advice on currency exchange please (percentage, credit card, buying, interest)

[decafdave]

Hello, I'm a student studying in the UK but on May 5 I will be in the EU for 3 weeks and then back to the US. My question to everyone is, in your opinion, will the dollar rebound against the Euro before May 5 or will it continue its pathetic slide?

I'm trying to decide if its wise to go ahead and change around 1000 USD to Euros now a month in advance or should I wait until the last possible moment?
My instincts say it will get worse before it gets better so I might go ahead and change half of the money I plan on spending.

What do you think? All opinions are welcome.

[cdelena]

For the small percentage change you are going to see in that time period I would do what ever is most convenient for your travel. Changing half is probably a prudent guess.

[decafdave]

Yeah you're probably right. I should have converted to Euros last summer! Oh well, hindsight is 20/20

[ChunkyMonkey]

I think the dollar will continue its slide mostly because the Feds in their "wisdom" will almost certainly drop interest rates again in the near term. The main question is whether they drop it 0.25 percent or more. I think 0.25 percent has been priced in, but if they drop it 0.5 a percent than it will slide further.

[greggd]

Im in a similar situation but with a larger amount. It was down around 1.45 and I was hoping it would drop a bit, then I'd do the wire transfer.

It recently shot up to 1.60. So ive been watching it float between 1.56 & 1.57. I'm thinking that some of the fallout here will hit the investors who participated globally and we may see a slight reduction. Hoping is the word. If I, or anyone, knew for sure, i wouldnt be here right now.

[Simple Living]

decafdave,

Listen to me very carefully. I have both lived and vacationed overseas. I am also in banking and am very familiar with exchange rates. I know what I'm talking about here.

DO NOT exchange your money here. Only exchange what you will need for your immediate traveling needs, like tipping, buying a quick meal, paying cab fare, etc., DO NOT bring large sums of money with you at all! And, there is NO NEED for traveler's checks. They are outdated and difficult to get exchanged fairly, if at all.

Instead, when you get to where you're going, just use their ATM machines that have one of the symbols on the back of your debit or credit card. I promise you they'll have them. You will get a much better exchange rate by using ATMs and you won't have the risk of carrying cash with you, like a naive, vulnerable, American tourist.

Call your bank and let them know that you will be overseas for those three weeks and ask them to please waive the ATM fees during that time. I used to do this for people all the time. Your bank shouldn't have a problem stopping these fees for that time because they don't have ATMs of their own overseas. Trust me, they'll punch in a code and, for those three weeks, you will automatically not be charged non-bank ATM fees and you will get the best exchange rate for your money AND you won't be vulnerable to losing it due to a mugging or theft.

Please, take my advice.

EDITED TO ADD: And if, when you get back, you see that there are some non-bank ATM fees charged to your account during the time when you were overseas, just calmly call the bank and explain that these were supposed to have been waived and they will add the money back into your account.

[greggd]

Originally Posted by Simple Living

decafdave,

Listen to me very carefully. I have both lived and vacationed overseas. I am also in banking and am very familiar with exchange rates. I know what I'm talking about here.

DO NOT exchange your money here. Only exchange what you will need for your immediate traveling needs, like tipping, buying a quick meal, paying cab fare, etc., DO NOT bring large sums of money with you at all! And, there is NO NEED for traveler's checks. They are outdated and difficult to get exchanged fairly, if at all.

Instead, when you get to where you're going, just use their ATM machines that have one of the symbols on the back of your debit or credit card. I promise you they'll have them. You will get a much better exchange rate by using ATMs and you won't have the risk of carrying cash with you, like a naive, vulnerable, American tourist.

Call your bank and let them know that you will be overseas for those three weeks and ask them to please waive the ATM fees during that time. I used to do this for people all the time. Your bank shouldn't have a problem stopping these fees for that time because they don't have ATMs of their own overseas. Trust me, they'll punch in a code and, for those three weeks, you will automatically not be charged non-bank ATM fees and you will get the best exchange rate for your money AND you won't be vulnerable to losing it due to a mugging or theft.

Please, take my advice.

EDITED TO ADD: And if, when you get back, you see that there are some non-bank ATM fees charged to your account during the time when you were overseas, just calmly call the bank and explain that these were supposed to have been waived and they will add the money back into your account.

Very good advise. I always use the ATM machines exclusively. The exchange rate in tourist spots are very high.