Help! I want to get some Euros before my trip but my bank doesn't have foreign currency
 

Any suggestions? I plan on using my ATM card in Europe, but I would like to have some cash on hand just in case. AAA only has Euro travel checks.

I think any major bank should be able to handle the trade. You will pay 5% for them. American Express offices can order currency for you, if you have an AE card. You end up paying a less than favorable exchange rate plus Federal Express shipping charges.<BR><BR>I pay the fee and get the minimum amount of currency from my local branch of the Bank of America.<BR><BR>

My bank didn't have Moroccan currency when I needed it a couple of years ago, but I was able to order some through American Express (don't know if this works if you don't have an Amex card). It was really weird to open this envelope full of cash, but I always like to have at least enough local currency for a cab, so I can get going as soon as I get off the plane. Maybe if you don't have American Express, another credit card company could help. I'd also try another bank; I don't think you need to have an account just to buy some Euros.

check out Fleet at http://www.travelcash.com/. I bought TC's from them to pay a deposit. got them i two days. Plan on buying some EURO to take with me this summer. Like everything else you pay a little premium, but the shipping is free for the right amount

Buy some at the money exchange booth at the airport you are leaving from.

It's not the cheapest way, but you could just exchange some at the airport. Since I'm assuming you just want a small amount, you won't lose that much with the higher rates they charge at the airport.

Wow, five answers in less than 15 minutes. Thanks everyone. I'll start exploring the options and let you know how it goes.<BR><BR>By the way, I don't have an American Express card. Yes, I leave home everyday without it.

You could try one of the online places such as http://www.foreign-currency.com/

Hi Sue,<BR>Prior to going to Rome in January, I obtained Euros through the OANDA web site. They said they'd send my Euros to my home Fed-Ex 2nd Day Air, but actually shipped them overnight for the price of a 2nd Day air shipment. I think you have to get a 200 Euro minimum, but check it out, you might find it worth your while, I'd recommend their service & was glad I did this. (I left so soon after 2002 began that the banks in my town didn't have Euros in yet.)<BR><BR>Happy Travels, <BR>BC

Sue: Good advice from BC. While you're in Oanda's web site print yourself a "cheat sheet" which gives you US to EUR and EUR to US. Helpful in figuring out the exchange when making purchases or paying for something. I always take stick one in my wallet when going to Europe and they are very useful.<BR><BR>j

Surely your bank can order Euros??

You can buy foreign currency at American Express, even if you aren't a card member. Federal Reserve banks can get foreign currency all the time; a small branch will probably have to order it from the mother bank. If there's a Thomas Cook travel agency in your town, they have foreign currency as well.<BR><BR>You do not have to be a customer of a bank to get foreign currency. Go to the mother bank with cash in hand, and they'll gladly sell you Euros...

For my european trips in the past several years, I've dispensed with buying travelers checks or foreign currency in the US. I've always been able to get the local currency from an ATM in my arrival airport (Shannon, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona). I do take about US$200 in cash so that I can convert it at the foreign exchange booth if the airport ATMs fail me, but I haven't needed to. You don't get a great conversion rate from those places, but it's probably no worse than the rate you'd pay in the US.

What a big hullabaloo over nothing.

Agree with xxx. Just buy some from the numerous currency booths at your arriving airport. You'll get a much better rate than in the US.

Just withdraw some from an ATM at the airport of your arrival point. Every airport has ATM's and it IS the cheapest way

AAA can def. order Euros for you - call them back. I just ordered some 3 weeks ago. There was a $12 fee.

Airport exchange booth at departure or arrival airport. It will be way less trouble than anything else you might do. But more than likely, there will be an ATM in the airport, and you can get money from that.

I have never seen a foreign money ATM or exchange window at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport. Does anybody know if there is such a thing in that complex?<BR><BR>I will admit that I wasn't looking for one at any time. <BR><BR>If there is one at Charlotte - Douglas, same request. Where is the rascal??<BR>I have not seen one there.<BR>But again I was not looking for one.<BR><BR>

Hi Bob. There is one tucked away in the E Concourse and I've also seen a couple of mobile cart units. However, I've never seen one open at our departure time (after 8:00 PM). Hartsfield has a web site that should point out the location.

The locations and hours of operation for airport foreign exchange facilities are established for the convenience of international arrivals. So, whatever airport you are in, look for foreign exchange near where arriving passengers go through customs and immigration.

Continuation of above message --- since arrivals in the eastern US of flights from Europe occur mostly in midafternoon (not sure about flights from Asia), you may not find the exchange windows open during morning and evening hours except in very busy airports like JFK. So, don't worry about getting Euros here -- get them when you arrive in Europe, where they will be cheaper anyway.

Bank of America rates are the best that I've found including those posted below.<BR>Pick up at local BOA bank.

Airport exchange booth at departure or arrival airport. It will be way less trouble than anything else you might do. But more than likely, there will be an ATM in the airport, and you can get money from that.

Yes, I am anal-retentive. Yes, I can be a big pain in the ***. Yes, I do plan on using the ATM in Europe when I get there. <BR><BR>HOWEVER, I want to have some local currency on hand just in case the ATM doesn't work with my PIN, out of cash, eats my ATM card, etc.<BR><BR>My local credit union doesn't handle foreign currency. Their policy. Local banks I've called don't want to work with non-customers (including Bank of America). My local AAA only wants to sell Euro travel checks. This is what has set me off on a mild panic. (And I do realize there are many, many ATM machines in Europe, but I want to have cash in hand when I deplane.)<BR><BR>The results so far thanks to the people here:<BR><BR>Fleet: a minimum of $100 in foreign currency. $10 shipping for this amount. Thanks Jim for this site<BR><BR>Oanda: a minimum of $200 in foreign currency. $8 shipping for this amount. Oanda has a better conversion rate. Thanks Book Chick and Joanne.

Sue, check out these people:<BR>http://www.cashbycourier.com/<BR>They seem to say no delivery fee for orders over $300.<BR>I am familiar with their parent company, Accu-Rate, and have used them a number of times (at their retail location) to buy foreign cash and cheques.

Bob--there is a Travelex currency office in the main atrium at Atlanta Hartsfield .

Sue,<BR>Do you have a local AMEX or Thomas Cook office? <BR>You should be able to buy foreign currency from them or if there is a Travelex agency at your departing airport.<BR>My bank has to order foreign currency in but if I visit the local AMEX office, they usually have the currency I need. (I'm in Australia).<BR>I like to take some foreign currency with me.

Sue, relax. Let's say you arrive in Europe and for some reason, you can't get the ATM at the airport to work. In this unlikely scenario, simply walk over to one of the many foreign currency exchange booths in the airport and exchange dollars there. Don't waste your money with the bad rates/fees you'll pay to get the Euros over here (and anyone who tells you you can get a good rate over here can't do the math).

I live in a small village. Last year I got French Francs from the local branch of HSBC (a Hong Kong bank). No fees, no commission, no nothing. They gave me the going rate for that day. And I don't even have an account there. See if you have one near you.

Just because you don't pay a fee or a commission doesn't mean you didn't get a bad exchange rate. There is no way a bank will process a transaction for no profit (and indeed a loss when you properly account for their costs to process the transaction). That profit/cost recovery was built into the exchange rate. It likely wasn't huge, but probably 5%-10%.<BR><BR>Susan may protest, but I'd ask her what reference she used to check her exchange rate against.

hey Sue I'm anal retentive also, so I usually try to take some with me regardless. now, I don't travel THAT much internationally, maybe twice a year, but even in the last ten years of my travel, I've had it happen several times that I could not get any local currency from the exchange booth in an airport. It does actually happen. I will agree the odds are slim, but it happens. Once, my plane was delayed and we arrived at a time of night when they were closed (and wouldn't be open again for maybe 7 hrs), another time they shut down for "lunch" for 3 hrs in middle of day, another time they ran out of money!!! yes, they did. So, it really depends where you are going as some airports don't have "many" foreign exchange bureaux, but only one. Depends on their size.<BR><BR>I will admit that if you are going to a big city and are scheduled to land in the morning, risk is very minimal--but as airport rates are very bad, the cost won't be a whole lot worse in US than in that airport and it will save you time on landing.

Well, x, The same day that I made the transaction, I checked www.oanda.com, the currency site, as well as another one that I can't remember right now, and the rate they were showing was the same rate that HSBC gave me. I was surprised myself that there was no fee or commission added.