I have been trying to find a way to get some Euros in the US before I leave for Germany. My banks want to charge between $9 -$15 dollars just for postage and then a premiun to convert from dollars to Euros. I understand credit cards now charge a conversion fee and the ATM machines charge a fee. What is the best/cheapest solution?

Find out what you bank charges for ATM transactions in Germany and what your credit card company charges. My bank had no charges for either, and even if they did, credit card and ATM are probably the best route.

There have been lots of earlier discussions on this so you may want to do a search. For me, getting some Euros before we leave (let's say 100 euro) is worth some of the fees to avoid having to search out an ATM in the airport when we land. But we live in easy access of a major US city and can do an exchange with minimal (although still annoying) charges.

IMO, you get a much better exchange rate in Europe. You obviously want to know what fees your bank may charge for ATM withdrawals in Europe but in our experience you will still be ahead of having exchanged in the US (assuming that is where you are starting from.) For ATM withdrawals we always try to figure the largest "safe" amount because the fees are usually the same whether it is 20 euro or 200. Good luck.

If you can use at least $500 equiv in Euro, you can order from Bank of America and pick up at a BOA branch (if there is one in your city) at no charge. They usually average about 5% in exchange rate.
You can't really expect a free delivery to your home, and any purchase of foreign currency will involve a cost.

My credit card (MBNA) doesn't charge any extra conversion but there is a fee for the cash advance at an ATM. Haven't tried my Visa checkcard but my coworker says there is no fee for ATM withdrawals (used hers in Italy), so I'm taking it on next trip for cash, and using cred cd for purchases (earn miles).

If you belong to AAA, they might be an option for currency, but I have no experience there.

Your best bet and cheapest is to use the ATM at the airport. Don't get cash from a credit card - way too high exchange rate. I have found that my ATM charges are very cheap - Wells Fargo is $2.00 per withdrawal (at least in 2001). Also, using my credit card for various purchases was very close in exchange rate to the ATM.

I have a friend who will not leave on a trip without having the local currency so she goes to a large exchange bureau (like Thomas Cook) at the mall and pays the premium. I'm sure you could call one and ask for that day's exchange rate. Me, I can't bring myself to pay the extra

If you are talking about just a small amount you want to have before flying to Germany - you can just get some at the bureaux d change at the airport after you check in for your flight. Any other euro cash you need during the trip is best gotten from an ATM - byt far the best exchange rate/lowest fees.

You will pay a premium via a poor exchange rate to get money at the airport - but about the same as you'd pay at your bank. But since you're only getting a small amount it is really no big deal.

I laugh at some posts that suggest getting at least the minimum here, so <b>you won't have to <i>look</i> for ATM or Exchange Kiosks</b> at the arrival airport. Many posts here make it sound like it's a possibility that you may not find any???

WHAT??? Any major airport, European or <b>anywhere</b> in the world has multiple ATMs and Exchange kiosks. <b>I've never been to a major airport that I could NOT exchange or withdraw money within minutes of arrival</b> and Ihave been to many places. The other argument is that there will be lines. <b>YES</b> there are at the first ATM/Kiosk, but walk another 20 yards and <i>WOW!</i>, surprise, there are more possibilities, and NO lines.
And that brings me to some more advice. Any ATM or EX Kiosk that's located near the first exits past immigration/customs have the worst rates. Don't panic and pass the few first ones and you will be mildly surprised as to the better exchange rate or ATM fees at the less conveniently located spots.

Thanks for the good suggestions!!
My bank said they would NOT charge for the transaction in Europe but the bank that had the ATM machine I used would charge. My friend who travels a great deal said there is no charge but I thought the person at the bank here should know...maybe I got bad information here.
Is it hard to cash a travelers check in Euros at a store or restaurant? Will they charge something for the check? I know one would probably pay if you cash a travelers check at a bank in a foreign country even if the check is in their currency.

I just moved back to the States after living in Germany for nearly four years. While there, we continued to do all of our banking with our credit union in Seattle and got all of our cash from ATMs throughout Europe. Not once were we charged a service fee by our credit union, and if the foreign ATM owner charged us it was very little because we always felt we were getting a good exchange rate.

If you are flying into Frankfurt, I wouldn't worry too much about getting money ahead of time. There are ATM's all over the airport and we never had any problems when we used them.

Have a great trip! I'm homesick for Germany already

I have this suggestion. First look up the bankwhole sale exchange rate for the euro. Today, for example, the euro closed at $1.208 US for 1&euro;.
Then, 2, ask more than one bank how much it wants for x number of &euro; -- the &quot;drive off price&quot; and not some cockamamie rate that has all these little fees added to it. My guess is that most banks will sell euro for 5% above the wholesale bank rate.

If you wait until you get to Europe, and use an ATM card, you will pay the bankwhole sale rate plus 1%. So if saving 4% is not important, then go ahead and swap at the wholesale rate x 1.05 -- if you can find it.

If you do not know the bank wholesale exchange rate, you have no basis for a comparison. And you really do not know what the transaction cost you.

Not all credit cards charge a conversion fee. I use MBNA Visa and pay only the 1% that Visa has imposed for many years.

I do not know why it is but many people seem to be clueless when it comes to figuring money costs. There must be a very high correlation between not knowing what to pay for foreign exchange and paying off credit card debt at 24% interest.

Some banks do charge a per transaction fee for using an ATM in Curope, which runs up the costs. The European banks do not add on a fee for using an ATM. You must therefore know two facts: 1. What card tranaction fees does the card issuing bank charge, if any? 2. What exchange rate do you receive when you make the transaction?

I know I read in these pages that XYX organization charges &quot;no fee&quot;. Right. They don't have to because it jacks up the exchange rate to some rate well above the wholesale bank rate.

If there is a local university that has quite a few foreign studcnts you might see if you cannot set up a private transaction. I have identified people with euros to sell for dollars and we both profited by agreeing on the bank wholesale rate. We both come out ahead by at least 5%.

Shop around a little if you want euros before you go to Europe. We discovered my husband's credit union charged considerably more than my bank. We got $100 worth of euros at my bank.

On the other hand, his debit card gave better rates when we were there so we used his debit card. I suspect a debit card would always have a better rate than a credit card, but I have no basis for thinking that. Does someone out there know?

msAudie: Banks in most parts of Europe DO NOT CHARGE to use their machines. Your own bank will charge you (actually a few US banks don't charge IF they are members of the same banking group - like BofA/Barclays)

I have found that most customer service reps at stateside banks have absolutely no idea what happens overseas - almost invariably they say &quot;we don't charge but the other bank will&quot; when it is almost always the opposite.

This has been discussed thoroughly time and time again but people just don't want to listen to experienced travellers so here goes 1 more time.

1. There is this paranoia and that is what it is that one must have Euro (or pounds or Swiss Francs or Kroner or Crowns or whatever) before arriving in Europe. You know the ATM might be down, there are queues and look at me while others are waiting on a queue I'm off or I don't want to be bothered after a long tiresome trans Atlantic (or trans Pacific) flight. What a bunch of malarkey. As somebody pointed out, at every international airport there are loads of exchange bureaus and ATM's. While it is true that first exchange bureau might have higher rates, the ATM exchange rate will be the same no matter which ATM and which bank owns it you use. Folks this is the 21st century and technology works.

2. Then there is the argument what if the ATM is down and I haven't exchanged before leaving. Simply saunter over to the nearest exchange booth, slip them a USD 20 or 50 and you are set to get into town. As amatter of fact, in many spots you don't even need local cash until you get into town. Most forms of public t;ransport in Europe take credit cards and airport shoppes generally take US or Canadian currency albeit at a pretty bad rate.

3. The ATM's ;do they charge garbage. By the rules of Cirrus and Plus, the bank whose machine you are using cannot charge you one red (or Euro) cent for using its machines. You will pay only whatever your bank chooses to rip you off with. Try to find a bank, and there are lots of them, who charge you the proper rate for accessing your money which is $0 like in zero. You might want to check out internet banks and keep a separate account simply for travelling and put money into it when you leave and put the money back into your regular account when you return. Of course, you do understand that clerks at banks don't have a clue what goes on out of the country as many of them have never set foot outside the country and when a bank clerk tells you that other bank will charge, she (or he) doesn't have a bloody clue.

4. Credit cards have always charge a conversion fee. MC and Visa add and have always added 1% to the interbank rate when exchanging currency into USD. This has always been passed along by every bank. Now the interbank rate is the official rate in the newspapers and is much much better (in the vicinity sometimes of 10%) than what you would get at a European exchange booth and even more so that what the US banks charge you here (even though they claim there is no fee ha ha). Several greedy banks have begun extorting their customers with an extra 2% or 3% charge. Try to get them to tell you what you are being charged for and they don't have an answer but that's another story. Many of the credit union banks, MBNA and Capital One do not add this 2% charge but do be aware there is nothing you can do about the 1% charge they pass along whether the nit wit you speak to at customers service knows this or not.

Please study these notes as there will be a test next week.

To add to the above post, I would say that, for me, its also a matter of principle not paying extra fees and poor rates obtaining euro in the US. I'm sick and tired of banks ripping us off with exhorbitant fees for doing nothing.
If you're deep in debt and have a job, you're nothing but a walking dollar sign to a banker.

Hi travelnut

&gt;Haven't tried my Visa checkcard but my coworker says there is no fee for ATM withdrawals (used hers in Italy),..&lt;

The banks in Italy do not charge for use of the ATM. HOWEVER, your bank probably adds a fee for 'out of network' use.

Check with your bank.

While xyz makes some excellent points, here's one experienced traveler that likes to have a few euro in his pocket before arrival. It's one less thing that a tired me has to think about when I get to my destination airport. So I spend an extra $5 for some euro before I leave. Big deal! (PS: Of course, there is a cost-effective way of avoiding this situation on any but your first trip: Save some euro from one trip to use as your seed money for the next one.)

I won't bore people with my old story because I have posted it here before, but Ms Audie might be a newbie. My PLUS system ATM card never did work the entire time I was in Italy. It wasn't a PIN problem either. Just a quirk in the PLUS system and the EU systems. I was forced to get cash advances on my PLUS card at Thomas Cook, limimted to 230 EURO/day. Also got some cash from AMEX for no fee.
While not a problem to find AMEX or Thomas Cook, it took too much time away from eating gelato.

xyz is thorough so far as fees are concerned. Just get a small amount of Euros at the airport and don't worry about the fee. Easy and relatively cheap. There are just some things that are the cost of travelling. You can minimize some but not all.

jmc...

It is a good point...that is why I have more than 1 atm card but I've never had any problems. You're right, it does happen.

So..would you advise changing a couple of thousand dollars to Euro just in case (and quite frankly it doesn't happen that often)

Actually my answer is that you use credit cards everywhere they are taken and try to cut down on cash expenditures. I am most familiar with the UK somewhat less familiar with France and Holland and not at all familiar with Germany and Italy. In the UK, about the only thing you cannot buy with a credit card are drinks at a pub and nosh at a convenience store (sdome take cc's but have a &pound;5 minimum). France is somewhat more problematic but still except for the smallest of purchases, I use my cc's and try to keep cash withdrawals to an absolute minimum (the day will come I am sure that the public toilets in Paris will take cc's, you know you put in your cc and the door opens).

Incidentally both the metro in Paris and Underground in London have machines which take cc's for as little as a single fare!

But nobody will ever see to leave without some kind of backup in the unlikely case the ATM's eat your card or it doesn't work.

Solutions incoude bringing US cash to exchange where necessary

If you have an Amex card, Amex offices will cash personal cheques for TC's or whatever. So if this happens to you, bring a blank cheque and it means 1 trip to the Amex office and yes you will suffer the exchange rate penalties but this is an emergency.

There are also cash advances on cc's which while expensive would probably bring your expenditures to the same as if you exchanged cash.

This possibility still does not change my opinion that it is unnecessary to exchange for Euro before arriving in Germany.

Ha! HowardR... I already made note to withdraw cash on last day to bring home toward next Europe trip, and will do that from now on. Thanks for making the suggestion here; I think it's a good one.