loisco

We leave for France next week. Want to buy Euros before we go. I think we used Travelex last trip (3 years ago) but it's very expensive. Any other ideas?


Thanks.

tuscanlifeedit

Surprisingly, my regular local bank turned out to have a fair price, better than other places I checked, and certainly better than Travelex. It took a few days for them to order and receive the money, though. I use PNC.

I do need some money on arrival, for a rental, but generally I just use the ATM.

TravelingMan61

Right now Bank of America is selling at 140.00. Thats 1000 dollars get's you 710 euro. The euro traded at 133.52 today, that's 740 euro per 1000 dollars.

Sher

From my research I found that everyone is fairly expensive. Do you need money upon arrival? You get the best rate at an ATM in France.
Last year I found that our local PNC did not charge a service fee but it cost about .10 more on the dollar to have them get it for you. But rates change all of the time. So I would have had to pay almost $1.60 for a Euro when I could have paid $1.48 for at the time in France.
Not too much of a tariff if you really need money in hand and you don't need too much of it.

Robert2533

If you have a Bank of America debit/cash/ATM card, there is no fees when using the BNP Paribas ATMs in France to obtain Euros. There are BNP Paribas banks all over Paris and southwest France.

Sue878

We go to our bank downtown where they have a overseas desk and get them. If you have any account with them they don't charge.

Christina

if B of A is selling them at only 4 pct markup as noted above, that's not bad for a bank. It's bad compared to some other things (like even using a credit card to charge things), but if you only want a hundred or so, that's not too bad. My bank charges about 6-7 pct markup.

loisco

Thank you...as usual...!!!

basingstoke2

Travelex has a coupon that you can download that covers fees. You will still be paying a stiff markup over the "official" exchange rate (18 cents per UK pound extra today) but if you get enough to cover as insurance at the departure airport Travelex "just in case" the destination airport ATMs are not working, it is not bad since going to a bank or AmeEx for example would cost gas etc.

nytraveler

Unless there is some reason you need a substantial sum in cash on arrival getting euros here in the US is just shoveing money out the window. Get 100 euros if you want a little cash on arrival - and the departure airport is the easiest way. (For an amount that smallk how you do it won't matter)

Get the rest of your cash from an ATM at a much better rate than any you will get in the US.

spaarne

<i>Want to buy Euros before we go.</i>

I have a gas furnace so I always buy my coal before going to Newcastle.

tejana

I see no problem with the idea of getting 100 - 200 euro to have with you before you go. You never know if the ATM at the airport may be out of order or what other problems might arise, and it very comforting to know that you can get a cab into town and survive for a few hours before the need for an ATM reaches critical mass. I sometimes use my local downtown bank branch, but I also have found that an American Express Travel Services office doesn't have a bad rate, and they don't charge a service fee if you have an AmEx card.

tuscanlifeedit

Has no one other than me had to pay for a rental apartment upon arrival?

We use our credit cards for everything, and the ATMs for cash, but there are some legitimate reasons for needing cash upon arrival.

spaarne

ATMs are ubiquitous. I carry ten crisp Franklins for emergencies, which never happen.

Dukey

YES, there are NUMEROUS reasons why you might need HUNDREDS of Euros upon arrival but you should know by now that everyone here travels the EXACT same way...

avalon

I too am a Bank of America Advantage customer, my local bank has a foreign exchange desk. You might try them , they probably would charge a small fee if you are not a regular customer. I like to have at least 100 euro or pounds. The ATM at the airport are not failsafe, and sometimes there are lines waiting.

Sher

tuscanlifeedit. Actually we have had to pay for apartments upon arrival and also for the security deposit associated with it but we have always been lucky and the amount has never been more than we can withdraw from our ATM cards. We withdraw from an ATM the max amount and then withdraw the max from another ATM

The problem I am having on this next trip is that although I am going to countries that do not use EURO, several places that I would like to rent want EURO, for payment and the deposit.

I will not be arriving or departing from a country that uses EURO and will have no opportunity to get them.

So. I pay the cost of getting them in the US, three or four hundred, not so bad. But then I must carry that with me until the end of the trip where I pay for the apartment and securtiy. Then, if I am lucky I recieve the E150 deposit back and either keep them until my next trip or then pay to exchange them AGAIN if I do not want to carry them around for the rest of the trip.

Does anyone have any suggestions for this? Unless I exchange them for the local currency in that case I might be better off and get a better rate for KLN with EURO than with dollars.

laurie_ann

Will your apartment rental accept Euro travelers checks for payment and the security deposit? That's a bit more secure than cash. You may pay a fee and may not get so good an exchange rate, but it is worth exploring. We found that best for us when we rented an apartment in Paris a few years ago.

Michel_Paris

I've paid for purchases from Europe using a bank draft. It is essentially a certified cheque, made out in euros, withdrawn from your account, cashable only by payee listed on draft, drawn on your bank's 'local' reciprocating bank in that country, and if lost can be refunded.

Wire transfer and Paypal would be other 'long distance' options.

Christina

People seem to be forgetting that foreign airports have exchange desks, also. It's not just ATMs. So if the ATM weren't working, you could use the exchange desk. Now airports often have a hefty markup compared to in-city, a lot are around 10 pct. But as backup, it's fine. The only case that might not be true is if you are arriving at a very small airport and/or an unusual time (like very late at night). For example, the exchange desk at Quebec airport was closed when I arrived once in the middle of the day -- I think they were out to lunch and weren't coming back for an hour. I've had it closed at CDG but that's when I didn't arrive until about 11 pm.

I don't know what kind of currency KLN is, but there is no reason to presume you'd get a better rate in the US for euro with USD than in Europe with some currency from another country. Unless it was a currency that wasn't worth much outside its own country (like Hungarian). I've easily exchanged pounds, zloty, koruna whatever in Paris and gotten just as good rates as USD.They are used to lots of travelers, after all.

B of A doesn't do much cheaply, and I think their fee is so high it doesn't make it practical compared to alternatives, if you are buying a small amount. If they will even do it for non-customers, a lot of banks won't. B of A charges $8 to order foreign currency online and won't do it for anyone but a B of A customer.