Kayd, thanks for response re: atm for approximately 1400 euro.

We have found in the past that it isn't easy to find an ATM that will dish out more than 250 euro at a shot (I did find one for 300 last month..but only one).

Our banks will raise it to $500, but trying to get the euro I need the first day could mean finding 5 or 6 atms. And crossing my fingers.

The apartment owner is just too kind to us to make her wait while we try and gather the funds.
I would feel terrible if I couldn't get the total soon after meeting with her as she drives in from outside Rome to meet us.

BTW, I always get euro from an ATM before we leave Rome, because I know I will be back~
That way I always have money when we arrive for driver, incidentals etc.

I should have gotten the 1400 euro last month!

See if your apartment owner has a PayPal account -- you can pay him/her at least a portion before you leave.

uhoh, We already sent 25% deposit via bank transfer~ no paypal.

The rental is for 3 weeks and that would be great if we could pay it all up front, but balance in euros is requested.

Well, if there are two of you, each with an ATM card, it would only take 3 ATMs to get 1500E. We have 2 ATM cards so we could do it in 2 ATMs. Just stop at the ATMs en route to the apartment.

I would buy 100 euros now if you are concerned about landing in Europe with no euros, but no one knows what will happen to currency values between now and your trip. Could go up, could go down, could stay the same.

Your bank may be giving you a "good" deal compared to other sources in the USA, but not compared to what you can get in European bank ATMs. It is unlikely that the dollar will drop enough in value between now and your trip to make up for the extra you pay your bank now as compared to what you'll pay at a bank ATM in Europe then.

But do what makes you comfortable.

Just to keep this in the thread, I checked with Paypal on what it would cost to send 1000euro to someone in Italy -- they only charge you $7.61 but the exchange rate they quote (today) is 1.52 dollars to the euro. The exchange rate on xe.com is $1.48. SO it appears PayPal is making 4% on such an exchange.

That 1.48 looks like the interbank rate to me, available to banks trading in the millions. Is that what you have been quoted for a cash transaction today?

You ca use the 'newspaper rate' as the baseline to compare your alternatives. It is not a rate that you can get as a citizen.

My bank was charging ~5% above that rate.

Interesting. I've always thought the on-line exchange rates tend to be very close to what one gets when in Europe and using an ATM. At least that has been my experience. Personally, we have not exchanged cash for cash since ATMs have become available (and we use an account that does not charge fees to use an ATM anywhere in the world.) Just last October I checked the rate before we left for a month in France, and when we got to Toulouse and used an ATM (about 36 hrs later), the rate had actually gone down. I don't expect that to happen this year.

OK then, so the Paypal idea for prepaying (if it is available - and often owners of rental properties do offer that) looks pretty decent.

My experience is that the online exchange rate (xe.com) or elsewhere is essentially the same rate I get when using an ATM, and I'm diligent at checking these things.

The notion that that rate is only used when exchanging millions is urban legend imo.

I realize this doesn't help the OP, but it is a thread that I bet gets a lot of use now that the travel season is upon us.

Paypal is rather expensive but sometimes seems the only reasonable option imho. I have credit cards that not only don't charge for ATM withdrawals anywhere, but also don't charge the (about) 1.5% that's supposed to go to the CC company. So the rate for $ today from an US ATM or online shopping in the US would be 1.482
I've no idea, how they manage to stay in business, but I fear it's the late fees :-).

ha ha! late fees and the interest rates on people who don't pay things off and miss a payment. ("ooops...that 4.9% interest just went up to 24.9%")

Pre-paying a few big expenses on the gamble that the Eur is only going to get more expensive is probably not a "bad bet" to make.

I ordered £430 from my bank on Tuesday. I paid $766 plus change this included a $7.50 delivery fee and an exchange rate of 1.74 (oanda & xe had it at 1.65). I hated to do it but we are going to France and renting from British owners who only want £. Not that I blame them as probably 99% of their renters are also British and this wouldn't be an issue.

I will have no € until I hit the ATM at CDG. I will gladly pay the $5 fee the one time. Once I can access BNP Paribas I won't pay anything over the 1-2% transaction fee.

<<Wow - didn't think I would get beaten up but asking a simple question. Maybe I wasn't clear.>>

You were clear and people answered your question. Most frequent US/Europe travelers who post here wait and get money once in Europe. That's all people were telling you.

There is no way to predict what exchange rates will be in the future. Like the stock market, if any of us knew that... we'd be rich.

logos999, you wrote you used a credit card to get cash. Didn't the card company start charging you interest immediately?

The rate quoted at xe or oanda IS the interbank rate. A few of us get cash from ATMs at that rate. Using my credit union ATM cards, I get cash at the interbank rate plus 1%. I've confirmed this on multiple trips. This is the exchange rate. No transaction fee is charged.

I'm surprised at people's loyalty to their banks, no matter what they charge. I suppose if your trips to foreign countries are rare, and the bank doesn't charge excessively for other services, and is conveniently located....

But I do almost all my banking/billpaying online. I've only been in the bricks-and-mortar credit union about 3 times in 30 years.

>Didn't the card company start charging you interest immediately?
No, that is the best thing about it. You can get money from any ATM in the VISA system. Whenever I get money from the ATM, they lose money, because they pay the fees and don't charge interest.

You can set up a bank account at Charles Schwab or eTrade that gives you a VISA debit card that you can use at ATMS anywhere. If the local (foreign) bank charges you a fee, it is paid back to you. (You see it on your statement) And the exchange rate is what you see when you check at xe.com. We've been using such an account for over five years now. It has saved us on fees even when traveling in the US.

We also usually wait to get euros when we arrive in Europe, but this year we are headed straight to Rome, where we also (like iluvitaly) have to pay the balance of our apartment rental upon arrival. We've been cautioned by the owners that Italian ATMs only will give 250 euros at a time, so waiting until we arrive won't do it for us, and we are going to have to bite the bullet and get euros ahead of time. I know we're paying a premium for them, but I don't see any other way of doing it. We had the same problem last year, although we were staying in Paris, but needed a larger sum than we could get at one time from an ATM. Sometimes you just have to chalk it up as part of the cost of your vacation, and not sweat the small stuff. Last year when we arrived in September the dollar was doing a bit better, but with each day it dropped significantly...so there's no predicting what it will do..as it turned out, the price we paid at home turned out to be a bargain compared to what we were paying by the second week of our trip. Part of the adventure of traveling to Europe these days.

Be careful...getting a cash advance on your credit card does get charged interest, immediately