latedaytraveler, did you get their daily rate and compare it to the interbank rate?

your bank will give you the daily rate to BUY euros. I'm willing to bet that is 5-7% higher than the interbank rate, which is currently 1.31.

If you are only exchanging $100-200 USD into Euros, then the total cost of somewhere between $15-25 is simply another one of those costs you just absorb and don't fret about. If you are exchanging larger amounts of $ then it's worth paying close attention.

Re Fhurdle's #s, those are very different from my experience. I've never had a 3% transaction fee, and I don't pay an ATM fee, so my total cost using an ATM in Europe is 1% (foreign transaction fee), not the >5% you were faced with.

I eliminated all the calculations etc by simply getting a totally fee free ATM card from Andrews Federal Credit Union. They do not charge ANY fees. They also offer a totally fee free credit card that is a true chip and pin. One stop shopping.

<<Sounds good to me…>>

Not really. Read J62's post. Daily rate does not equate to interbank rate.

I belong to a credit union that charges a 1% FTF and zero ATM fees. I just won't give away money to banks and would consider 5% to be robbery.

My total cost for using an ATM in Europe is $1. No FOREX fees.

latedaytraveer: not only is the bank's daily rate likely not the interbank rate, seldom do US bank personnel know what they are talking about when it comes to foreign currency.

Ask them what today's rate is.

Mimar, Janisj et al, I will return to my local bank for clarification and get back to you...

Did I say, I will be buying pounds, not euros?

The current interbank rate for pounds is 1.54.

Doesn't matter what currency - the best way to get foreign currency is via ATM in that country.

>>I will return to my local bank for clarification . . . ...<<

Which may or may not clarify things - As I said, very few US bank staff know <i>anything</i> about foreign exchange.

I'm in Paris right now, and the skeptics who said that you could not exchange dollars for euros because there is no place to do so are incorrect. I've seen many many exchange bureaus as I've wandered the streets of Paris. ATMs are not all that easy to find as you might think, by reading fodors!!! And yes, I'm using my ATM card. Rates at the exchange counters have been very awful when I've taken a quick peek.

BUT in a pinch, if your ATM card gets gobbled up, you CAN indeed find plenty of places to trade in your dollars. Just wanted to clarify that for folks on other threads who seemed to be saying that it was not possible to do. Not singling out any person or thread, just giving my own perspective from being in Paris right now.

No, you misunderstood. There is almost no place to cash traveler's checks. There are plenty of places to exchange money. But, as you say, the rates are terrible. I'm surprised you're not seeing many ATMs. Often they're inside a vestibule.

Wow, I feel like you can't turn a corner in France without seeing an ATM. I just spent a month in Paris and the countryside and ATMs were everywhere.

JAHM, there are probably 25 of them in Le Bugue, the closest big village to my house, and there's a population of maybe 5,000 there. You're right. You can't move without tripping over an ATM machine. Same is true all over France, Italy, everywhere I travel.

In Paris they are ubiquitous, sometimes several in a single block. I don't know where simpsonc510 is, but his comments make no sense. They are WAY more prevalent than exchange bureaus, thankfully.

>I'm in Paris right now, and the skeptics who said that you could not exchange dollars for euros because there is no place to do so are incorrect. I've seen many many exchange bureaus as I've wandered the streets of Paris.<

Exchange bureaus will rip you off. Exchange bureaus should be on the bottom of the list of places to go to get money.

We were in Paris in April/May. ATMs were everywhere in the city. If you can't find one, you aren't looking very hard. With our PNC account, we pay no per transaction fee at ATMs anywhere in the world, and only the standard 1% VISA/MC foreign exchange fee. So we pay 1% over whatever the current interbank rate is. However, worldwide do watch out for non-bank ATMs--many of these will not give you the best of exchange rates.

Almost every bank in Paris has one or more ATMs, and THEY don't charge a fee. There are some US ATM cards--we used Schwab Checking this May and June--that also charge no fee and actually reimburse any fee an ATM operator charges you. They claim to convert at the interbank rate in effect when the transaction occurs.

There is a lot of variance in how banks handle currency exchange, and many of us don't research the subject sufficiently to give an informed opinion.

Almost all ATMs go through and exchange system run by mastercard or visa, and that system charges a 2 percent fee for the exchange, but gets you the best exchange rate available. Almost all card issuing institutions pass that 2 percent fee on to you; some add their own percentage or flat rate; a few absorb the 2 percent fee and do not pass it on to you. So depending on your card issuer, your cost may vary, and if your card issuer says no fee, that does not necessarily mean that you are not paying the 2 percent to the exchange system. In any event, using the ATM is almost always your best option. If you lose your card, you call them and they send you a new card by express service, which in my experience means you get it in one or two days. If it is worth it to you, open an account with one of the institutions that charge no fee themselves, and eat the exchange service fee, but to effect real savings, you would have to travel extensively.

In my case, my wife and I have a joint account, and each of us has a debit card; when I lose mine, we just use hers to get a wad of cash, then call and get new cards sent to us.

I have never seen an exchange bureau that offers competitive products. If they cite a good exchange rate, they charge a commission that would embarrass a realtor; if they advertise no commission, they use an exchange rate that would embarrass a loan shark. They have been bypassed by technology and are surviving by preying on the ignorant.

<i>I have never seen an exchange bureau that offers competitive products. If they cite a good exchange rate, they charge a commission that would embarrass a realtor; if they advertise no commission, they use an exchange rate that would embarrass a loan shark. <b>They have been bypassed by technology and are surviving by preying on the ignorant.</b></i>

Truer words were never spoken on this forum.