 1 EUR = 1.23176 USD, Travelex shows 1.3389198.

To illustrate, I just went to the Travelex site to price a euro card. It shows 374 euro for 500.77 USD. At the XE rate (that you would get at an ATM) 374 euro = 460.68 USD. So you'd be paying $40 more with Travelex - and that does not count whatever commission they might add, or the card cost if it were not on promotion. Even if your bank added a 3% fee, you'd still wind up paying a least $25 more to Travelex.

Peter_S_Aus

My bank sells Euro denominated debit cards at the XE.com rate plus 4%, buys the Euros back at the XE.com rate minus 4%. There's an 8% spread between buying and selling.

BUT if I charge purchases to my Visa card, then there is a fee for each transaction - about two bucks - plus a foreign exchange fee of about 3%, and i'm never sure of the exchange rate that I'm seeing. So a Euro denominated card makes sense for us.
http://www.anz.com/personal/travel-foreign-exchange/

Paul1950

Peter--you all are getting robbed by your credit card companies! That is terrible.

Luisah

"When i have to pay cash for anything when I travel for guides or hotels, I always get Euros, etc. from my bank here in the US."

I don't do that. I use the ATMs in the country I'm traveling in. In Prague I took out the cash I needed to pay the hotel the day before I left, walked back to the hotel and paid the bill -- no carrying a lot of cash from home, no need to put a lot of cash in the hotel safe.

My credit union charges $1.25 per transaction, a lot less than exchanging money or buyin euros in the U.S.

Michel_Paris

Any foreign exchange conversion has two components...the exchange rate and the commission. BOTH are set by the institution.

The exchange rate will be related to the exchange rate that you see in the business section of your newspaper. You CANNOT get that rate. It is the rate that large institutions, governments will access.

My bank, for example, is about 4% above that number when they sell me euros.

So as a point of reference, I keep that newspaper number as the baseline. My bank is 4% above that...this Cambio is 10%,etc..

My bank does not charge a commission, it is built into that 4%. When I walk up to an exchange bureau, I know up front that their exchange rate will be above the newspaper rate. Theen there is the commission. Some charge one, some advertise no-commission. But is it really no-commission? Since THEY set their exchange rate, they have also built into the exchange rate whatever profit they want. False advertising.

Hotels? Since hotels are not in the business of currency exchange, they have a high overhead. Some poor little valet needs to go to a bank (or exhange bureaux) to get a stack of euros and exhange the foreign currency received. Hotels are NOT doing this to get you a competitive rate, they are doing you a service. Big difference.


My theory...oranges are cheaper in Florida. Euros are cheaper in Europe (via ATM).

Dukey

Hotel safes??? Safe???? (as opposed to the room safe) UNLESS you have a written inventory of what you put into that safe and the hotel was a witness I want to be there when you try to PROVE what you actually put into the hotel safe is what is suddenly "missing." Don't you believe it.

ParisAmsterdam

Do a search on Youtube for "hotel safe" and see what you see...

ira

Hi K,

>I have read some of you mention getting some Euros before you depart, and was wondering what the thoughts are on this.<

I like to have about $100 worth of foreign currency upon arrival. I don;t have to hunt for the ATM whike in a jet-lagged condition in a strange place.

It will cost about 3-4$ more than getting the same amount overseas.