Best option for getting foreign currency.
 

I only bank with a credit union whose nearest branch is 2500 miles away and they don't sell foreign exchange anyway. I'll see if any of their share branches do. BofA charges $1.436 per Euro and the current rate is $1.361. My ATM card will probably have a 3% foreign transaction fee, but that doesn't look too bad compared to BofA. There's nothing for sale on the local Craigslist. I got it for market rate last time because I found a lady who had bought way high, came back with too much and just wanted to unload it. I have a Chase MC and so can order it at one of their branches, but I can't find their rate on their site. What's the best way to get as close to actual market rate? Just use my ATM card once there?

I just use my ATM card and take out the maximum euro I can.

Aha! Minutes ago Mrs. Lee just found 350 Euros laying around from the VAT refund she got for a purse she bought last time in Munich. That'll get me started.

This. I bank at Wells Fargo - I use a Cirrus ATM and get whatever I need in any currency at whatever interest rate they charge - which is usually much better than the airport exchange. Only very few ATM's do I see a $3 charge.

For dinners/hotels I use either my mastercard or amex, amex has a surcharge and I assume mc builds it into the forex rate.

In the big picture, I don't look at exchange rates at all. I know there is currency loss going in both directions. It's just the price of pleasure to visit to foreign country. It's nothing I can control, so I simply don't worry about it. My dad on the other hand, won't go on some trips because he says the exchange rate is bad. I did the math for him once, it is trivial dollars. The epitome of "penny wise, pound foolish."

Well, I always use a credit card with no foreign transaction fees when it's accepted. But I got really embarrassed last time when I took some friends out to dinner and belatedly learned the restaurant didn't accept ccs and I was short of enough cash to cover the whole check. I will also be getting my Sinn U2 repaired while there and I know the shop I go to only takes wire transfers and cash. Though I can get a no-fee FX wire transfer through work and get a $250 bonus for referring myself. They'll let me take the watch home and wire them the money afterwards.

I see that you have it solved, but all the travel forums agree that ATMs in-country are the best rate. Just be sure to raise the daily/weekly max of cards if necessary & give them a heads-up about your travel before you go.

Ian

Funny you should mention that. When I absolutely had to impulse-buy a Sinn 857UTC a few years ago, the above-mentioned shop, again, only took wire transfers and cash. It was a Friday night, they stayed open late for me and called the boss in to talk to me. I couldn't get $1800 out of an ATM there and was leaving for home early the next morning. They told me to take the watch and wire them the money within two weeks. They even filled out the VAT refund paperwork and wrote on it that I had paid cash, so I could get my refund at the airport. We're personal friends now.

Just got home from a month in Europe.......Did the local ATM thing........My bank charged me a "foreign transaction fee" of about $10 per withdrawal..........I'd get $300 to $400 Euro each time and tried to put most expenses on my visa card.........Called both Visa and my bank B4 I left......

Not sure if this was the "cheapest" way to go............When you are there for a month and paying $100 US to fill fill an 11 gallon tank, what's a few bux here and there???????

Screw BofA.....

I have a separate ATM card linked to a secondary checking account for overseas travel. The account is free. I can transfer money from my primary checking account online, this way I can keep just a grand or so in the travel account and not incur a big loss if it is stolen/compromised.

My wife travels for a living and her Credit Union credit card gives a better transaction rate from atm's than other cards.
Also, many restaurants in Europe won't accept cards that aren't chipped and chipped cards aren't that easy to find here. Ask your provider.

My bank does it for me for free. RL, if you want me to "launder" some money for you (:D) just let me know how much you need and I'll put in the order.

Usually takes a day or two.

Most card companies now will provide the chipped one now if you ask for it. My marriott rewards card is chipped, and also metal! Chase sapphire is another chipped one.

Chase will do this for me too. But it's not free unless they sell at market price. They usually sell for more, which, depending on how much you buy, can be a lot more than any upfront fees.

And remember the exchange rate! My card had a daily limit of $250. I kept trying to get 250 Euros and was repeatedly refused. I didn't occur to me until the second day that I was asking for money in excess of my daily max.

By the way. You can no longer easily exchange USD in Europe except at the airport money launderers and their exchange rates are usually best accepted in the extremely bent over position.

Chip credit card for sure. I requested mine about a year ago. It's really a hybrid; has a strip and chip.

Of course Rick knows not to carry a lot of Euros around, but on my recent trip: A friend from Ohio was in Paris on his way to meet us. Pocket was picked to the tune of $2,300 Euro + cards....Ouch..

What kind of purse did she buy that she got 350 euros back on VAT?

I don't the exact amount of the refund, but she bought a Chanel purse in Munich for something like 3k Euros, which, of course, has not come out of the package once in the two years she's had it.

US chipped cards are worthless at gas stations and French highway tollbooths as they are chip and sign and not chip and pin. I created a little back up last weekend at a tollbooth in France trying to use my new chip credit cards, fortunately the call button helped.

I travel a lot, so my CITI Visa is chip and pin.

The only way to go - it's the most universally useful format.

Like others have said, I just hit the cash machines in country and try to minimize cash withdrawals, pretty much using the card for everything. The only time I use cash is when they will not accept a card.

I use an Amex Global Travel Card, you can load it up when the exchange rate is beneficial :
American Express GlobalTravel Card - Home

My Chase visa card has a chip. Do I need to get a pin number before travel to Europe?

Chase offered me a travel card with no foreign transaction fees. But I'll take the 5% interest rate of my current card vs the 15% rate of the travel card over the few fees I get once a year!

Buy on the street or from a friendly local..... best exchange rates.

In France and Spain recently we used our ordinary day-to-day Visa and Master Cards with no problems at all. Mind you, all of them are chipped. We carried no cash from home, whether dollars, or Euros. ATMs all the way when we could not use the card directly, or when it was inconvenient to do so.

As some have said, when you are laying out serious money for everything while traveling, why fuss over pennies?

This is a very good idea. We do this for wire transfers, so that funds hit the account and are swept to another account.

Oh, and for anyone traveling out of the country, GET A PIN for your credit cards. It is required in some countries.

Attention Canadian Shoppers...
 

My Sears Financial card does not take a cut on my US transaction. They charge the exact Exchange rate that the Bank of Canada use.

My American Express charge 2.5% above the BoC rate :rolleyes::rolleyes:

As for Non Chipped Card, American Express Costco was the last one, all my other cards are Chipped and Pinned.

With everyone talking about ATM cards, it's always a small risk showing up with no Euros so even more important to know all the tricks.
The US encourages longer PIN numbers but in some corners of Europe they only accept up to 4 numbers. Even if the ATM screen shows 6 blank spaces. Ask me how I know.
You don't need to change your PIN, just remember that if it fails (twice) and you are sure you entered it in properly, then try entering only the first 4 numbers of your PIN.

I see a trend in German and Austrian hotels to not accept any credit cards, only cash or debit card. This can really put you in a tight spot if you are not aware of this practise. Never had this problem in italy or spain

If you book online, you're covered. I got surprised once in the Czech Republic and it almost cleaned me out when I had to pay in cash. But just go with the places that take online booking and payment with CC.

Booked last years family ski-trip through booking.com and still had to pay cash or debit card. We had to use two debit cards to settle the bill as it was over the limit of a single card (typically 2500 over here). This year it is the same, either pay upfront by wire transfer or settle cash/dc.

If you are going to France BNP Paribus (or whatever) is owned by Bank of America and you can use you bank card for free to get cash.

I was involved in the global business and forex side of banking for a long time. Best rate you can possibly get is on your credit card, as banks settle these flows of cash between them in bulk, which brings about lowest cost. You typically look at around spot exchange rate plus 5% for your transaction, which is actually not all that bad.

Hard currency is always going to be more expensive as holding onto cash brings risk risk and interest into play for the bank, and they will want to recover this from you. You actually get nailed twice with it as you buy it at their high "sell" rate, and sell what you have left over at their low "buy" rate.

Travel wallets (where you buy forex onto a card in advance) are also nice, but does not provide any real benefit over a per transaction conversion.

What works really nice for me is a VISA or Mastercard based (chipped) debit card with an overdraft facility. It gives me the same good rate as a credit card, but covers me in instances where debit cards only are accepted. The cash I need I withdraw from ATMs (never forex windows!), but stick to single large amounts as opposed to multiple small amounts as the forex surcharge is typically fixed no matter the amount.

On a semi-related note, anyone know a reliable place to buy foreign currency, besides eBay?

For example, if I wanted:

$10 Canada bill
$100 Mexico pesos bill
$10 Euro bill
etc

Leary of the eBay sellers - pricing is all over the place and I'm assuming some of it is replica.