CarolynAnn

Want to double check our cash - credit card - ATM strategy in Scotland with you.
We got 100 British pounds from our bank in the States, and will carry some American dollars. During our layover in London, we're planning to get more pounds from an ATM. We will use Capital 1 credit cards wherever we can to avoid foreign transaction fees,but also plan to have enough cash to pay for gas & food if we have to. Our ATM cards have 4 digit PINs. Is there anything we need to consider? Is there any reason to get Scottish pounds?
(I apologize if I haven't used the correct terms for currency.)

Thanks for your advice.

Jeff801

Pound notes issued by the Bank of England and the Bank of Scotland are interchangeable currency, legal throughout all of the UK. Issues of nationalism aside, analogize them to Federal Reserve notes issued by each of the separate Federal Reserve Banks. I have paid cash with a mixture of notes from Scotland and England without question in many parts of the UK.

Rubicund

Not sure why you want to carry US Dollars. They aren't legal currency here in the UK and they won't be accepted. If you change them at a bureau de change or a bank, you'll get an awful rate.

Stick with your ATM and credit cards. The four digit pins will work everywhere. Scottish £'s are not a separate currency and English or Scottish issued notes are fine.

xyz123

Scottish pounds are worth exactly the same as english pounds but the banknotes are different. Flanneruk will probably come on and go through a whole discourse on what legal tender means. My experience is that while in Scotland nobody will give you any problems with using English banknotes (remember everything under £5 is a coin and the coins are the same all issued by the Royal Mint).....however some have reported difficulties in using Scottish banknotes once you leave the border region between England and Scotland although in theory they should be taken but many shopkeepers in England simply do not take Scottish banknotes for hatever the reason. But all banks in England will exchange your Scottish banknotes for English banknotes on a 1:1 basis. Last yeasr, I was in Scotland and had about £10 left over in Scottish bank notes and at my last hotel, the front desk without the slightest hesitation exchanged my Scottish banknotes for English ones.

The easiest way to avoid any of these problems, of course, is to use your credit cards wherever they are taken for any amount but credit card acceptance outside of say Edinbjurgh or Glascow may not be as readilly available as in the big cities and then the other problem once you leave the big cities might be the fact Capital One credit cards lack ermv chips so yuo might find a bigger need for cash than I normally do on my trips to the UK and for the most part Scottish ATM's will issue Scottish banknotes.

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CarolynAnn

So it sounds like we'd probably better take more cash (pounds) than we normally would to be on the safe side, since we're going to Isle of Skye, Inverness, and Braemar.

Rubicund - American dollars are just for use in American airports during flights over and back. Not carrying much.

Thanks, everyone.

Michael

When using your credit card, make sure that you are billed in the local currency, otherwise the DCC is applied and you will be charged a few percentage points for that service. The person behind the cash register will try to convince you two ways: 1. the conversion is at an advantageous rate (it isn't) and 2. that way you know exactly what you are paying in your home currency.

historytraveler

You'll find plenty/sufficient ATM's on Skye and in Inverness and Braemar. I have no idea what xyz123 is talking about in regard to the comment on credit card acceptance outside Edinburgh and Glasgow. There are very few places in Scotland that won't accept credit cards.I don't see any reason to fill your pockets with extra cash.

BigRuss

What's a Scottish pound? Where do you find that on the xe.com or oanda.com exchanges?

Chips are not necessary in the credit cards - vendors know perfectly well how to swipe the bloody things.

We spent much time outside Edinburgh and shockingly enough the Scots had electricity, running water, computers and took credit cards and all this was true in 2004.

Michael

<i>There are very few places in Scotland that won't accept credit cards.</i>

The B&Bs where we stayed in Scotland, and elsewhere in Europe, generally do not accept credit cards.

historytraveler

Yes, many B&B's do not accept credit cards, but I assume a person would be aware of that in advance and have sufficient cash for payment. With that exception and possibly a few others, my comment still stands. Credit card acceptance in Scotland is not a rarity

CarolynAnn

Yes two of our B&Bs told us in advance they required cash.

Michael, thanks for reminding me to request credit cards transactions be made in local currency. I had forgotten that.

belted_galloway

Not all are aware, even a Fodors legend (mentioning no names) was caught out recently, whilst on a trip to our green pastures.

I would agree most B&Bs are up against it with few economies of scale, VAT, business rates etc to contend with, the last thing they need is MasterCard stealing 3% of their turnover.

xyz123

historytraveler....I passed along what I read and I think I used the word might. My experience throughout the world, not just in Scotland is that outside big cities, credit card acceptance decreases to some degree. I never mentioned ATM's. I know in London, I can walk into a Tesco, pick up a couple of bottles of diet coke for £1.16 and not get any funny looks. I assume the same is true in Edinburgh and Glascow. Not so sure, though, when I leave the big cities. While I had no experience in Scotland, I found that when I was in Ireland, as soon as I left Dublin, it became progressively more difficult to use credit cdards (not impossible)....Personally when I trravel I rely on credit cards for EVERYTHING no matter how small...it has not always been as easy outside big cities.

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janisj

"<i> My experience throughout the world, not just in Scotland is that outside big cities, credit card acceptance decreases to some degree.</i>"

But the questions IS about Scotland so sorry, but experiences elsewhere aren't all that relevant. Credit cards are accepted in just about every restaurant, pub, petrol station, tourist attraction, Visitors Centre, gift shop, grocery store, etc. A relatively large % of B&Bs don't accept them. No need for chipped cards.

(I think I'm the 'legend' Belted is talking about Legend sounds good, think I'll make up new business cards )

I knew my B&B only takes cash . . . but thought I had more cash on me. The locals came to my rescue

You don't have to 'get' Scottish notes. That will just happen. You'll get them from ATMs and in change. You'll get both types of notes and they are totally interchangeable.

belted_galloway

and try not to take those Scottish notes back into England. The RBS 20 quid note is the most forged, along with those from the Bank of Ireland. The Weegieboys know that are not well recognised south of the broder and as a result forge them.

Many business south of the border will not touch them but as stated the branches of any bank will change them to Bank of England notes.

Watch out for strange attachments on ATMs, lots seemed to have appeared recently. They are criminal card cloning devices and are not difficult to spot.

xyz123

Just to be sure, I went back and read my original post and I said outside the big cities, credit card acceptance may not be as available as in Edinburgh and Glascow...I did not say is not as available as in the big cities as wqell as the possibility of having trouble with the archaic American credit cards. I said you might need to spend more cash, not you will need to spend more cash. So I stand corrected but some of the harsh statements were not necessary and it is and has always been a fact that the more one might deviate from typical tourist areas, the more likely you are to end up with problems using swipe credit cards and things such as minimum amounts necessary to charge. It is this way throughout the world.

And as I said, while I know London well and can easily spend a week in London and not once have to pay cash for anything and have been to both Edinburgh and Glascow, I would not feel as comfortable not having cash with me until I got to know the lay of the land.

It helps to read before one condemns.

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historytraveler

Geez, I didn't think my comments were the equivalent of a "harsh statement," nor do I feel it was "condemning". A simple case of a straightforward comment viewed otherwise. I'm just a bit perplexed by your interpretation. I don't believe I ever suggested not having a sufficient amount of cash on hand, just that carrying a lot of cash wasn't really necessary.

BTW, my comments come from a number of years of traveling through out Scotland, including many of the more remote areas.

It helps if one isn't overly sensitive to comments made by other posters.

Well,the horse is dead and I've better things to do.

opus

Totally call your cc companies and atm folks as I for one had that 'sinking feeling' when the Royal Bank of Scotland ate my card. I now always call my cards and let them tis I not a forger who will be using them abroad. The funny thing is that they tell me that every country I travel to is risky re credit and I say so is the usa--that means you can't you use yr bankcard for non-personal transactions abroad should you choose to buy the full kilt on line.

xyz123

historytraveler....I just thought writing I have no idea where xyz123 came up with.....if I were writing, I always try to be respectful to others who disagree and might write I respectfully disagree....then janisj followed up with the silly comment, at least I thought it was silly, that the op was asking about Scotland. Like I said, say whatever you want abouty me....I never make anything personal. When I disagree with something, I simply say I disagree.

I simply thought the comment was a tad harsher, especially since I was not dogmatic about it and said it might be not it will be.

So I do apologize to you if you thought I was out of line objecting to the tone of your reply. Like I said, I always try to be sensitive to the opinions of others and sometimes I too put my foot in my mouth. It's always good to hear others' opinions.

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xyz123

opus...that's the conventional wisdom and while I am not recommending it not be done, I don't bother any more. I've made small purchases and have had my card flagged even after calling and then I've made large purchases, not called, and everything goes through. I don't think it matters much and I've had with certain credit cards the clerks telling me thank you but the card might be flagged anyway if the computer determines there is something odd about the charge.

Again, I'm not saying not to bother but I wonder just how much good it does.

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