British Pounds to Euro's

[Chrisoldskool]

Hi,

Our friends are getting married this year in Zante (June) and I am wondering if anyone has any information regarding changing our British pounds to Euro's, I have seena few deals on the prepaid card's where you can use them in ATM machines over there, however on the radio this morning and gentleman was saying that any tourists travelling to Greece should avoid the pre paid cards due to the greek economy and potentially not being able to withdraw from ATM's over there, so my question is what/who/how is the best and most cost effective method of changing my pounds to euros.

Thanks In Advance,

Chris

[LuS1fer]

Look at travel money on www.moneysavingexpert.com. It shows the various rates including any fees and postage. The more you change, the better the deal.
Post Office occasionally have a sale on Euros too.

[Rosscow]

I've found the best deals are normally either with ICE delivered or Travelex (delivered or collect from airport).

https://www.iceplc.com/

https://www.travelex.co.uk/

Post Office don't normally get their rates as good.

[FlipFlopGriff]

Make sure they are FCA approved or you take the risk of losing money. I lost £3k a few years back so learnt the hard way when the company offering the greater rates went bump.
Don't forget to add any postage costs and include these in the final rate you may get.
FFG

[Roo]

Another vote here for travelex.

[Jarcy]

LuS1fer said:

Look at travel money on www.moneysavingexpert.com. It shows the various rates including any fees and postage. The more you change, the better the deal.
Post Office occasionally have a sale on Euros too.

+1 for moneysavingexpert. Use them to guide you through all of the best financial issues in life; mortgages, pensions, insurance etc etc.

The best way to spend in Europe is by using an appropriate credit card.
In particular Nationwide or Halifax charge zero in fees for foreign purchases and you also get the exact spot exchange rate (not some tourist rate that actually has a commission hidden within).

So pay for your hotel, flights, car hire, meals out, excursions and souvenirs etc with credit card.
BUT - if asked at the point of sale whether you'd like to pay in €Euros or whether to convert to £Sterling, always insist on €Euros. Otherwise you're exposed to whatever conversion rate the merchant uses.
Then you only need cash for booze in the bar. Use your normal debit card in the ATM and withdraw €300. That should see you through.
You could buy €Euros in the UK and maybe save a couple of quid, but is it really worth the effort?

I don't like pre-loaded cards. You always end up with €8.27 left on them that you can't get at and end up forgetting about and losing the card. The hidden cost of these cards - I'm sure it adds up to millions!

[jamoor]

Jarcy said:

+1 for moneysavingexpert. Use them to guide you through all of the best financial issues in life; mortgages, pensions, insurance etc etc.

The best way to spend in Europe is by using an appropriate credit card.
In particular Nationwide or Halifax charge zero in fees for foreign purchases and you also get the exact spot exchange rate (not some tourist rate that actually has a commission hidden within).

So pay for your hotel, flights, car hire, meals out, excursions and souvenirs etc with credit card.
BUT - if asked at the point of sale whether you'd like to pay in €Euros or whether to convert to £Sterling, always insist on €Euros. Otherwise you're exposed to whatever conversion rate the merchant uses.
Then you only need cash for booze in the bar. Use your normal debit card in the ATM and withdraw €300. That should see you through.
You could buy €Euros in the UK and maybe save a couple of quid, but is it really worth the effort?

I don't like pre-loaded cards. You always end up with €8.27 left on them that you can't get at and end up forgetting about and losing the card. The hidden cost of these cards - I'm sure it adds up to millions!

You can use your halifax credit card in an ATM, cheaper than using the debit card most likely.

[CRB14]

I've just bought a load f euros through a Travelex cash passport for my trip in July. I got roughly 1.376 exchange rate (at the time) plus 0.5% cash back from Quidco. There are no card fees to worry about.