No ATM card
 

I arrive in Shannon, Ireland form the states and am wondering where the best place to convert dollars to euros would be? I don't have an ATM card and cash advances on credit cards are outrageous. Any thoughts?

Why don't you just ask your bank for an ATM card? They are usually free if you have a checking account.

Otherwise, you will have to carry a lot of cash (not wise) and you will be paying a lot more for your euros.

Well, it may not be advice you want, but I'd hop down to the bank and get an ATM card now. It can be done same day.

Otherwise you will be paying , I'd predict, %5 or more in conversion fees. Are you really going to carry a large amount of US$ to Ireland?

If you must, convert at a bank, and never at a currency exchange booth. Find out what the offical exchange rate is before going, so that you will know what the charges will be. Use CC for things like hotels, and never accept to be billed in US$, always insist on local currency.

Sounds like I'll be getting an ATM card but when I use, it say, in Ireland or France, what kind of money am I withdrawing:$$ or euros? I'm assuming there's a conversion rate even with the ATMs, correct? How would I know that? Forgive my ignorance!! I have enough trouble keeping track of my dollars without conversion.

You always (few exceptions) get the local currrency. Otherwise every ATM in Europe would need to stock US$, CDN$, Yen,etc...

You'll be asking for and receiving Euros from the ATM. Before we left on our recent trip to Spain, I called my bank to verify the maximum amount that we were allowed to withdraw per day. I went to a conversion website (like xe.com) and calculated that amount in Euros then rounded down to account for any small fluctuations in the exchange rate.

Also, using xe.com, I made a little cheat sheet that I laminated. I did USD: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 75, 100 then it's equivalent in Euros. It was wallet size and came in handy!

The ATM you use will tell your bank's computer that you have withdrawn €X. Your bank will convert that to dollars, and apply whatever rate and charges it thinks appropriate (since it then has to pay €X to the bank in question). You can check in advance what they are likely to charge (and you should warn them that your cards are going to be used abroad), but almost always it will still be cheaper than taking dollar bills to be changed, and much cheaper than traveller's cheques (even if you can find someone to take them, which is increasingly unlikely). And there's much less queuing and fiddlefaddle as well.

In addition to xe.com, you can try oanda.com for currency conversions. This link creates a nice cheat sheet for you:

http://www.oanda.com/convert/cheatsheet

Select the "Typical Cash Rate" button when using the form, to get a decent (if conservative) estimate as to the value, net of conversion costs.

Fabulous--on to my bank!

You can do what I always do...I have my bank get me euros before I leave and then I take a Capital One credit card for most purchases. Capital One is the ONLY credit card (or so is said) that does not charge conversion fees. Of, course I take some other credit cards and I do have ATM card. Never use it here or in Europe. One day in Sarlat when passing a machine, I decided to see if it worked..it did...a fee went along with it!! I have been doing it this way for years, and will continue to do so in the future...going in April and in Sept.

Many ways of doing things...I just don't like to be bothered with having to get cash when I travel..rather take it with me!!

McNeill,

Ask your bank for ALL fees charged. Your bank will definitely charge you a conversion fee which varies from bank to bank.

Plus your bank MIGHT charge you an out-of-network transaction fee, which can be as much a $3-$5 per transaction. Many people shop around for the bank with no transaction fee and open an account there just for travel.

Typically a foreign ATM won't charge you a transaction fee or would tell you it was charging you before you approved the transaction--the transaction fee that shows up on your bank statement comes from your own bank.

Getting euros at your local bank will cost you money. They may not have a "charge" or "fee" but will have a markup built into the exchange rate, probably in the 3-5% range. It is a service that is not high volume, and as such they will need to be paid to provide you with foreign currency.

Get an ATM card and when you need cash take 300 euros. This will be the limit or close to the limit you will be able to take at a time. At today's rate that is equivalent to about $444. Whether you take 20 euros or 300 euros your bank will charge you the same fee which will probably be about $3 per transaction. You will find that if you use your credit card for hotels, restaurants and major purchases 300 euros cash carried in a money belt on your person will be about right for you for a reasonable period of time and 300 euros is not so much to carry on you. It has worked for me for many years.

Have a nice trip,
Larry J

<<Whether you take 20 euros or 300 euros your bank will charge you the same fee which will probably be about $3 per transaction.>>

My bank charges me no such transaction fee. They only charge me a conversion fee, about 2% of the actual withdrawal amount.

The transaction fee Larry mention is the ADDITIONAL fee I was referring to in my earlier post, above and beyond the conversion fee.

A lot of banks do have a per-transactions fee, but actually, mine is the same way as Ellen's. I have no per transaction fee at any ATM (in the US or abroad), but my bank has within the past year instituted a percentage conversion fee on foreign ATM withdrawals (mine is 3 pct, unfortunately).

I haven't decided what to do about that yet, I was really annoyed as I always liked my bank and they've had good fees before this (minimal or none). They did this on both their regular ATM/debit cards (which is all I have, they call it a debit card even though I cannot buy things with it)) and their VISA-logoed debit cards that can be used to purchase things. I think they did it on the regular ones to match what they were doing on the VISA ones. Nevertheless, they do not have any ATM per transaction fees.

Ellenem,
But what exchn\ange rate do they use? Since they set it, they can also build in their fee using that means.

Two 'cost' parts to every currency transaction: fee and exchange rate

My bank is HSBC. Until this fall, they charged only 1% conversion fee for foreign exchangesand never charged me any per transaction fee for any ATM withdrawal anywhere. It is my understanding that the industry standard is 3%, with a few exceptions like credit unions and such.

After a trip I always did the computation and would find that my expenditures converted to exactly what I expected them to be based on the current exchange rates.

This past fall HSBC sent a letter informing me that the conversion fee was being increased to 3% for foreign exchanges. On my trip to Italy in November, I kept careful track of the posted daily exchange rates when I was making ATM withdrawals. When I got home and did my computations, the conversion fee came out anywhere from 1% to 2.5% based on the rates I had noted.

Still no per transaction fees.

But what exchange rate are they using? Without knowing that, you can't fully know what they are charging you.

That's why you see these exchnage bureaux that say "no fees" and you think, "wow, what a deal". But they simply bury their the fees by giving you a worse exchange rate.

No fees, or precentage of transaction gives you part of the story, but (possibly) not the whole story.

OOPS...sorry ellenem, missed ones sentence in your post :) Sounds like a good deal.

The usual 3% quoted is I think 1% exchange rate and 2% bank conversion fee, or perhaps the opposite. In any case, I think my bank was just charging the 1%, whichever part it was, but has now chosen to charge both parts, the full 3%.

For this first trip, I was very interested to see how this affected my funds, since I'd been so pleased with the rates before. I kept even more careful records and even watched the posted rates at different banks to make sure I'd be computing based on an accurate number when I returned home.

As I said, my computations in all cases came out to less than the 3% fee I was expecting based on the rates I recorded. It must have been a difference of decimal points in the rates at the time of exchange. More than 3% would sound the alarms.

Just go get an ATM card. Make sure it is attached to your CHECKING account - not savings - and has a 4-digit PIN.

That way you will pay 1 to 3% to change money versus 7 to 10% if you try to deal with cash - never mind the risk of carrying all that money.

It was quite a drag for me to get Euro here in my US hometown for an apartment I had to pay for upon arrival. The exchange rate was horrible compared to what we could get in Europe, from an ATM. I called every local bank and currency service, and went with the one that had the best rate, but it still wasn't good.

There was a delivery charge, and a per thousand charge (got some for friends while I was at it) but neither of these amounted to much. But still, with all the calling, the poor exchange rate offered,etc., it wasn't something I would relish doing again.

It is impossible for anyone to calculate exactly what the exchange rate will be on an ATM withdrawl in a foreign currency because the exchange is not adjusted daily. Exchange rates are adjusted constantly throughout the day and virtually from moment to moment. It is possible to have adjustments within the course of a day move by well over 1 to 1.5 percent. In this age of high volatility in currencies this happens routinely.

The only way you could be sure of an exchange rate would be if you could receive a currency quote at the very moment you made your ATM transaction. My bank is JP Morgan Chase who charges a 3% conversion fee and a $3 transaction fee when you use an ATM other than their own. In the course of what I spend in Europe $3 is of no concern to me. As I live in France 6 months per year currency exchange rates are very important to me. I subscribe to a daily exchange rate service that e-mails me current exchange rates everyday and I have found the Chase transaction fees to be very good. If your bank charges you less than the industry norm of 3% conversion fees you are doing very well. How well depends of course on how many transactions and the value of those transactions over a long period of time. It may or may not be worth being concerned about.

Larry J

For tuscanlifeedit,

I often need to send euro overseas and I use bank drafts. Much cheaper, safer and I get a better exchange rate. Plus it's easier, since the bank does not require having any euro on hand, all electronic.

Mike

HI MP,

>But what exchange rate do they use?

Your bank will be connected to the Visa/MC system, unless you are using your Amex card as an ATM card.

Visa/MC and Amex set the daily exchange rate. It is 1-2% above the bank to bank rate.

That is the rate your bank will use.

Some banks add up to 3% "currency conversion" fee.

Some banks add an "out of network transaction" fee.

You have to ask your bank.

((I))

Larry,

Well put.

I always do a quick computation which I know will not be perfect, just to have a ballpark figure of how much money is left in the account. It's a bit of a game for me to see how close it is to the actual amount when I get my bank statement.