Buy travel money on a prepaid currency card from FairFX and you could get much better exchange rates than the airport or the high street. See how much you could save on your next holiday.
How to Buy Foreign Exchange
When it comes to visiting another country, you're always going to have the dilemma of figuring out where and exactly how to buy foreign exchange. This is perhaps one of the most important preparations you should take before leaving on a trip to a foreign country yet is something that can easily slip anyone's mind. Fortunately, there are several options to choose from when you go to buy foreign exchange. However, you want to make sure that you get the very best rate for foreign currency, especially if you'll be taking a long trip and need plenty of money. Whether you're exchanging pounds for euros or yens or even dollars, the exchange rate matters. Here are a few methods to buy foreign exchange and some considerations of each.
Using Foreign Exchange Booths
One of the methods to buy foreign exchange involves taking a trip to official foreign exchange booths in your home country or the country in which you're visiting. These can be banks, post offices, or some other independent foreign currency exchange services. The way you buy foreign exchange through this process is that you essentially buy the foreign currency with your home currency. You either write a check or pay with cash and in return receive foreign cash and currency.
There are a couple major problems with using foreign currency exchange offices to buy foreign exchange. First, you won't be getting the best rate. Since you have little choice but to accept the exchange rate, these currency exchange services usually have a higher markup that you'll pay than other methods that you can use to buy foreign exchange.
Getting ATM Cash
Another method you can use to buy foreign exchange is to simply use your automated teller machine (ATM) card at an ATM machine in the host country which you're visiting. This can be a good idea for several reasons, especially if you need the money in an emergency to pay for a purchase that you need immediately. However, ATM machines are notoriously expensive as they pile on fees for unrecognized bank cards that may be used. In addition, with this option of getting foreign exchange you are essentially automatically accepting the rate of the bank whose ATM machine you're using.
Using Prepaid Currency Cards
As a viable option for purchasing foreign exchange, prepaid currency cards have several advantages. First, currency cards are safer than other options of buying foreign exchange. Since you're not carrying cash you'll be less of a target for muggers. In addition, you don't have to worry about carrying large amounts of money and possibly misplacing your funds. Perhaps most importantly, prepaid currency cards typically give the best foreign exchange rates when compared with other options of buying another country's currency.
As you can see, there are several options that you have when it's time to buy foreign exchange. The safest option to obtain this foreign currency is through the purchase of prepaid cards, which is ultimately more secure than simply carrying cash and provides the best exchange rate as well.
Tuesday 20 April 2010, 10:18am
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