How to Get the Best Exchange Rate on Your Travel Money

The obvious answer to the question is shop around! No one-currency provider will be able to give you the best deal all the time. If they could then they would be the only one left in the industry, why would anyone go to anyone else. The reality is that most of the providers have some unique selling point or niche where they are the best.

We can state some generalizations right from the start. Firstly, online providers will almost certainly give you a better exchange rate than a high street provider will. Secondly, there is almost no-good reason for having to pay commission on your currency order.

Right, now that is out of the way, let us look at those online providers. The kursy walut online change constantly throughout the day so I cannot tell you explicitly who has the best offering because it could change before you had finished reading this. I will look at three typical providers that do business in different ways but are typical of their type.

Travel FX is a purely online travel money provider, you order your currency online, pay by bank transfer and they deliver, normally the next day, by royal mail special delivery. This is the cheapest option 99.99% of the time. They could be anywhere in the UK, it makes no difference so they are paying minimal business rates and none of the expenses associated with regular retail.

TTT Monocrop. You will not find any high street stores but they have a presence in all the major UK airports. You can choose whether to have your money delivered by post or pick it up at the airport.

The Post Office. Order online and then have it delivered or pick it up at your local branch. Here you have a truly local service but still with competitive rates.

So which do you go for? Well, there are other considerations to take into account, you could get a great exchange rate but then pay more in delivery charges than you saved. All these providers and the others in the industry have a tipping point where they will offer you free delivery. With so many options to juggle, exchange rate, delivery options and collection options and delivery charges a comparison table would be helpful.

One option is to use a price comparison website. Not many compare foreign online exchange rates but a Google search for compare online exchange rates or Euro rate comparison will turn up turns up all the big names that offer this service.

What none of these sites can tell you is when to buy though. Online exchange rates vary day by day. On top of that, if you are having cash delivered then you do not want to be caught in a postal strike. Be prepared and get your travel money in plenty of time. If you give yourself a week before you, travel that is plenty of time to guarantee that you will have your cash before you go.

If it all goes wrong? British Airways will happily sell you cash on the plane and it is about the worst exchange rate you can imagine, but then you can hardly get off and go somewhere else at that point can you.

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Created on Jan 15th 2021 13:03. Viewed 265 times.

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