"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...
On 2016-07-18 11:57:12 +0000, tim... said:

at a 3% mark up

(YMMV - happy to be told where I, someone with irregular income, can get
one that doesn't)

Banks in "profitable business" shocker

At margins of up to 30% - yes I really did see people charging that much
on holiday last week

Only gullible people pay that.

But there are still people who use the dodgy exchanges (the obvious answer
is, otherwise they wouldn't be there, but I can further, I actually watched
them)

The best deal can usually be had by either buying in advance

That cannot work for the whole of your spending, it is impossible to
estimate accurately how much cash you need and you will always need to top
up whilst you are there (or come home with a large under-spend)

in any case pre-booking doesn't get you a good rate for "exotic" currencies
(which in reality means anything except the top dozen currencies, and lots
of currencies not exotic at all)

or using your card in a cash dispenser.

see my previous comment

tim