Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with exchange and currency

Best option for regular US to EUR currency exchange?

finitejest — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:23:40 -0800

I'm an American who's just bought a lovely home in the EU. Yay! Now I have to make regular mortgage payments while still living and working in the US. How do I transfer money over to our EU bank account on a regular basis as cheaply as possible?... Some more info: It seems as though the majority of the currency exchange companies are targeted towards Brits. The rest look pretty shady.

We've looked at Currencies Direct, however in the middle of our application process we were informed that because of some new laws they were no longer able to open new contracts with any US citizens not based in the same state (GA) as their only US office.

Now we're out of ideas. We've even looked to see if we could somehow wrangle a PayPal account into euros and do exchanges through there.

Currently banking with BOA and doing wire transfers, but they charge hefty fees on top of the normal exchange rate.

So... halp please! Any suggestions from personal experience?

Most cost-effective way of transfering money from UK to US

moiraine — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:30:39 -0800

Need to transfer modest amounts of money from UK to a US bank account every 2-3 months. What would be the most cost-effective way to do so? I am working in the UK. I need to pay off study loans in the US, with the first loan installment due in a couple of months. I intend/ need to transfer between anywhere between $500 to $2000 to my US bank account regularly, say every 2-3 months.

The most cost-effective way that I know of would be to take out the money in the UK, change at the Post Office (with 0% commission rates), and physically the money to the US, and place it in my bank account there. This, of course, assumes my plane ticket is paid for and I am not robbed (I have done this before, and I was fine, but I don't want to do a regular basis).

Wire transfer appears to be the second cheapest method, and I am happy to pay the wire transfer fees (~20 pounds, depending on the bank). However, I understand that the bank have non-competitive exchange rates, which are hidden costs of the transfer (~50 pounds will be 'lost' in the exchange).

I considered making regular transfers from my Paypal UK to my Paypal US account. This would be extremely convenient, but there are hefty commissions -- about 5%, and I think more is taken off from the receiving end (?)

Anyway, I was wondering whether people had any personal experience with wire transfer and non-competitive fees. Any additional ideas are also appreciated. Would appreciate if there were no comments like, "But if you just paid a little more, you could save yourself the hassle!" as I am willing go through a fair amount of hassle just to pay less fees.

I have family in the US who are probably willing to cash in a check for me every month, if this makes any difference.

What is the cheapest way to send $4k USD from Greece to US?

lupefiasco — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:36:44 -0800

What is the cheapest way to send $4k USD from Greece to US? I left Greece today and accidentally left behind $4k USD (I know, quite foolish of me) in a friend's safe. The friend can wire the money to my bank account, but I am worried that the Greek bank will require the funds to first be converted to Euros, and then converted back to USD over the wire, thus resulting in a double conversion charge. Is there any way to avoid this? I'm looking for the cheapest way to send $4k USD from Greece to US.

What was a million francs worth in 1953?

b1tr0t — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:01:04 -0800

Where can I find old historical exchange rates? Right now I'm looking for the crosses between British Pounds, US Dollars and French Francs in the mid-1950s. Monthly or yearly exchange rates would be fine. Bonus points if you can find currency data that goes back more than 50 years.

I'm reading Casino Royale (which is surprisingly good, by the way) and trying to get a handle on the cash figures being thrown around.

$ to £ Currency Exchange For Basic Trip

c0nsumer — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:23:03 -0800

I'm taking a standard week-ish trip to the UK soon and I'm (obviously) going to need some cash for traveling. What's the best way to get US Dollars converted into British Pounds? There are a few currency conversion options available to me:

- Generic currency exchange at Detroit Metro Airport (DTW). Convenient, but likely has fees and a poor rate.
- Travelex exchange at Gatwick. Probably has a better rate than at DTW, but likely won't be very good. Also, unknown fees (I can't find a schedule online).
- Grab cash from an ATM in the UK. Likely has a good exchange rate, but incurs a 3% fee from the bank (Fifth Third).

In the past I've just converted a few hundred dollars to pounds sterling at Travelex, but I'm not sure if this is the best plan. I had no British currency until I was actually in the airport, but the rate was decent and I was informed that I'd converted enough that buy-back would happen at the same rate, should I need it. Cash beyond this was just withdrawn from ATMs.

Does this sound like the best plan, or is there something else which you would suggest that I try?

I would use a credit card more often there, but all of my cards lack the chips which seem to be required these days. I've been told that many locations no longer have the ability to swipe magstripe cards.

Good places to buy $US cash in Sydney CBD?

UbuRoivas — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:49:38 -0800

Good places to buy $US cash in Sydney CBD? I need to pick up some $US cash for travel (it's about the only way to carry currency in Burma - no banking, no travellers cheques, Euro also accepted but less common) and given the current shitty state of the Aussie dollar, I'm looking for the best exchange rates I can get.

Hopefully, somebody has already done my research for me, and knows where the best rates are to be found - eg with minimal or zero commission.

If it makes any difference, I'm budgeting on US$500.

Different prices for electronics, why?

Meatbomb — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:16:50 -0800

Why are electronics so crazy expensive in Europe? Any creative ideas to help me buy a video camera? I was looking at the the Canon XH A1, and although quite expensive the prices I was seeing on Amazon were just at the level I was comfortable with (about USD3,300). But when it came time to find it in Europe, I was shocked! At UK Amazon, the price is £2,499.99 (about USD4,500 WTF?), and even worse when pricing it locally in Bulgaria... quotes of 7,500BGN (about USD5,500 WTF???!!!!)

So two questions:

1) How is such massive variation in price possible?
2) How can I buy this in the US and get it here without massive hassles, import duties, etc?

Exchanging £s Sterling to Yen / Getting cash out in Japan

mairuzu — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:12:17 -0800

I'm going to Japan (from the UK) and want to arrange my cash for out there - I don't want to go down the traditional credit card route as they seem to sting you for allsorts of fees nowadays. 2 parts to this question: 1. Where would I get the better deal / exchange rate for changing my Sterling to Yen? In the UK before I go, or in Japan once I'm there? 2. (This one is very specific to a UK Bank) Does anyone know if a Nationwide Flex / current account Visa card will work in many cash machines in Japan? Any help gratefully received.

Best exchange rate for regular US$ to CA$ transactions?

Emanuel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:46:55 -0800

I live in Canada and do contract work for a US company. How do I get the best exchange rate for regular currency exchange transactions? Currently, every two weeks, around US$4,000 is wired from the US into a US$ bank account at my Canadian credit union. I usually wait for US$10,000 to accumulate so that I can get the preferred rate, and then have my credit union to do the currency exchange into a CA$ account. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can change this process to get the best exchange rate possible? If possible, I'd like to avoid having to wait for US$10,000 to accumulate so that I have access to the funds more quickly.

Please not that, aside from setup, this must all be doable over the phone/Internet, because I live in a remote location and am only in the nearest city about once every four to six weeks.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for avoiding or reducing the $28 wiring fee (aside from using cheques, which is much too slow).

Yen --> USD --> ??? --> Profit!

Muu — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:12:03 -0800

What's the best way to exchange Japanese Yen (in cash form) to USD? I have about the equivalent of $8000USD in yen sitting around in an envelope. Safety of holding that much money in cash aside, this was due to the rates being iffy when I was returning to the states (1USD < -> 120Y or so), so I decided I could exchange that once I got back to the US and the rates improved. And improve it has, for the time being anyway, thanks to the whole carry rate fallout.

So I just came back from the bank, astonished that they take what seemed like a 6% cut from the whole exchange, before the service charge of $10. Reading a bit through MeFi revealed to me that the 1% or so difference in rates @ Japan is actually very good -- something I wish I knew late last year.

What're my best options now?

How to cash a dollar cheque in a UK bank?

Pericles — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 03:22:09 -0800

UK bank filter. I get small cheques from an Ameican tech publisher, drawn on an American bank., for dollar amounts. My UK bank wants to take 28 days to clear them, and deducts an unspecified amount to do it. Any recommendations for UK banks that are in the 21st century? (The tech publisher won't use Paypal; they say that their US authors, who are the majority, prefer cheques).

Free, accurate foreign exchange data feed for GBP?

Foaf — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:04:27 -0800

I'm trying to avoid shelling out an annual fee to XE for UK foreign exchange data. The European Central Bank provides a feed with Euro as base currency and the Bank of NZ has one for NZD. Surely there's a GBP equivalent?

FOREX day trading, can it be done?

andrewyakovlev — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 19:03:39 -0800

Do you trade FOREX? How's it going? How did you get into it (reasons, starting capital, techniques, etc.)? Success or failure? Is it plausible to actually make a living, what skills and abilities are necessary? How does a 24hr market affect your lifestyle? And any other general or specifi advice and information would be appreciated.

Is China keeping its currency undervalued a double edged sword for China?

studentguru — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 07:10:12 -0800

Is China keeping its currency undervalued a double edged sword for China? Economic question

Many experts seem to think that China purposefully keeps its currency undervalued in order to make its goods cheaper for exporting and its economy growing.

Assuming this is true, is there going to be any short term and long term negative consequences for China's economy with this policy?

If there is no downside to China for keeping the status quo, why would they want to revalue their currency upwards?

The only potential benefit I can see for China to revalues its currency upwards is to help fight domestic inflation. Because a stronger Yuen would bring in more imports and this could put a dampening effect on the ability of the competing local manufacturers to raise their prices , in order to fight for domestic customers to compensate , among other things, the loss of export orders.

From what I know , revaluing a country's exchange rate upwards by increasing the money supply could cause interest rate to fall , less incentive to save and more incentive for citizens to borrow money for consumption and investment and the internal economy to grow even faster , possibly eventually leading to overheating of the economy and runaway inflation; not to mention that a stronger currency could hurt China's exports?

Is there any other forum where I can ask economic related questions? I am studying economics on my own.

Swobody! Fabryk! i Ziemi! Help my exchange my zloty!

deafmute — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:26:56 -0800

I have a not-insignificant amount of Polish zlotych. Help me figure out if and how I can exchange it... My zlotych appears to have been issued in 1988. My local currency exchange told me that the zloty was recently reissued by Poland, and that it might not be possible for me to get this exchanged. Is there someone knowledgeable in regards to Polish currency that could give me some advice and let me know whether this is worth anything or if I've just got some fancy paper?

This is what is looks like.

Exchange Rate Website?

billysumday — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:07:23 -0800

Is there a website that catalogs the daily exchange rates between countries? For example, if I wanted to know the exchange rate from Canadian to American dollars on July 27, 2005?

exchange rate fight!

Popular Ethics — Mon, 09 May 2005 15:28:12 -0800

This week, apparantly, the financial movers and shakers in the US have "toughened up" their demand for China to let their currency float with respect to the US dollar, saying, among other things, “Failure to move on the renminbi means China is also not doing its fair share in reducing global payments imbalance" If their fixed exchange rate is the reason for China's enormous growth, what reason would they have to oblige? I've never heard an economist suggest "good will" as a motive for matters of international finance before. Frankly, it sounds (to my untrained ears) more like begging. Does the US hold any cards here? What risks does China take by not giving in?

Currency exchange for a Europe trip six months away

Rash — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 22:22:56 -0800

USAsian traveling to the Continent this Fall -- should I buy some euros now? How? I'm a budget traveler making plans. Since the exchange rate seems to be getting worse, should I buy my spending money now? (Also contemplating conversion of some percentage of my nest egg to euro-dollars, and stashing them "in the mattress." What do you think?)

So, what's the cheapest way to buy cash euros in the States? AmEx? Not a member. Thomas Cook, the BofA or maybe my local bank? (Incidentally, comments in a relevant thread from a year ago suggest never changing money in the airport, which is a good, general rule of thumb; but there's a big exception: Japan. Their airport exchange counters give a decent rate, and you get your yen way faster than at a bank.)

Exchanging Currency

shoos — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 19:17:39 -0800

Seeking advice/information on exchanging currency. I am planning on converting a chunk of money in yen to dollars and moving it from a bank in Japan to one in the US. Has anyone had experience doing this and could give me a heads up about what issues I need to concern myself with, aside from the exchange rate?

How to purchase Iraqi Dinars?

loquax — Wed, 28 Jul 2004 11:29:18 -0800

How would one go about purchasing new Iraqi Dinars, if one were so inclined? My local banks (in Canada) laughed at me, as it is not apparantly exchanged outside Iraq, and the Internet seems to be full of ripoffs selling the currency as "collectibles" at double the official exchange rate. Does anyone know a way I could buy the dinar anywhere close to 1460/US dollar?

Need Some Pesos?

antifreez_ — Sat, 21 Feb 2004 15:58:51 -0800

Hey, are there any MeFites planning a trip to Mexico soon? I just found a few pesos while cleaning up (not much, only 96), and I'd much rather give them to someone than exchange them for what's probably barely enough to buy a cup of coffee.