Where to get the best exchange rates?

[martin]

Where does everyone get the money changed, £ to $. im not traveling for a few months but just though it would be best to keep an eye on the rate to get the best one possible.

thanks

[Slipstream]

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

Martin Lewis's guide - compare all the players and see if your choice is close to the best

[Louise_Taylor]

we choose www.caxtonfx.co.uk

best rate by miles and they generally don't charge you for taking money from cash machines. Disney ATMs have a $2 fee but that's just because its on Disney like some of the ones you get in newsagents over here.

we found it so useful as we could pay most things by card (even a coke vending machine!!) and just took a couple of bulks of cash out when we were at the malls for tipping at the restaurants.

you can check your balance and top up by text and can even order a second cared if you don't fancy the respectability all on one person.

They were so good we even used the euro version of their card for a trip to Paris in February

[Jon]

We used to go with M&S but we've found better rates just by comparing whats available on the high street from Travel Agencies (with 0% commission). I think it was Thomson or Thomas Cook we used last time. Might not have been THE best available but still good.

[**susie**]

Hi Martin,

We generally use FairFX now as they seem to offer the best rates. They also have currency cards that are prepaid mastercards that work like debit cards. You can top up online and check balances too.

It's really handy. You can get the card free of charge if you just google 'free fairfx card', think there are some offers on some websites.

[Damfino]

Just to point out that as far as I'm aware all US ATM's charge a fee, please correct me if I'm wrong. We are lucky over here that our banks don't charge us (yet)

[Vikki]

We tend to look on the high street then pay for it in cash, so we avoid all the extra charges that get piled on if you pay by card. It also seems that if you're buying more than $500 you get a better rate

[susieh]

We have a US bank account at the same bank as our UK bank account and we can transfer money between the accounts at no cost. We also get an exchange rate very close to the business rate - for example the rate today is 1.633 whereas the exchange rate at travelex is 1.585

[eeyorewells]

We used first choice and got 1.575, noticed PostOffice online was 1.584 today but then there is a 1.5% charge for using a card (but being online not sure what else you could do, the local PostOffice rate was 1.53 though)