Has anyone ever bought Scottish pound in the US and taken them over? Just wondering what the most economical way would be. You seem to lose money when you exchange travelers checks. There is probably a charge to do ATM transactions as well. Any advice? Is is smart to prepay as much as possible (ie-B&B and car rental)

The best way to get pounds is at ATMS or to purchase using Credit Cards. They have the best exchange rates, but there is variety in the fees they charge and it is worth checking which is the best between the cards you hold. Changing cash is worse and travelers checks can be the very worst.

Prepay only if you know what direction currency is going to change. 'course if you know that, you shouldbe already making a fortune.

Keith

I suspect you'd be hard put to it to find Scottish pounds in the US. When you get to Scotland, you'll find some local banks have the right to issue their own notes, but the currency itself is the same old British pounds as the rest of us use and what you would get in the US for anywhere in the UK is as good in Scotland.

There's plenty of advice in previous threads on using ATMs. I can't imagine any other way of getting cash abroad now. In the UK they are plentiful, but you'd best check with your own bank about their exchange rates and charges. There's not usually any charge by the UK banks to draw money out of their ATMs, as far as I know.

Keith...

While there are Scottish bank notes (bills as we say in the State) the currency is the Great British Pound (Sterling)...English bank notes are 100% acceptable in Scotland so what you need are British pounds and it's really not necessary as you can hit the ATM's when you arrive.

I have been told, sometimes, Scottish banknotes are difficult to spend in some parts of England and Wales but have never run into the problem. As a matter of fact, although I was in Scotland for a while last year, I never saw anything, at least in my dealings, other than English money. I must admit, though, I never hit an ATM in Scotland nor did I spend very much paper money in Scotland...my attitude is to use credit cards everywhere they are taken and they were taken everywhere...a couple of times I had to break an English fiver but the change wa in coins and there is no such thing as Scottish coins, they are the same coins identical to those used in England.

Hi S,

The least expensive way to get currency in Europe (Scotland is in Europe) is at ATMs.

I saw Scottish notes almost exclusively when I was in Scotland last year.

Unlike the Channel Islands, the ATMs didn't give a choice between English and local currency.

Keith

kieth: UK£ IS the local currency in Scotland. (there is no such thing as "English" pounds btw). The ATMs will dispence UK £ and Scottish £ - consider the scottish notes sort of like the state Quarters in the US. Not an exact analogy - but an Indiana quarter is exactly the same as a NY quarter.

susanmc: You can't get Scottish £ in the States - but you don't need them since UK £ work just fine. BUT you really don't need to take any - unless you just £50 or £60 to get you started. It is very simple to use ATMs anywhere in the UK.

oops - that should be keith - sorry . . . .

Scottish bank notes may not be as easy to exchange outside of the UK. I once found myself unable to exchange a Bank of Scotland note at the Addis Ababa airport but had no trouble with Bank of England notes even though they are the same value. (No ATMs there.) The moral of the story is that I preferentially spend Bank of Scotland notes over Bank of England ones if I have both in my pocket.

I agree with the general wisdom - use ATMs as much as possible, along with your credit card, of course.

I also take some GBP with me, but, as someone else said, at this point they're usually just the "leftovers" from a previous trip.

I did want to point out, however, that I've had a little trouble using the Scottish notes in England. Admittedly, the problems were with B&B owners and small pubs/restaurants, but a number of those establishments refused to accept the Scottish currency. (I know that technically they "can't" do that, but it's kind of hard to figure out how to "enforce" that at the moment.)

So, my advice is to use any/all Scottish notes you have before you leave Scotland. (Note: that's Scottish notes, not GBP!)

Gayle

Technically, small (or any other)business owners most certainly have every right to refuse Scottish bank notes.

Banks in England charge merchants a premiumn for processing the notes a handful of Scotland and Northern Ireland based banks issue. Many English traders don't see why they should further swell banks' profits - and this is one unnecessary cost B Liar's government isn't forcing Britain's small businesses to shell out for.

Incidentally, the banks who charge English merchants a premium are often those raking money in from their licence to print money in Scotland ands Northern Ireland.

Hmmm...thanks for the info, CostwoldScouser. (Apparently, the bank that eventually traded our Scottish notes for GBP - without a charge - and told us that the businesses were wrong to not accept them gave us bad information. This was a few years ago - I think 4 or 5 years, but I'm not sure at this moment.)

Anyway, it's interesting to hear "the other side" of the story.

Gayle

"Apparently, the bank that eventually traded our Scottish notes for GBP - without a charge - and told us that the businesses were wrong to not accept them gave us bad information."

Total rubbish, even in Scotland Scottish bank notes are NOT legal tender - they have a status akin to cheques.

Outside of Scotland they don't have to be accepted at all, though they are commonly accepted in the north of England. Outside of the UK you'd be lucky to find anywhere to change them

"Total rubbish, even in Scotland Scottish bank notes are NOT legal tender - they have a status akin to cheques."
Actually, in Scotland (and Northern Ireland) <i>no</i> banknotes are legal tender, only Royal Mint coins, and even then certain conditions apply.
Banknotes are legal <i>currency</i> however.

There's a good explanation of the various legal tender issues here: http://www.kopete.org/UK-currency.html (under the heading &quot;Legal tender and regional issues&quot

i'm not sure what I've done to be labeled &quot;rubbish&quot;. I said that it appeared that the info I got from the bank was wrong.

Geez Louise, maybe the teller/clerk/whoever was new and gave bad info? Maybe that's really how the person understood the workings of the money?

All I can tell you is what happened to me...and I only did that to try to let others know to use their Scottish banknotes before they left Scotland. (It wasn't like I gave a discourse on UK economics or anything.)

Interesting that they hand out money (Scottish pounds) that aren't even legal? And how in the world do they get away with that?

I was trying to be helpful, but I'll move on to other threads where you don't get trashed for letting someone know about your experience.

Gayle

This thread is in danger of becoming a navel-gazing discussion that will totally confuse our cousins across the water, so can I please say how it affects me in real life, whatever the lawyers / economists / anoraks may say.
Like it or not, Scotland is part of the UK and the UK refuses to be part of the Euro, so Scotland uses GB Pounds Sterling as its currency. Coins which go up to 2GBP are universally accepted, though if you look you'll find that there are in fact diffrent designs in each of the UK countries. Some Scottish banksare still allowed to issue their own bank notes. These are siilar size and colour to Bank of England notes. They're accepted everywher in Scotland and in lots of places in England, especially places that get a lot of Scottish customers (near the border, or motorway service stations on the main routes south). Bank of England notes are accepted everywhere unless you're silly (offering a 50GBP note for a 60 pence bus ticket is silly). Cash machines in Scotland are likely to give you a mixture of notes. If you're worried about getting left with &quot;worthless&quot; Scottish notes you should be able to change them at any bank before you leave. If in doubt, go to a branch of the bank that issued the notes. If all else fails, take your Scottish banknotes home and sell them one at a time on e-bay.

Isn't a Scottish pound 15 ounces?

It's a close relative to a Scots mile.