OT: Foreign currency - where to buy, here or there?

[Nightjar]

On 02/03/2014 23:11, Mike Lane wrote: ...

While there is a need to carry a small amount of cash for minor purchases, if you pay for everything else by card, you don't need to use an ATM, which is about the only time there aren't backup systems in place to allow you to use your card. If the system is unable to accept a chip and PIN verification it will default to a signature verification and I even have been issued with a stack of carbon slips and a card swipe machine, just in case the entire electronic system fails. Although, as all mine are customer not present transactions, I'm not sure how I would use them.

Colin Bignell

[nickodell]

[e-mail]... > When we go outside the Euro-zone (Polish Zloty or Czech Koruna for > instance), you get the best rate when you arrive in the count ry itself, > but I'm not sure if that will hold for the Euro. > > We're tak ing a trip to Bratislava (just for three nights) in a couple of > weeks and they use the Euro, so is it better to get, say, £50-worth here > and cha nge the majority of our money once there, or get all the money here > first ? > > Well don't get any currency at the airport that's for sure. Your cred it card/debit card is usually best. Check up for any charges. The Nationwid e one was free a few years ago for example. Take several cards in case you get an account closure. Be very sure you notify your bank where you are goi ng, if you don't, they will close the account the first time you use the ca rd in such an exotic place. Be absolutely sure you know how/if the account is revalidated if that happens. This is the main danger of credit cards abr aod. Some countries have a blackmarket where you can get a far better rate, sometimes even double. These are the ones with basket case economies. Some guy intercepts you on the way to the bank/machine and offers a better rate by far. Most are "legit" but some are crooks that will short change you so beware.

Good advice. I've just come back from Argentina where my HSBC Premier card won't work in the HSBC machines despite the bank saying it will. Fortunatel y I've been visiting Argentina for many years now and have got used to -erm e- eccentricities in the money system. Normally I use cards as described el sewhere but this time I took US Dollars. I bought them in the UK at just un der 1.60:1 In Argentina, the rate you get for pesos from sterling from your card or cash is around 12:1 while the "blue" rate for the US Dollar hovers around 11.5:1

If you are going somewhere where money is anything less than straightforwar d then a little research beforehand could save you a fortune.

Nick

[harryagain]

Nobody goes in the bank in these places. I can see you haven't travelled much.

[harryagain]

It depends how much they value their tourist industry and how important it is to the localeconomy. In many places the police have specific instructions to assist tourists. Sometimes their sole job. Other places the police ARE crooked. You have to find out what's up when you get there. Third world countries are much more interesting (and cheap) places.

The local kids are more of a problem re crime.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 02:13:51 on Mon, 3 Mar 2014, Nightjar remarked:

Oh the youth of today. I used the carbon slips before credit card authorisation and payments went online. You just write "Mail order" in the signature box, and send the top copy with the goods. You banked the carbon copies in the same physical way as customer-present ones (and waited about a month for your money, longer for Amex).

Any transactions above your floor limit you could telex the card numbers and amounts, and you'd get authorisation back overnight, by telex.

[harryagain]

Good advice. I've just come back from Argentina where my HSBC Premier card won't work in the HSBC machines despite the bank saying it will. Fortunately I've been visiting Argentina for many years now and have got used to -erme- eccentricities in the money system. Normally I use cards as described elsewhere but this time I took US Dollars. I bought them in the UK at just under 1.60:1 In Argentina, the rate you get for pesos from sterling from your card or cash is around 12:1 while the "blue" rate for the US Dollar hovers around 11.5:1

If you are going somewhere where money is anything less than straightforward then a little research beforehand could save you a fortune.

Nick

Exactly so. There are a lot of people here not well travelled. Peru and Bolivia are places with lots of "unofficial" arrangements. It is the norm in these places. US dollars is good everywhere in South/Central America. People are desperate to get hold of them. These are places where credit cards are less good. There are often dodges involving payments into off-shore accounts too.

For those concerned about safety, there are far greater hazards such as "speed kidnappping" in Mexico and the drug pinch in many places. There is a new scam been thought up every time I go. You have to be a lot more street savvy in these places.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 07:46:23 on Mon, 3 Mar 2014, harryagain remarked:

That's what I was told, but in Rio they were more interested in local currency (the taxi from the airport refused to accept USD). Luckily I had picked up some local currency at an ATM at the airport, the only one as far as I could see being hidden amongst the duty free shops just airside of customs/immigration.

There were very few ATMs in the tourist resort were I was and I had to visit a hotel with one in a bureau off the lobby half a mile further up the beach.

There was something slightly odd about the ATM, I forget what exactly; but it could have been that it insisted on billing for the local currency in USD (perhaps because it was inside a US-chain hotel), which then got re-converted to Sterling later. iirc the bureau was only open office hours too.

[Nightjar]

I assumed there would be a way, but I would have had to find the box containing the machine, the slips and the manual to find out :-)

In practice, if the system goes down, I could normally wait a day or two for it to come back up before charging the card. Few of my customers need the goods the next day.

Not many Telex machines around today. Authorisations are now done by phone.

Colin Bignell

[F]

Wrong again Harry, as you so often are.

I've travelled in every continent; have crossed the Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle and Equator, all at sea level, in the last three months; and have just come back from a 25000 mile trip to Antarctica (second visit), Ecuador, Argentina, Peru and Galapagos Islands.

And I've got the t-shirts!

[F]

Wrong again Harry, as you so often are.

I've travelled in every continent; have crossed the Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle and Equator, all at sea level, in the last three months; and have just come back from a 25000 mile trip to Antarctica (second visit), Ecuador, Argentina, Peru and Galapagos Islands.

[edit] Oh, and add on Brazil to the latest trip: almost forgot!

And I've got the t-shirts!

[F]

There is a row of them landside on the third floor.

Quite a few in banks two streets back from Ipanema beach.

[Nightjar]

On 03/03/2014 07:30, harryagain wrote: ...

and completely irrelevant to the OP's enquiry about the Eurozone.

Colin Bignell

[Steve]

Steve brought next idea :

Thanks guys, for all your replies. I suppose it was my own fault for not making it clear from the start but, although mention of using cards in Brazil or Bolivia has been entertaining and informative, I think it's a bit OTT for my purposes. My fault, I admit it, I should have been clearer.

I see the whole trip, including a gift for my wife and bringing some bottles back as well, as probably needing no more than £300. When we've had 'lad's weekends' in Poland (Gdansk and Warsaw) we've taken about £50 of Polish Zlotys with us and carried about £300 Sterling cash with us to change at local Kantor offices, and got 4.3 Zloty to the Pound here, 5.1 Zloty to the Pound there. All I was asking is, does the same principle hold within the Euro-zone, ie, get more for your money there, or do we just get £350-worth of Euro cash before we go?

It has been an education to read all the replies though lol

[Mike Lane]

On Mar 3, 2014, Nightjar wrote (in article ):

No. I just accept that the further east one travels in Europe, the less likely cards are to be accepted. I can't remember ever managing to pay for anything with a card in Greece for example. Fortunately ATMs are everywhere and always seem to be reliable.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 09:20:22 on Mon, 3 Mar 2014, Nightjar remarked:

We could phone in those days too, but individual calls would have severely hampered the workflow so we batched them up. Then it was simpler and cheaper to use the telex.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

09:41:09 on Mon, 3 Mar 2014, F remarked:

Not somewhere a new arrival might be hunting around.

I was at Barra Beach.

[F]

Agreed! Certainly not obvious and I only found out when I asked at the Aerocoop/Aerotaxi desk (they offer good fixed price transfer deals to and from the airport).

Ah!

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

11:50:13 on Mon, 3 Mar 2014, F remarked:

And I wasn't on holiday either; I was at a conference and only left the building about three times all week! But things like the lunch service put on the by organisers had to be paid in cash on the day, it wasn't billable to the hotel (the majority of the attendees not staying in that hotel anyway).

One road-warrior tip though was I booked a package tour (flights and hotel) to get round the fact the conference hotel was 'fully booked' that week. Some of the agencies still had vacancies having block-booked for tourists months before, even though the block booking by the conference organiser was sold out.

[Michael Chare]

I once stayed at a small hotel in Athens that refused to take my card. This was a surprise to me as the hotel had asked me to fax my credit card details to confirm the reservation.

[harryagain]

Just make sure you have alternatives. There's nothing buggers up a holiday like finance/exchange/thievery problems. Take a couple of big value $/notes, hidden on person. Wife in bra, you in shoe/clothes lining say. For if you get robbed of everything. Can happen when travelling with all your stuff.

Don't leave valuables in hotel rooms but in safe. Don't leave valuables in suitcase in transit. Be careful of taxis by night. Some cities not safe to walk in by night, check out before travelling. Unfortunately, thieves know about money belts these days.