Anyone have any recommendations for a currency exchange, bank or otherwise? Have a trip coming up and the euro is doing terrible for Europe but awesome for us. 1.119 last I checked but the local banks are at 1.256 and the Thomas Cook in Bellevue is at 1.36x and they are still charging transaction fees.

 

They are about the same as others. I often do it at the airport for about the same rate.

 

Procera,
My experience with local banks is that Columbia Bank has been the most efficient for currency exchange (ample funds and FX rate). That's just my experience, but worth a shot. Here is their Bellevue location:

Bellevue Way Branch

In-Store

10350 NE 10th Street
Bellevue, WA 98004

 

Banks usually have to order the money(Euros) so they have it. The pick on local area bank that does stock it. Call them to verify. I just got back and the exchange rate at the banks really bad. I was bad I my bank for bending me over. They said "That rate is for exchanging millions". My response was so for my transaction we are doing it $10 dollars at a time just for fun. They move millions every day but you get charged the premium. Banks are so bad now. You use to get a break if you let them sit on your money. Know they think of ways to get your money with extra fees etc. I found just using the ATM gets you as good or better then the exchange banks. I think my limit in the US is $500 a day- I have no reason why they will not let me get more of my money. In France I pulled $500
Euros when needed. I guess they can not figure ut that conversion. Have fun. Use your credit card for everything. That is a good and with the Euro
falling they convert later for a better rate. I did get charged $200 in Foreign transaction fees from the Credit Cards for the trip purchases. They will get your money one way or another. Have fun. Best rate in years any way you look at it.

 

i think you have 1 too many 1's in that 1.119 exchage rate (~1.19 ish according to yahoo).

 

I live in Germany and find that I get the best rate by taking Euros out on my debit card from my US bank (USAA). Even with the foreign transactions fees, I get a better rate that way. I find almost all airport exchange sites are the worse places to exchange funds. Don't know where you are going, but in Germany and France, there's an ATM on every corner!!

 

i always charge everything can and use my ATM in europe. i've gotten the best rates doing that in the past

 

Agree with the ATMs comments. I travel to Europe about 5-6 times a year on business. I've found the best exchange rates by using ATMs in Europe. I've never found State-side currency exchange any value, even at the bank or airports (I actually have found Thomas Cook super expensive). On the credit card - you may also want to call your credit card company to let hem know you'll be traveling, otherwise they may block the card because of suspicious overseas activities. On that note, I recently switched to Capital One because they don't charge the 3% foreign transaction fee that all other cards charge (except for JPC and Discover). On a typical trip $5k expense, that's a $150 savings. Maybe worth your time to look into. It took them 2 weeks to send me the cards from date of application. By the way, the foreign transact fee applies to Canada as well!

 

great post! We are going to France this August..good to know about the credit card, still have couple thousand left from last year...i'll just use that + c.c.
Usually I would go buy euros at my bank, they charged me $.07-.09 over ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-usd.en.html
By August euros might just be around a dollar :- )

 

in almost every case, you'll get a bank-to-bank exchange rate with a nominal fee above it when using ATM cards and credit cards. much better than cash.

plus, in europe, you only need to tip with the little funny coins, at low levels

unless you're george soros, there's little use for holding foriegn currency...