London Banter - View Single Post

CMOT TMPV · April 29th 05, 10:17 PM posted to uk.transport.london

Once upon a time -- around about 4/29/05 12:29 --
possibly wrote:

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 14:53:23 -0400, TheMiz
wrote:

And Yes I am in the USA now, Problem is there is no place around me to
exchange money except for the airports.

Locally for me, HSBC has a no charge GBP account that I use and the
spread is very minimal to transfer from a dollar account to a GBP
account. I deposit $ to my current account and then transfer it to my
GBP account over the internet, then go into the bank and withdraw GBP
notes with no fee's. Returning what's left over in reverse fashion.
I use this same system at the very same bank. I keep a few GBP so the
account remains open. Then you can get a Switch card to use and that debits
your GBP account directly thereby eliminating any ATM fees as well. It's
rather brilliant and has saved me a fortune in exchange fees.

which ones in your area offer this service. My experience with the
bank machines is like other posters have mentioned, charges popping up
out of nowhere and a less than favorable exchange rate. esp on
visa/mastercard.
Several banks offer this for free (foreign ATMs) but not all. All major
credit cards tack a few percent on now (Amex included) and the rates for
this just increased a few weeks ago. The rate is still better than the
airport. I just keep 30# cash in my wallet and bring it back and forth for
the few expenses before I find and ATM.

-- CMOT

--
I will admit that it is hard to reconcile "I was hungry, and you gave me
food.... " with the policies of recent GOP administrations. -- Frank Palmer