£ - $ exchange

[mat]

Im looking to exchange around £1000 into US dollars before May the 1st and obviously want the best exchange rate, what are my best options?

I heard there are places where you can give them the money upfront and then they will give you the best rate before a date you set?

If not do you think it would be better to do it sooner or later? Will the £ and $ pick up a bit before May or is it all downhill from here?

Gone are the days where its $2 to £1

Thanks

Mat

 

[Skinner]

Must like a drunken school girl at prom its going down.

I see it hitting 1.3 to the pound by summer, every year in the holiday season the money goes down.

If I was you, I'd load a long term balance transfer into a yank card into credit, and pay min balance off until hopefully we get back to 1.5+.

 

[retired_member4]

I saw this coming and withheld my adsense payments. It's now worth a lot more. I would think the exchange rate we are getting now for the dollar will NOT improve before May 1st, IMO it will continually drop until the end of the year at least, and maybe beyond.

But I'm not an economist, I'm just a humble "unemployed" accountant

I have dollar balances all over the place (paypal, moneybookers etc) and I have no intention of converting unless I really have to.

I'd personally take todays conversion rates (GBP to USD) because Mr Brown is not instilling confidence in the UK economy, whereas, Mr Obama can do no wrong at the moment, so the dollar is only going to get stronger until he is found out

Just my opinion, not financial advice.

 

[FC Domains]

For a small amount like that the best rate is drawing from a US ATM with a Nationwide cash card. (I know that's not very helpful)
PayPal is quite good.

I've found that you can only really get good rates for amounts over £25K.

As for when. If anybody here knew they wouldn't be messing about trading domain names.

 

[Skinner]

I been saving my affiliate checks and holding payments too, I'm, sure I posted about that agea go. The kicker is my adult affiliate checks (yank spelling) are only valid for 180 days from issue so can only hold them so long

I opened a paypal account in USD as well to be paid into ages ago, figure once we get to 1.25-1.30 I'll transfer then

 

[retired_member4]

For a small amount like that the best rate is drawing from a US ATM with a Nationwide cash card. (I know that's not very helpful)
PayPal is quite good.

I've found that you can only really get good rates for amounts over £25K.

As for when. If anybody here knew they wouldn't be messing about trading domain names.

If we had 25K to play with on a daily basis, the last thing we would care about is the percentage shift in exchange rates. Dunno about you, but 25k to me is a lot of money. Wish I was shifting that amount daily.

 

[woopwoop]

If it's just a trip or holiday then use your credit card like suggested. If it's to make a payment just bite the bullet and take today's rate. I agree that I see it getting worse.

For the last 5 or so years I've been moving money across and although it's nice to remember the days of $2:£1, that was not always the case. For the longest time it was about $1.5:£1 so I'm just seeing it as getting stung a bit now, after getting a great deal at 2:1.

Sometimes you can get a better rate if you exchange more...

I actually have a fun story about coming to The States with a lot of money in my backpack that I'd changed over for a great rate (for the time - 1.45:1) at a bureau in Paddington. The best rate fo miles (I walked around most of them to make a few cents per £).

Because I was changing over a certain limit, the exchange bureau needed to take my info and copy my passport. I flew the next day. Faced with the immigration and customs cards I 'subconsciously' ticked the box to say that I had less than that amount (the flight attendant had told me about taxes on large amounts when I asked - this turned out to be untrue). After doing an iris scan and finger print scan at the check point the officer examined my cards and told me to wait. He came back with another officer and I was escorted into 'the back room'. After waiting a while, I was called up and the first question the new immigration officer asked was, 'Are you carrying any money?' followed by 'How much?'

I told the truth, he told me to change my answer on the card, then he let me go!

So I'm sure that the bureau had to follow some process of faxing my info and then I must have been monitored. It could have been a massive coincidence but I don't think so. I think they had an efficient system of watching higher than usual transactions, flagging them even if the person is travelling the next day.

That's my funny story. Luckily I didn't end up with the officer putting on rubber gloves.

Anyways I don't think the rate will be back at 1.50:1 for a while

 

[rob]

As for when. If anybody here knew they wouldn't be messing about trading domain names.

I moved a 5 fig wodge from $ to £ and 'lost' a bit, if it was a week later that would have been a nice gain! What colin writes is very true. If anyone had any sound insight on the best time to do it they wouldnt be on here

Whenever you move it the exchange rate *will* change up and down thereafter, however as there is no time machine its not worth worrying about.

If its for your holiday the nationwide card could be a good idea - however there is always worst case scenarios eg. UK going bankrupt while abroad.

Its not something you can have an affect over so not worth hassle to gain a couple of quid here or there.

 

[pendragon]

I'm currently in Cork and paying €4 for a pint of Guinness. Ouch !!! It hurts now it's 1:1. Two cooked breakfasts this morning, 25 euros. Thats 25 quid for 2 breakfasts!!

Now who want to buy a domain name or two !!!

 

[mat]

Funnily enough I have a 2 nationwide debit cards so if thats the best option then great. Why does it work out better and whats the difference like?

 

[Jeewhizz]

nationwide don't charge a commission for foreign txns

 

[FC Domains]

Nationwide also give a rate very close to the bank rate, rather than the tourist one. No commision and no ATM charge.

I live in Spain about 20% of the time and try to avoid getting Euro any other way. (For really small amounts of cash M&S are OK)

 

[uglygit]

my ex boss used to have separate euro/dollar/sterling accounts and he used to move money around like nobodys buisness. I'm going to look into this especially after Paypal charge a whopping 2.5% exchange rate fee.

 

[retired_member4]

Nationwide are the only bank in the UK that are free to withdraw when abroad. No charges, and no commission it's the only time I use nationwide.

 

[woopwoop]

Nationwide are the only bank in the UK that are free to withdraw when abroad. No charges, and no commission it's the only time I use nationwide.

Does that mean that there are no charges from the atm or bank you withdraw at?

You know what I mean: Sometimes a bank will say no charges from them, but when you're at the ATM overseas there's the message that maybe the dispensing bank will take a fee (which will ultimately come from your bank).
Maight not be the case with nationwide but something to think about. Unually the charge is just a couple of dollars.

 

[mat]

Im just hoping they dont put a block on my card if i start withdrawing money and spending it around America. I normaly just take cash.

 

[woopwoop]

Call them and let them know the dates that you'll be away for and so the card won't be flagged and stopped for transactions in the states (if you tell them that's where you're going)

Usually the customer service number is on the back of your card, so if it does get stopped you can call 'em.