buying dollars

Yes we saw the $1.80 at Thomas COoks today and it was commission free, not bad at all.:)

Ok, let’s try and define a methodology;
I have been hacking backwards and forward to the US since e1972: I remember the helicon days when BA used to rescue me from the Bar in Miami airport coz the flight was due, and then because of the fuel shortage bring the trolley round saying take as much as you need because the flight is going via NYC to pick up fuel.
Here goes with some thoughts;

1) If you get exchange commission free this is good & it’s easy to understand the exchange rate since £1= current $rate; but you must include the cost of obtaining this; like parking petrol telephone, to understand the actual cost;

2) If you pay commission then you need to work in the cost to your exchange rate so £1 = $ rate + commission+ cost of obtaining; this is bad unless the exchange rate is stupidly high vs. the commission & the cost (petrol parking telephone costs to order) out way the zero commission option 1); please let me know if you find some one offing stupidly high exchange rates;

3) Using Credit/debit cards & taking less cash:
a. Does your debit/credit card incur a charge for foreign currency exchange; ChrisJ & Jean have highlighted a couple that don’t and there must be others; just don’t accept your card is OK check it out it will save you in the long run. You can have a good card for your Florida travels and others for the home use, if that’s your need? Believe me the added cost of a card that charge a % for foreign exchange, bites home at the worst time, like a couple of weeks after the vacation when your broke!

b. There is absolutely nothing stopping you from getting a new card @ 0% on foreign exchange that starts its billing cycle when you start your vacation. This could give you clear space on your return.
c. Make sure your chosen card works in Florida; don’t care about the rest of the world. Contact them tell them and tell them again.

d. Remember that purchased of items on most cards have insurance so if buy a high cost item and it get's stolen or lost, within reason the card company will compensate you.
e. Paid for your flight/hotel with the card the credit card company have some liability; maybe you will get some sort of baggage insurance or the like. Check it out since this all reduces costs.

f. Does the card offer a 0% for 6 months; use it become a rate tart.

So the best option is 1) ABOVE IF YOU INCLUDE THAT IN A TRIP TO TOWN for food and the like.

What do I do? Well if I have a few pound spare then I convert to $’s, without commission; figuring in the long run I’d only spend it on booze or other stuff. When it’s gone it’s gone. Surprising how much you accumulate over the year this way.

Hope this helps? What do other Florida nuts do?[msnsmile2]

Dave

Yes but they charge about £3.50 courier charge.!!<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by chrisj
Nationwide do the same, no commission and deliver to your door
[/quote]

I agree that waiting is a bit of a risk but this year is election year in the US and all the experts are saying that the closer we get to November the worse the dollar will do and if you look at the reasoning behind this you can see the point

I would say do what you feel is best, we are in a good position really as we dont go until March so we can wait a while but if the dollar does seem to be steadily sinking ie below 1.75 I will be buying

We use a mixture of cash, travellers and card although we dont take as much travellers as we used to as we just dont like them that much there is a safe in most villas and we do tend to make full use of this for excess cash but we have a couple of debit cards each and we have never had a problem using them and hubbies credit card usually gets a hammering[msnwink]

Do what you think is best but as it is at $1.797 from M & S today I think you can take a while longer to decide and still get a good rate especially when you consider that for the last couple of months it has benn around $1.70 to $1.79 quite regularly

Sarah

I exchanged all my money with CURRENCIES DIRECT no commission but you need to register
I did lots of research before hand and I found them to be the best by far you are assigned an agent and he will get the best deal for you, back in March I prebooked my dollars at a little below the going rate at that time $1-88 I paid a percentage of the money ,then paid the rest in June then they transferred the money to the bank in Orlando
but one drawback they will not exchange for less than £5,000
this may help someone
Barbara

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by hamish
Yes but they charge about £3.50 courier charge.!!<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by chrisj
Nationwide do the same, no commission and deliver to your door
[/quote]
[/quote]


ive never been charged for delivery

Thanks Sara i will try and hold out a little longer.
like you say and i did read this on a link someone posted .
So lets see.
Thanks
C

todays rates are

Thomas Cook 1.773

Lunn Poly 1.758752

M&S 1.794

If you are changing money for your deposit, I used a company called Foreign Currency Direct.
The rate on last friday was 1.833

Just bought an International money order at Barclays at 1.8226

Moneycorps rate has just reached $1.8708. Obviously you cannot receive this rate, you lose a couple of points, but it is travelling in the right direction....for me anyway, sorry to our US friends