Paying for tickets - pounds or euros?

In message <u3mqq2lfvad2pqji2jikojgtqepcqtnm85@>, at 23:00:17 on
Tue, 16 Jan 2007, Terry Harper <terry.harper@> remarked:
>Our Financial Director always insisted that you did not change foreign
>currency back into sterling, but kept the excess and returned it to
>him. He then had a float to hand out to those travelling thence on the
>next occasion.

I don't change banknotes back if I have a realistic prospect of visiting
the same place within a year. In the past year I've visited places with
six different foreign currencies (only one of those currencies being
Euros, of course), and have now got a "stock" of four of them. (Plus
sterling, obviously).

It's better than pre-Euro anyway - then I'd have probably had French,
Dutch, Spanish and Belgian as well!

>It also avoided the "loss on exchange" that otherwise featured.

Part of my "loss" is when I have a foreign client who requires to pay me
in their own currency (and note to Clive: you can't blackmail their
accounts departments in quite the same way as you can an employer).

So my pounds get converted into (say) Swiss Francs, and the client
converts my claim in SF into Euros [1], then my bank converts the Euros
back into pounds.

I've tried to get a UK-based Euro account, but none of the High Street
banks seem to offer a normal "current account" (they are typically
offshore deposit accounts). So no Debit card to withdraw the funds in
Euros when I have a hotel to stay in that wants Euros.

[1] At Interbank, hopefully.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:

> Nobody in the outside world gets the Interbank rate, even when
> exchanging large sums. You can get quite close, but it's naive to expect
> anyone to swap money for you without charging you *anything*

I don't expect to change money for free.

What I do expect is for there to be a clear and unambiguous exchange
rate, with commission/service charges deducted from that. This would
make it easier to compare transactions and see how different payment
methods stack up.

For example, when I go abroad, I can choose to:
- get cash in the local currency before leaving the UK
- get cash in the local currency from ATMs when there
- get travellers cheques before leaving the UK
- make purchases on Cirrus or Mastercard.

Because of the different ways in which the exchange rates are
expressed, I have no idea what is the cheapest!

--
Stevie D
\\\\\ ///// Bringing dating agencies to the
\\\\\\\__X__/////// common hedgehog since 2001 - "HedgeHugs"
___\\\\\\\'/ \'///////_____________________________________________

"Neil Williams" <pacer142@> wrote in message
news:1168862032.881312.82470@v45g2000cwv. ...
Roland Perry wrote:

> It's 1.55, which is better than you'll get changing notes at the
> airport! At today's tourist rate of 1.58, E20 is worth £12.65, so I'm
> not surprised you got yelled at when handing it in :)

1.58? Before or after commission?

I ask because my credit card rate is typically 1.4something, which no
doubt includes a hefty effective commission.
Get a Nationwide credut card = no commission on foreign transactions!

Peter Fox

Roland Perry wrote in uk.railway
about: Re: Paying for tickets - pounds or euros?

> I don't change banknotes back if I have a realistic prospect of visiting
> the same place within a year.

If you bank with Nationwide you can withdraw cash from ATMs abroad with
no commission charges. This means that you can withdraw only the cash
that you actually need, as and when you need it, and don't have to either
make large withdrawals or acquire foreign currency in advance in order
to avoid being stung with minimum commission charges, as with other banks.

This means you can usually end up minimising wastage so that you end up
with only just enough cash left over to buy something to eat/drink at
your point of departure before returning home ;-)

Of course, if your travels take you somewhere where the next ATM may be
500 km away, this may not be a viable plan..


> I've tried to get a UK-based Euro account, but none of the High Street
> banks seem to offer a normal "current account" (they are typically
> offshore deposit accounts). So no Debit card to withdraw the funds in
> Euros when I have a hotel to stay in that wants Euros.

Is it not possible to get a euro account in a eurozone country?
(Ireland, perhaps?) Or are eurozone banks just as bureaucratic as ours,
and would make this Very Difficult for a non-resident?


--
David M. -- Edinburgh, Scotland. --[en,fr,(de) <-- corrections welcome]
*Please remove quotes not needed for context and interleave reply text*
*No-context, excess-quoted, slug-trailed, zero-content posts filtered.*

In message <slrnerie9c.an8.david@pepper.local.lan>, at 23:11:40 on Thu,
25 Jan 2007, David M <david@bogus.domain.dom.invalid> remarked:
>Roland Perry wrote in uk.railway
> about: Re: Paying for tickets - pounds or euros?
>
>> I don't change banknotes back if I have a realistic prospect of visiting
>> the same place within a year.
>
>If you bank with Nationwide you can withdraw cash from ATMs abroad with
>no commission charges.

I don't, and have always resisted opening "yet another bank account"
just for this purpose. Maybe I will, if I can't eventually find a Euro
account.

>This means that you can withdraw only the cash
>that you actually need, as and when you need it, and don't have to either
>make large withdrawals or acquire foreign currency in advance in order
>to avoid being stung with minimum commission charges, as with other banks.

This assumes you can find an ATM in the country on arrival. Quite often
I find that there's none at a smaller airport, and one of the reasons
for needing cash is to pay the taxi.

>This means you can usually end up minimising wastage so that you end up
>with only just enough cash left over to buy something to eat/drink at
>your point of departure before returning home ;-)
>
>Of course, if your travels take you somewhere where the next ATM may be
>500 km away, this may not be a viable plan..
>
>> I've tried to get a UK-based Euro account, but none of the High Street
>> banks seem to offer a normal "current account" (they are typically
>> offshore deposit accounts). So no Debit card to withdraw the funds in
>> Euros when I have a hotel to stay in that wants Euros.
>
>Is it not possible to get a euro account in a eurozone country?
>(Ireland, perhaps?) Or are eurozone banks just as bureaucratic as ours,
>and would make this Very Difficult for a non-resident?

The countries I'm aware of are just as bad about opening accounts,
especially for non-residents (and many have much more black-and-white
tests of residence, like you having registered with the police!

However, someone suggested the other day that I try a UK branch of an
Irish bank (for a Euro account). Allied Irish have Euro business
account, but it's not obvious they offer a debit card with it. But they
have a branch in my town (result!) so I'll go and have a chat I think.
--
Roland Perry

In message <7aa48ab4e%rail@greywall.>, at 14:32:22 on Fri, 26
Jan 2007, Graeme Wall <rail@greywall.> remarked:

>> This assumes you can find an ATM in the country on arrival. Quite often
>> I find that there's none at a smaller airport, and one of the reasons
>> for needing cash is to pay the taxi.
>
>Not yet found an airport that doesn't have an ATM though sometimes they are
>not easy to find.

You obviously lead a sheltered life. And not just because you don't
visit small airports. I once arrived at Gatwick to discover that every
ATM I knew of (which is several) was simultaneously out of action. The
taxi driver was good enough to stop at an M25 services while we drew
some cash there (and all the ATMs there charged a hefty service fee).

> I'm told that Germany is the worst place, they haven't
>really got into the whole Credit/Debit Card/ATM thing.

Yes, they don't accept cards in the same way we do in the UK. But there
are plenty of places more out of the way than Germany.

>> However, someone suggested the other day that I try a UK branch of an
>> Irish bank (for a Euro account). Allied Irish have Euro business
>> account, but it's not obvious they offer a debit card with it. But
>> they have a branch in my town (result!) so I'll go and have a chat I
>> think.

>Let us know how you get on, could be useful

I will.
--
Roland Perry

Graeme Wall <rail@greywall.> writes:

> Not yet found an airport that doesn't have an ATM though sometimes they are
> not easy to find. I'm told that Germany is the worst place, they haven't
> really got into the whole Credit/Debit Card/ATM thing.

They sort of have, but they often only accept Eurocheque cards.

In message <bcda56ab4e%rail@greywall.>, at 17:14:11 on Fri,
26 Jan 2007, Graeme Wall <rail@greywall.> remarked:
>So its not just the British who use 'security' as a catch-all excuse for
>incompetence.

As this is uk.railway, perhaps I'm allowed a railways anecdote.

There's a sign at the ticket office in Hatfield Peverel Station which
says that if you buy a ticket for the car park there (and the car park
is five minutes walk away up and down an embankment and across a road)
you should make sure you go and put it on your car for safety reasons.

Whose safety, and why?

The machines in the car park issue tickets too, but seem to be without
any printing on them. The guy at the ticket office admits its been like
that for months.
--
Roland Perry

On 26 Jan 2007 19:41:48 +0200, oronkain@ling.helsinki.fi (A R:nen)
wrote:

>Graeme Wall <rail@greywall.> writes:
>
>> Not yet found an airport that doesn't have an ATM though sometimes they are
>> not easy to find. I'm told that Germany is the worst place, they haven't
>> really got into the whole Credit/Debit Card/ATM thing.
>
>They sort of have, but they often only accept Eurocheque cards.

And, whilst I would agree that payment by credit card is perhaps not
as widespread as it is in the UK, there is absolutely no shortage of
ATMs in Germany, at airports or otherwise.


--
Regards

Mike

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 07:00:23 +1100, Matthew Geier
<matthew@wibble.sleeper.apana.org.au> wrote:

>If you want currency entertainment , try using Scottish bank notes in
>London :-).

Why? Surely they're used to them by now.

What about Northern Ireland bank notes?

--
alasdair