Currency Exchange - Travel money in Coventry
I always looked into getting most of my money and in terms of travel money after 7-8 years in the area here are the three best places I have come so far in terms of getting cash in another currency. The only currency I have ever exchanged (bought/sold) is Euros (EUR) so the only criteria was the rate. For branch opening times see Branches.
M&S Marks and Spencers Bureaux de Change
Branches:
http://bank.marksandspencer.com/branch-finder/?u=true
Rates:
http://bank.marksandspencer.com/banking/travel-money/overview/#currency-exchange-rates
GBPEUR Rate at 16/07/2015 17:00 is 1 GBP = 1.3946 EUR
There is a special rate for banking customers as M&S Credit Cardholders and Chargecard holders can purchase currency and by phone and all cardholders, including M&S Debit Cardholders, can buy currency in any of their M&S Bureaux de Change. The preferential GBPEUR Rate at 16/07/2015 17:00 is 1 GBP = 1.4003
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| Entered 1000 GBP into EUR. Taken at 16/07/2015 17:05 British Standard Time BST |
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Tesco Bank Tesco Travel Money bureau
Branches:
http://www.tesco.com/store-locator/uk/?target=travel
Rates:
https://travelmoney.tescobank.com/tb/rateslist.aspx
GBPEUR Rate at 16/07/2015 16:56 is 1 GBP = 1.3969 EUR
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| Entered 1000 GBP into EUR. Taken at 16/07/2015 16:54 British Standard Time BST |
EuroChange Travel Money
Branches:
http://www.eurochange.co.uk/OurBranches/BranchLocator.aspx
Rates:
http://www.eurochange.co.uk/ExchangeRates.aspx
GBPEUR Rate at 16/07/2015 17:20 is 1 GBP = 1.3962 EUR
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| Entered 1000 GBP into EUR. Taken at 17:20 16/07/2015 British Standard Time BST |
ICE Currency exchange (for large amounts over 700 GBP)
Branches:
https://www.iceplc.com/locations/uk
No nearby offices to Coventry at the time of writing, just for rate contrast.
Rates:
https://www.iceplc.com/travel-money/exchange-rates
GBPEUR Rate at 16/07/2015 16:56 is 1 GBP = 1.4040 EUR
Most branches are in or around London and its Airports.
The calculator is good but suggests a "£4.75 handling fee for orders under £700" hence for smaller amounts the best place to go is probably Tesco
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| Entered 1000 GBP into EUR. Taken at 16/07/2015 16:50 British Standard Time BST |
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Hope that helps
Final words for cash exchanges
Finally - the one place to get cross reference the rates as they are without a bank markup is ...
Google. Nevermind that Tesco and ICE and M&S Bank claim they take no commission - they do, they just put 2-3% ontop for themselves to cover their costs and offer the service and make some money. I am not sure if a private customer could buy at that rate for cash exchanges but just type in Google
1 GBP into EURO
and voila you get another rate, usually better for you than the cash exchange rate.
GBPEUR Rate at 16/07/2015 17:08 is 1 GBP = 1.43 EUR
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| Taken at 16/07/2015 17:10 British Standard Time BST |
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Transferring money into a different currency - bank transfer
That by far is best done via TransferWise. Here is a link to my referral page, you will get a free transfer up to 3000 GBP with that link. Their rate is always live and always very close to the Google Rate i showed you above. That works only if you need to transfer into an Euro account but not take the money cash straightaway, say if you are paying tuition fees in the Eurozone.
Support Center - Basic Information TransferWise
https://transferwise.com/support/customer/portal/topics/662474-basic-information/articles
Wikipedia - TransferWise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransferWise
TransferWise - Unique invite linkhttps://transferwise.com/u/faa1b
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| Entered 1000 GBP into EUR. Taken at 17:36 16/07/2015 British Standard Time BST |
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| TransferWise at Wikipedia |
