Conversion rate Euro to Dollar

jayoo

Hiya everyone.

I am going to the states in the first week of january. I also keep updated on the current conversion rates on the site www.xe.com. I am just wondering if all banks stick to the current conversion rate and if they pay the full amount?

Also, what are your views on the current state of the dollar, should i buy now or wait till the new year??

cheers in advance

jayoo

I went to the bank to change some eur
the current conversion rate is 1.00 Euro =1.36913 Dollars.

However bank of ireland will only give you 1.3 dollars for ever euro.

does anyone have any idea if any other bank or credit union will give the correct rate??

LightningBolt

No you won't get the xe rate in the bank.

jayoo

kinda sucks how the banks can choose what rate to give you and then charge you for it, would it be possible for me to transfer money in my account to a friend of mine who is in california (the place im going) and that way i would get the full amount? or would i be charged.

cheers for any info

Ginger83

You could use a card while there but it would depend again on the rate your card company is giving on the day.

I remember changing euro to dollar last March when i went to New York, most banks and credit unions I checked weren't far off each other. I went with AIB in the end, the rate was 1euro : 1.51dollar, remember getting 1.462.

dubmick

that rates in AIB are usually slightly better than BOI

dotsman

jayoo wrote: »

kinda sucks how the banks can choose what rate to give you and then charge you for it, would it be possible for me to transfer money in my account to a friend of mine who is in california (the place im going) and that way i would get the full amount? or would i be charged.

cheers for any info

How does it suck that the bank chooses the rate? That's the beauty of a free market. If it's too high, you can go somewhere else.

I think you (and many people who have posted here before) don't understand mid-rates. Even if you exchange your money with them they charge you much higher (the one time I used them, it was actually considerably higher than my own bank!) From XE's own website:

www.xe.com wrote:

No one can buy or sell at mid-market rates. But our best rate guarantee means that you are sure to save money with XEtrade.
The mid-market rates shown on our main XE.com website and the information services are neither "buy" rates nor "sell" rates. Mid-market rates are derived from mid-point between the buy and sell rates of large-value transactions in the global currency markets.



Since "buy rates" and "sell rates" include overheads and profit margins that are set independently by each foreign exchange provider, they will vary depending on who you're talking to, and will always be different than the mid-market rate. Through our XEtrade service, we strive to offer the best buy and sell rates on every transaction.



When doing a conversion, our free currency information services always list the mid-market rate, since we can not know if you will be buying or selling a given currency. The mid-market rate is the most generally useful number, since it serves as a reliable, indicative value for the currency that is not biased towards buying or selling.



For your ease of use, our XEtrade service takes a simplified approach. We simply collect the information about your desired trade and quote you a price. This is specifically to avoid needless confusion. The only time you actually need to specify a buy or sell rate is in certain advanced functions, like posting bids.

Now, as for how you should exchange your money, well it all depends on how much we are talking about. If you are only going on a short holiday, it's not worth worrying about (as the difference between all the banks etc is small). However, if you are exchanging a large quantity, then certainly seek out the best rates.

Generally, for me, I usually just have maybe $100 in cash on me (so you can buy something at the airport when you arrive and pay for a taxi etc. After that, I use my credit card to pay for shopping, and ATM card to withdraw cash as and when I need it. As I said, the difference is only small so it's more down to convenience.

One thing I would not recommend is bringing large amounts of cash with you. If you were to lose it or get it stolen, it would absolutely wreck your holiday.

P.S. If you are a student, make sure they know that at your bank as most banks don't charge commission for students.

Bluetonic

Plenty of banks will give you the spot rate (mid market rate) for small transactions if your giving them a few $bn a month in fx.

Well done dotsman for a common sense post.