Purchasing Euros
 

We are traveling to France and Italy in June 2009 with another couple. "An expert" on the news said he thought the dollar would get much weaker after the recovery package/next round of TARP money was given out. Knowing that no one, is really an expert about this, we decided to go ahead and purchase euros now. My handy/dandy U.S dollar/Euro calculator that stares at me daily on my home page said $1.30 this morning. When we went to our local credit union they calculated it as $1.36 with a $17 service charge. We decided to check out the Bank of America site which shows the dollar at $1.37 and there is about a $7 fee.

My question: is there a better way of purchasing Euros? We thought we would take around 200 per couple. In the past, we have used our credit card (we like to earn those miles) and debit card when we need cash.

Thanks ahead of time.

Sure, buy some ISIN DE0001135341 from your Broker and sell them when you go or whenever you like. Get money from the ATM. 400€ is not really an amout worth thinking about too much.

You will never receive a good deal when purchasing Euros from a bank or credit union. The official rate has been as low as 1.275 within the last few days. It was at 1.25 in early November, but was above 1.40 at the beginning of this year.

If anyone could predict the exchange rate they'd be rich beyond belief.

If you want a small amount for when you arrive in Europe buy just that, a small amount, and then use ATMs once you get here. It will make very little difference in fact to the overall cost of your trip, no matter what the dollar does.

I agree with above poster, just buy a few. I always bring at least 100 Euro home with me for the next trip. At BofA I have never paid a fee. It depends on what kind of accounts you have. I pay no fee to buy and no additional percentage when taking out of an ATM in Europe, as long as I use one of their partner banks. You might want to change your accounts at BofA if that is where you do your banking.

It is handy to have some money on arrival. An ATM would be the easiest, but sometimes they don't work when you need them, so I'd be inclined to buy some at home. But as logos says, don't sweat it, it's only 400€.

I'm not sure you understand that your credit union, BofA etc. aren't calculating it at an exchange rate they think is the real one, it's their own rate they have decided to use to make a profit. So it's the real one marked up. BofA just shows their own rate, not the real one.

I don't think this is worth worrying about for 200 euros, actually, the value of your time to write this post is probably more than that five percent spread in real versus BofA rate. I'm surprised you care about a few dollars on this thing when you used your credit card to get cash in order to earn miles. Most credit cards have very high fees for getting cash advances.

If you used your debit card in the past, why change now.

Thanks. That answers my question.

While B of A does not charge the usual $5 fee for using a partner bank's ATM, they do charge the 1% surcharge like everyone else. That didn't always appear on your statement but they are required to post it now.

To the OP, as already mentioned you will not find a good deal on currency exchange in this country. It makes more sense to use the ATM at the airport. If it's out of cash or not working, another will be close by.

Hey T5,

Your banks are charging you a 5% premium.

The Euro would have to rise to 1.35 before you would break even.

Even if it went to $1.40, you would be out only 20E if you waited until June.

((I))