Best Money Exchange / Rates

[MattDavies86]

Hey, I was just wondering, with regards to having to exchange currency for trips and visits, where do you guys get your money from?

There are tons of sites but what's the best, looking for one's without hidden fee's, without commission, free delivery on orders over £500 etc.

I've been looking online, I have done it through my bank before but they offer me £1 / 40 THB (Thai Baht), which is very low, I've looked online and found that likes of 42 / 44 THB which when it adds up is significantly more, the money I get goes from around 85000 THB to 90,000 THB.

So, any tips, where do you "shop"?

[kittyo9]

Honestly, I just use my bank debit card while I'm in the country of choice. They don't even charge me an international fee, just the standard ATM fee (if there is one) and convert at their exchange rate. I've done it in both Luxembourg and Greece and both times the convenience has been wonderful (especially not having to carry hundreds of dollars with me in cash). When I went to Peru, they had all these shops in one part of town where you could exchange USD for Soles, and they all posted their exchange rates outside so you could compare, so we found the one with the best rate and went there. That one I did need cash for, but I didn't need to bring the cash with me during my flight because my SO had just paid me back for his laptop in USD.

[lucybelle]

I second what kitty said. ATMs are the way to go. Also, you can probably just use your debit or credit card to buy most things anyways. Make sure to notify your bank first or they might shut down your card.

[mllebamako]

Agree with the other two fine ladies. I usually get a small amount of the currency at the bank, just so I have some cash on hand when arriving. And then I take directly out of ATMs once in country.

[MattDavies86]

Ah ye I thought of that but the banks exchange rate is atrocious / borderline daylight robbery lol. I'd rather not, especially having a 1.50 ATM charge each time too, it will mount up, I'm taking it all in cash, I'll be quite safe :P, just looking for the best deal.

[Tooki]

I have used a company called UAE Exchange before. I checked online and they seem to only have branches in England. They don't charge a flat exchange fee and their exchange rates are usually very good.

[Dziubka]

I use an online exchange. I don't know if there are any in the UK/Thailand or if it is of any help for you.
The way it works is I transfer Euros from my German bank account to the exchange account, exchange it to PLN on their website and transfer it to my Polish bank account.
When I was just visiting, I always took cash and sometimes my debit or credit card (because of ATM fees and rates). Now that I live here and still get most of my money in € into my German account, I'd lose quite a lot of money if I transferred it directly into my Polish account.

[MattDavies86]

Thanks, I'll look these up, it's online I'm thinking of doing it, get more bang per £! Last time I did it through my travel agents, they gave me a cash passport, but then I did run out of money on it and started using my debit card,