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where and when to buy dollars

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  • 06-06-2013 11:17am
    #1
    suicide_circus
    Registered Users Posts: 19,802 ✭✭✭✭


    Going over in a few months so where is the best place to buy dollars? The rate is $1.31 today, anyone like to hazard a guess if this is likely to rise or fall?
    Also, i dont particularly like the idea of carrying a fat wad of cash, what is the cheapest way to spend while holidaying staeside ?

    Thanks!


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    #2
    Quin_Dub
    Moderators, Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 15,494 Mod ✭✭✭✭Quin_Dub


    suicide_circus wrote: »
    Going over in a few months so where is the best place to buy dollars? The rate is $1.31 today, anyone like to hazard a guess if this is likely to rise or fall?
    Also, i dont particularly like the idea of carrying a fat wad of cash, what is the cheapest way to spend while holidaying staeside ?

    Thanks!

    If you have a Visa Debit card you can use that in most places just as you would here.

    I travel to the US regularly (4 or 5 times a year) and I rarely have more than $15-$20 in cash on me at any time.

    No real need for it , everywhere takes cards even for small transactions. Not like here where shops impose a minimum spend for card use (I understand why here given the exorbitant rates banks charge).


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    #3
    suicide_circus
    Registered Users Posts: 19,802 ✭✭✭✭suicide_circus


    Great thanks for that. I was considering gettin one of the special dollar travel charge cards but if i can use the visa debit without high charges thats grand.

    So would i just need to carry cash for tipping yeah?

    Edit: is it cheaper for me to buy a bundle of dollars before i go or just to take from an atm as i need it?


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    #4
    Quin_Dub
    Moderators, Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 15,494 Mod ✭✭✭✭Quin_Dub


    suicide_circus wrote: »
    Great thanks for that. I was considering gettin one of the special dollar travel charge cards but if i can use the visa debit without high charges thats grand.

    So would i just need to carry cash for tipping yeah?

    Pretty much yeah...Check with your bank on the charges front though just to be certain.


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    #5
    [-0-]
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,981 ✭✭✭[-0-]


    Buy them in An Post. They don't charge you any fees for giving you the cash. It's a fantastic deal.


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    #6
    Supersiderman
    Registered Users Posts: 117 ✭✭Supersiderman


    Credit union or post office don't charge a fee


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    #7
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,445 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    [-0-] wrote: »
    Buy them in An Post. They don't charge you any fees for giving you the cash. It's a fantastic deal.

    By itself, 'no commission' means absolutely nothing. It's the effective rate that matters, after any commission (if any) is applied.

    In other words, do the sums and work out how many dollars you will get for a given amount of Euros, then decide.

    I despair when I read posts which encourage people to go to the Post Office purely because of the 'no commission' carrot without the poster saying that today they are selling xx dollars per Euro vs. AIB seling yy dollars per Euro. Clearly as a marketing device it works.


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    #8
    Ponster
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,912 Mod ✭✭✭✭Ponster


    suicide_circus wrote: »
    So would i just need to carry cash for tipping yeah?

    if you're paying with card then there's no need to tip with cash, just add it to the bill.


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    #9
    SHOVELLER
    Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭SHOVELLER


    coylemj wrote: »
    By itself, 'no commission' means absolutely nothing. It's the effective rate that matters, after any commission (if any) is applied.

    In other words, do the sums and work out how many dollars you will get for a given amount of Euros, then decide.

    I despair when I read posts which encourage people to go to the Post Office purely because of the 'no commission' carrot without the poster saying that today they are selling xx dollars per Euro vs. AIB seling yy dollars per Euro. Clearly as a marketing device it works.

    No commission means exactly that. It also means you are not paying money to banks.

    Yesterday I got dollars in the Post Office and the rate was $1.28 to a euro. Across the road the bank was giving out $1.27 and charging you commission.

    Banks charge their own effective rate so no need to despair.


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    #10
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,445 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    SHOVELLER wrote: »
    No commission means exactly that. It also means you are not paying money to banks.

    Are you suggesting the Post Office is doing it with no margin as a public service? No commission means that they make their profit from the buy/sell spread alone, it does not mean that they are cheaper than anyone else.


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    #11
    Stealthirl
    Registered Users Posts: 1,589 ✭✭✭Stealthirl


    Im going in Sep and was thinking of getting the anpost postFX card


    http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Personal+Customers/Money+Matters/Foreign+Exchange?utm_source=feature&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=ForeignExchange


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    #12
    TingTong
    Registered Users Posts: 138 ✭✭TingTong


    [-0-] wrote: »
    Buy them in An Post. They don't charge you any fees for giving you the cash. It's a fantastic deal.

    I would definitely disagree with the above statement.

    Last year I wanted to purchase $5k cash. Done a spot check in one day on BOI, AIB, Ulster bank and AnPost who were all within reasonable walking distance of one another. They quoted me in the best value in the order above. Tried again two days later on a Friday and the same result. We then exchanged in BOI. Having done this several years in a row we found that the best value to be had was a close run thing between BOI and AIB with Ulster bank to be always bad value (who IMO don't want the hassle of currency exchange) along with AnPost.


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    #13
    Helpneeded86
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭Helpneeded86


    TingTong wrote: »
    I would definitely disagree with the above statement.

    Last year I wanted to purchase $5k cash. Done a spot check in one day on BOI, AIB, Ulster bank and AnPost who were all within reasonable walking distance of one another. They quoted me in the best value in the order above. Tried again two days later on a Friday and the same result. We then exchanged in BOI. Having done this several years in a row we found that the best value to be had was a close run thing between BOI and AIB with Ulster bank to be always bad value (who IMO don't want the hassle of currency exchange) along with AnPost.

    The above is 100% true. I will admit in my recent look around An Post offered the best rate and I have commision free banking so they must have improved a lot as I recall the last time they were a rip off.


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    #14
    Snoopy1
    Registered Users Posts: 4,185 ✭✭✭Snoopy1


    suicide_circus wrote: »
    Going over in a few months so where is the best place to buy dollars? The rate is $1.31 today, anyone like to hazard a guess if this is likely to rise or fall?
    Also, i dont particularly like the idea of carrying a fat wad of cash, what is the cheapest way to spend while holidaying staeside ?

    Thanks!

    If we knew when the markets were going to rise or fall, we'd all be rich!!!
    Take a few dollars for tips such as porter and for vending machines.
    The rest use your card. In shops if your'e using credit card have photographic id with you as well, as they will ask for it.


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    #15
    Helpneeded86
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭Helpneeded86


    Snoopy1 wrote: »
    If we knew when the markets were going to rise or fall, we'd all be rich!!!
    Take a few dollars for tips such as porter and for vending machines.
    The rest use your card. In shops if your'e using credit card have photographic id with you as well, as they will ask for it.

    The mid market rate is 1.31 today. You will not get 1.31.


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    #16
    Dubliner28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,785 ✭✭✭Dubliner28


    Stealthirl wrote: »
    Im going in Sep and was thinking of getting the anpost postFX card


    http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Personal+Customers/Money+Matters/Foreign+Exchange?utm_source=feature&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=ForeignExchange

    Im going in Aug and was thinking the same? Anybody got any feedback/opinions on this card?

    We don't want to carry much cash, but we are slightly afraid of skimming(its happened before in Dublin) and the account was cleaned out. We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket...


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