Someone from San Francisco has recently asked on another forum about where best to obtain euros in SF. I remember someone saying a few weeks ago (I think her name was Becky) that you could obtain foreign currency from ATMs in SF.

I assume that this only applies to certain ATMs, not all of them. Anybody got any idea where these are situated so I can pass the info on please?

In SF I have never seen any ATM machine that dispenses euros. Go to American Express. How can anyone obtain euros from any US ATM anyway?

I don't know, but I assume it was referring to a foreign currency ATM-like exchange matchine, probably at the airport. They have those at the airport I'm at, it's just like Travelex only automated. It's not like a regular ATM that deducts from your bank account. Maybe someone in SF knows better, but I'd be real surprised if a regular bank ATM dispensed euros.

If you go to one of your large banks, they should carry them there so you can "buy" a small quantity before you leave.

The Amex at First and Market always has them available for purchase.

There's a currency exchange on the east side of Cyril Magnin Way which had the best exchange rates when I used them a few years back.

You can also purchase euros on the web on at least one site: OANDA.com, and there may be others.

I always go to AAA. It takes 48 hrs. and a delivery fee of $7.00. (at least where I live).

www.bankofamerica.com
Free delivery if order is $500 or more.
Will deliver to BOA bank centers if you can't be available to sign for a delivery to home.

If there's a Thomas Cook office, you can buy them with the least exchange rate.

I'm just curious why posters mention things like "no fee" or "free delivery if the order is over $500". What is the exchange rate they are giving you? If they are charging you 3 or 4 percent over the usual rate you'd get at an ATM for example, then it is hardly worth mentioning that they don't charge you for delivery.

Thanks for all the replies. They are pretty much the same responses as people on the other forum have been giving. The exchange on Cyril Magnin Way was mentioned a couple of times there too, so it sounds like a good bet.

I just remembered that Becky was most insistent that in SF there were ATMs available which presumably take the cash straight of your bank account and I thought that would be a lot more convenient and maybe cheaper.

Travelex owns and operates the foreign exchange ATMs which are located on levels 2 and 3 of the international terminal at SFO. I used one of them once to obtain a few euros and pounds. Besides numerous foreign exhange kiosks and booths at the airport, Travelex also has full service exchange offices on Geary St (off Union Square) in SF and in Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. The exhange rate/charge using one of the machines is the same as using the kiosks. You must use any standard credit card to use a machine -- so using a debit card with a Visa symbol will draw the payment from your bank account.

I don't recall being "insistent" that these ATMs exist, nor implying that they "take cash straight from your bank account" nor that they are on every corner nor that they are less expensive to use. The point of my post on that other thread was to defend against the implication that one should be considered, essentially, a Dumb American for asking if there might be ATMs in London which dispense euros. Whether or not they actually exist there, I don't know. I do know they have been around for years at several airports in the USA.

to be accurate these are not ATMs. They are Automated Bureau de Change. Same as any airport foreign exchange desk or kiosk. Just maybe slightly more convenient.

You will not get a better exchange rate - it will be the same as the one charged at the window.

Begging to differ, they most assuredly are ATMs and the signs on them say "foreign exhange ATM". Doesn't ATM simply stand for "automated teller machine"? Are they not automated; do they not act as a teller; do they not take the form of machines?

An ATM is a cash dispenser. Where is a different definition written?

And I noted the rate was identical whether using an ATM or live teller.

We've been down this road constantly on the board.

The only reason to get Euro or Sterling before arriving is that you feel better knowing you don't have to stop at an exchange bureau or ATM upon arrival; you just pick up your bags and go. And you don't mind the loss in the fact that 95% of the time, you do better on the other side of the pond.

If it is a hassle to get foreign currency in the US, then you defeat one of the purposes of doing so. Every international airport in the world has exchange booths in the arrival areas where you can get foreign currency in exchange for US greenbacks or an ATM. So if you have to run around a great deal to try to get foreign currency since you feel better having foreign currency in hand upon arrival, it seems to defeat some of the purpose, eh!

I don't even bother. When I arrive at Heathrow, if I have no sterling left over or at CDG if I have no Euro left over, I use my credit card to take the Tube or RER respectively and then I deal with the currency issue after arriving at my hotel.

But to each his or her own.

This argument about whether the machines are ATMs or "change" machines is easily settled. Do you put money into the machine and then get a different currency out? If so they are change machines. Or do you put your ATM card in, and it takes money out of your bank account providing it to you in a foreign currency? If so it is an ATM.