Where to exchange dollars for pounds in London?(debit-credit card N/A)

May 1, 2013 9:09 AM

Best place to exchange dollars for pounds in London?(debit/credit card not available) I am flying to London and need to exchange my US dollars into pounds there. I cannot use my credit or debit card to withdraw money from ATMs due to severe government restrictions in my country of origin regarding foreign currency operations. Debit and credit cards issued by all banks at home are at present mostly useless abroad. If you know where I can get good rates to buy pounds in London, that would be a great help.
posted by Basque13 to Travel & Transportation around London, England (7 answers total)

You can do this all over the place - there'll be places at the airport and dotted around central London. I normally use Marks & Spencer's Bureau de Change, probably more out of habit than anything concrete. There's one on Oxford Street. If you're concerned about the absolute best rates, there is this calculator on MoneySavingExpert
posted by Magnakai at 9:12 AM on May 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

I like American Express for this, but it's been years.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:19 AM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I do this at the airport usually, there's 2 forex places right as you come out of immigration - I change enough for a few days there. Then, I can shop around during the next couple days - as mentioned, there are some in all the major tourist areas - Oxford St, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Sq, etc etc.
posted by darsh at 9:29 AM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Better rates than in banks, post offices, airport exchange places or American Express (wherever that may be) are generally found at the little exchange places in Edgware Road, Marble Arch end. You might pay about 5% off the central rate as opposed to 10% in those other places. Going east, there's also a very good place in Kingsland High Street, not far north of the junction with Dalston Lane, on the right as you walk up, where, today as it happens, I exchanged $200 and got £125+, which equates to a loss of about £3-4 only over today's interbank rate. Pretty good. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of this one.
posted by londongeezer at 9:38 AM on May 1, 2013 [7 favorites]

What londongeezer said: the little kiosk-type places around Marble Arch look dodgy, and you'll need a calculator handy to work out the effective rates, since they all tend to say "buying $X for £Y", but they're sufficiently competitive with each other that you'll find one or two that get you a decent rate.
posted by holgate at 9:48 AM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Down the Edgware Road you can haggle a bit.
posted by londongeezer at 9:56 AM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

The Edgeware Road advice is good.

Alternatively, go here, say how many dollars you want to convert, then choose the first one on the list that has physical branches near you. You may want to call them to check whether they apply additional fees to take cash rather than credit/debit cards.

Whatever you do, do NOT change money at an airport. That is literally the most expensive place you could possibly do this.
posted by caek at 12:18 PM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]