Does anyone have preferred places/companies to exchange US currency into Euro? Best or good rates?

Last June when we went to Italy, I brought over about 400 Euro.. thought that would suffice for 2-3 days. Not so! (for us anyway!). Seemed like we were constantly at the ATM....

We are going to France in August for 6 days. Any ideas on a good amount to exchange at home?

I don't exchange euro at home (which for me is the US), because the exchange rates are much much worse than in Europe. I also would never want to carry around that much cash on me up-front. Why did you exchange in the US before going? You do spend a lot of cash on your trips, I never spend that much so don't really have those needs. I charge any major expense to my credit cards, so don't need that much walking-around cash. 50 euro a day for me would be plenty in cash. Maybe you are spending cash when you could use a credit card. Bottom line, you know yourself and your own spending habits, so if 400 euro wasn't enough for you to spend in 2-3 days, you probably have a good idea what you do need. I don't think there are very many people on this board that would say they needed more than that in cash to spend. I've checked rates at a few places in the US, but they were not good (official exchange places like Travelex, bank, AAA). I only did this when I wanted a little money on arrival though, not to finance my entire trip.

Almost everyone here will tell you that ATMs in Europe give the best exchange rates.

In Italy, with the exception of one tiny bank in the middle of nowhere in Sicily, I was always able to withdraw 500 Euro in a single transaction. (The ATM may only show amounts up to 250 or 300 Euro, but there is a button you can push to enter a higher amount.) I've never tried to get more than 500 Euro at a time, but someone living in Rome has posted that some ATMs will give up to 800 Euro in a single transaction.

I imagine it's somewhat the same in France.

The important thing is to ensure that your daily limit at your own bank will cover, say, 500 Euro and that you have informed your bank that you will be using ATMs in France during a certain period.

I heard somewhere that the surcharge for using the ATM outside of home (US) and "our bank" could be up to 5%?????

Kathryncee: You probably heard wrong - or maybe misunderstood what you did hear.

The European bank won't charge anything. And US banks typically charge approx. 1% plus an ATM fee of $0 - $5. $0 is rare and $5 is rare. Most US banks and credit unions charge between $1 and $3 per ATM transaction.

An ATM is by far the cheapest way to get cash

Kathryncee, do you want a bank that will save you lots of money?

Get an account with USAA Federal Saving Account. You have to be military or retired military to purchase their insurance products but that is not so for their banking and credit card services.

If you have a bank account with USSA:

Automatic ATM fee refunds when using other bank's ATM's

Free access to any ATM worldwide

Free USAA debit card that earns you o.5% cash bank (ask about details)

Free checks for the life of your account

Free USSA WebBillPay

No monthly service fees regardless of your balance.

They do not have bank buildings BUT they now have this service.

Go to your local UPS Store

Seal your checks and deposit slip in the free QuickPost envelope found at all of the UPS Stores

Hand it to the UPS Store associate to send to USAA as a Quick Post deposit. The next business day you will have access to your cash.

Phone no. is 1-800-390-2038 or go to usaa.com

USAA also offers Visa and MasterCard. As far as I know there is only a 1% fee versus 3% or more that many other institutions charge. Best regards.

ATM DEBIT CARD
Funds are deducted immediately from designated account! You collect them from ATM machine. You and bank set daily withdrawal limits.

ATM machine charges a transaction fee. Fees differ. Fee accrues to your account. I am paying $1.50 for each use.

Conversion rate will be lower than the posted bank rate. See buy and sell for specific rates.

Transaction cost will be a fixed percentage of local funds withdrawn. Mine is 1%.

Credit vs. Debit/Check cards?
Cash?
Traveller's Checks?
Pre-paid Cards?
Personal checks?

Check with your bank (and credit card companies) directly.

I was surprised to find that mine charges somewhere between 3-3.2% conversion to use the ATM and if you're not a "select" customer there is an additional percentage. They also told me that the italian bank charges a fee on top of that, too.

I ended up walking across the street to another local bank that charges %1 and opened an account just for this trip.

beentherelately: As is often the case, it sounds like your local bank's customer service staff doesn't know much about using foreign ATMs. Italian banks (and those in most other European countries) will <b>not </b> charge you to use their machines.

Bof A charges 5 dollars/transaction plus a 1% conversion fee!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13462119/