Cash Machine Exchange Rate

Thats poor!!! :shock:

We had 1.17 from the post office in England, when we were in France we used a First Direct card. But most important the snow was fantastic.

NEVER. EVER. EVER. Use a bureau de change; the buy-sell spread is often around 25c, meaning if they buy 100 units of currency from you, then sell it to the next customer, they make 25 units profit. Nice. It's so rapacious it should be investigated by the OFT.

Visa/MC use a globally set, daily changing rate which is pretty close to the spot market currency rate. Then your bank charges a fee on this. You should not be charged 'commission'; if you are, your bank is profiteering at your expense because they exhnage millions/billions of euros every day and the extra processing your transaction causes is measured in fractions of pence.

My bank charges £1.50 per use which I can live with - but obv be wary of taking smaller amounts out as it is less cost effective.

I've been writing about pre-load charge cards like Caxton for about 5 years and they are a good deal and painless to use, accepted wherever they accept Visa/MC.

Would I be correct in saying the rate is set at the day of deposit? i.e your, say £1000, prepayment at 1.20 is set and gives you a credit of E1200 no matter what happens to the exchange rate?

Would I be correct in saying the rate is set at the day of deposit? i.e your, say £1000, prepayment at 1.20 is set and gives you a credit of E1200 no matter what happens to the exchange rate?

Absoluteley spot on, also there are no fees when you make withdrawals, peace of mind you know exactly where you are before you start
I have had caxton card for some time know the only thing you dont do is use it for deposits on hire cars or checking into hotels
We have for many years now all chipped in and loaded the card as a group first day on trip buy 4 lift passes at say 964euros comparison this week at 1.13 I bought at 1.18 saving £37 we then use the card to pay for everything anything left over great news, never happens though !

Yes to reiterate what Merryski said, you effectively buy the currency that you put on the card at today's (competitive) rate. You know where you are but if, for example, the eurozone fell apart and you had 5k on your card, you're stuck with the rate you bought at.

Timeforabeer says "You know where you are but if, for example, the eurozone fell apart and you had 5k on your card, you're stuck with the rate you bought at"

You can use the card in an ATM in Britain and get £'s out, but it's converted at the rate in operation at the time of the transaction and there's a fee (it's the oppsite of using your ordinary ATM card in Europe), so, if the Euro does look falling apart get to your nearest ATM pronto ... as long as it last past my 2 trips this year; next week and early March!