# Cashing Euros



## Paul1234 (Nov 7, 2006)

We have a couple of long stays planned in Spain,France and Portugal and was wondering the best way of cashing Euros without paying charges and getting a half decent exchange rate
Hope somebody can help
Paul


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

Not sure that I understand you about cashing in Euros.Is this after you have come home .I always take 50Euros and the rest on a Caxton card, a prepaid card that you load with Euros and use the cash points to withdraw at no extra cost and use as a debit card when in Europe.

https://www.caxtonfx.com

cabby


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## randonneur (Jan 25, 2007)

Same here. Caxton card can be used in most ATMs and also used as a debit card. I have also used ours to pay for our ADAC membership because its a straight Euro payment.


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## Paul1234 (Nov 7, 2006)

thanks, the query was for getting cash when abroad
paul


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

Pre loaded Caxton MasterCard for me, currently in Spain after travelling through France. It's never been refused in auto fuel pumps, Aire CB machine or supermarkets. Cash machine withdrawals are free and you can top-up online if required. Keep home bank card and some cash as back up.

Enjoy your trip.

Terry


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## Paul1234 (Nov 7, 2006)

Caxton it is then, will order one today
Thanks everybody for the prompt response
Regards
Paul


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

Halifax Clarity credit card. No fees, no ATM charges and wholesale FX rates. Interest is charged from the day you withdraw cash until you make a corresponding payment but you don't need to wait for your monthly statement so long as you do internet banking. It's been mentioned before on MHF and is also widely discussed on the internet if you google it.


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## emjaiuk (Jun 3, 2005)

Used to be Caxton, but now use Halifax Clarity credit card, paid by direct debit. Better rate than Caxton (unless you were lucky enough to load Caxton just before euro rate fell), which outweighs small cash wirhdrawal interest charges. Keep small amount on Caxton for emergincies, but will look for Visa alternative. (So all my cards aren't Mastercard).

Malcolm


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Another one for Halifax Clarity card. Just use it for absolutely everything you can where possible, even a few euros in a supermarket.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I like Caxton, I can load it completely when the rate is good.

Surely I can't do that with Clarity or have I missed something?


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

erneboy said:


> I like Caxton, I can load it completely when the rate is good.
> 
> Surely I can't do that with Clarity or have I missed something?


They are both good options Alan but your right, the Clarity is just a credit card but one with exceptionally good rates and no charges.


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## emmbeedee (Oct 31, 2008)

Plus one for the Halifax Clarity card! :wink2:


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Ta Baz. I like to buy when the price is favourable, or at least seems to be. I don't need or want a credit card.


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

erneboy said:


> I like Caxton, I can load it completely when the rate is good.
> 
> Surely I can't do that with Clarity or have I missed something?


You're right Alan that you can't pre-load a Clarity card but if (no offence intended!) you're that good at spotting when the rate is good then you should be working for a hedge fund!:wink2:


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

erneboy said:


> I don't need or want a credit card.


You don't need to use it as such in the way that many people do - just set it up so that the full amount owing is taken by direct debit each month.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Feck off Peter.

I have this inbuilt thing (let's call it instinct) which tells me that buying 1.4 euros for a pound is better than buying at 1 or 1.10.

Then I had a bright idea and bought as many as my card would take when it was 1.40 ish. 

I bought a few more via my bank too. I'm not managing a hedge thingy but it seemed to me that 1.40 was quite a good deal?

But what would I know?


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

So should we be buying or selling Euros now Alan?


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

In the absence of a crystal ball or 6th sense, a good plan is to buy regularly throughout the year to benefit from cost averaging. Overall, over time, you will wins some and lose some. Caxton are pretty good with letting you know when a good rate is available. Then you can make your decision based on your plans.


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## emjaiuk (Jun 3, 2005)

Personally I hate people who bought at 1.40, they're the sort who take the last space in the aire just before you arrive!:grin2:

Malcolm


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

HermanHymer said:


> Caxton are pretty good with letting you know when a good rate is available.


But actually they aren't and they don't let you know that. What they will alert you to is when the rate is more favourable than it was at some point in the past. They don't and won't tell you that it is a "good" rate now because it's going to deteriorate next week or whenever. They are no different from my domestic oil supplier who is telling me every week why I should be buying now because the price is "good" - but it is only good by comparison to what they are choosing to compare it to in the past.


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## emmbeedee (Oct 31, 2008)

peribro said:


> just set it up so that the full amount owing is taken by direct debit each month.


That's what I do too, with all my cards. I hate paying interest & don't pay a penny in interest charges that way.:grin2:


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## GEMMY (Jun 19, 2006)

emmbeedee said:


> That's what I do too, with all my cards. I hate paying interest & don't pay a penny in interest charges that way.:grin2:


Ditto, it shows continuity of my expenses to income, thereby very little of CASH used which can indicate................?

tony:wink2:


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

erneboy said:


> Feck off Peter.
> 
> I have this inbuilt thing (let's call it instinct) which tells me that buying 1.4 euros for a pound is better than buying at 1 or 1.10.
> 
> ...


Great minds think alike Alan, 1:40 to the pound is what I'm living on now whilst in Spain.

My instinct tells me it will rise to that again once the brexiters are crying into their bitter. :grin2: :surprise:

Terry

PS. I don't do hedges either:wink2:


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## HermanHymer (Dec 5, 2008)

... or lawns.... or bins. - Man's work!


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## GEMMY (Jun 19, 2006)

dghr272 said:


> My instinct tells me it will rise to that again once the brexiters are crying into their bitter.


If things go wrong it's a battle lost but NOT the war. it's been waging for thirty years, do you really think that a loss will end it,......in your dreams :wink2:

tony


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Yep, as I thought, it's a neverendum for members of the leave campaign.

I don't know why that surprises me, even though they keep banging on about the undemocratic EU it's clear that what many of them regard as democratic decisions are only those decisions which have gone as they wanted them to. Anything else can be regarded as undemocratic and immediately be challenged.

This is not all bad though, because if the Leavers win they obviously won't object if call me Dave goes back to the EU begging for more concessions and holds a second and even a third and fourth referendum so they can have another few votes on the matter. Sauce for the goose I think.


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## Easyriders (May 16, 2011)

We have a Nationwide flex plus account, so we just use our debit cards in ATMs abroad. Good rate, and no charges. For purchases, we use the Nationwide Select Visa cc, again, no charges. We have a direct debit set up that pays the cc bill every month, so no interest to pay either.


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

hi all

i sold a harley a while ago and ended up with EURO 30K that is in a barkleys euro account no interest but no charge to make a cash withdrawal

could i load a caxtons card with euro from this account

barry


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

peribro said:


> So should we be buying or selling Euros now Alan?


Ho, ho Peter.

Still I can answer that by saying that it doesn't matter to me. I think I may have mentioned that I have a good supply at the moment, having bought at around €1.40.

I still think it will head for parity over the next while and that the bottom will fall out of the pound if we vote leave.


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

Barry, I have a Caxton card, but the rate is no longer competitive. Have a look at Revolut. You should be able to load from your Euro account with Barclays. Also the Clarity credit card from Halifax gives a "perfect" rate and you might be able to use the Euro a/c to pay it off each month.

You might want to look at Moneysavingexpert site for a better home for your €30k.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

From what I've just read on the Revolut web site it doesn't seem to be a card you can preload when the rate is good. Is that correct? If so it cannot reasonably be compared to Caxton, which I do agree doesn't always give a good rate. It's advantage is that you can buy when the rate is favourable.


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

Revolut is loaded by adding funds from your bank, in my case, GBP's. You can then exchange your £'s for Euros, or whatever, at any time. So, I have some £'s loaded and am waiting for a good exchange rate (lol). Right now 17.23 BST it's at 1.2769 to the Euro and 1.4481 to the $. You can draw from ATM's, use as a payment card and send money to other people. You can also change your €'s back to pounds at any time. It's operated by an App on my iPhone.

You can also leave the £'s on the card without changing to euros and when you pay in the Eurozone you get an instant conversion at the best rate at the time.

Hope that helps.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Thank you. I've looked for answers on the Revolut web site but I'm still not clear. Sorry.


You say "Funds from your bank" OK good, That's be GB pounds added to the Revolut card then. So now it's loaded with GB pounds, can I then exchange that money for Euros and retain them on the card till I want to spend or withdraw Euros? That's what I do with Caxton but I'd look at other cards to see if the rates given are better.


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## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

I have used Caxton FX and it has worked well. The only problem that I have had was in Morocco. It worked in a few machines but my Nationwide flex-account worked well in nearly all. In France a few banks will not accept it but there is never a problem. Nearby there is normally another one.


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

Erneboy, the Revolut site isn't the clearest - too much gee whiz. Yes, load the Revolut card from your debit card, which you've previously linked when you joined up. The £100 or whatever you've just loaded sit there until you decide to change them into Euros, which you can do at anytime. Or, you can keep the £'s and when you go into Mercadona, ask to pay in Euros, and Revolut will do the exchange at whatever is the rate at the time. Graham


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

I recently got a Clarity card for this summers trip. I'll also be taking plenty of cash so as to minimalise interest payments on cash withdrawals.

It's a bit of a pain its a MC and not VISA but hopefully shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Graham :smile2:


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

GMJ said:


> I recently got a Clarity card for this summers trip. I'll also be taking plenty of cash so as to minimalise interest payments on cash withdrawals.
> 
> It's a bit of a pain its a MC and not VISA but hopefully shouldn't be too much of an issue.


There are no interest charges on cash withdrawals using a Clarity card if you credit your account with the sterling value of the withdrawal on or before the day that the cash withdrawal appears on your account - usually the business day following the transaction.

In practice what I do is wait to see the sterling amount appear on the (online) account and then make a same day payment from my bank account. Sometimes I'm a day late but it's not much.

Out of interest why is Visa preferable to Mastercard? I have both and have never had problems with either.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

We'll be away for over 30 nights so I wont be able to make any payments in nor be inclined to tbh whilst on my holibobs :grin2:

There have been some reports recently of some vendors on the mainland starting to withdraw from MC. Nothing to worry about though. Besides that everywhere I have been I have seen VISA signs but not always MC signs. That's not to say they wont be taken but it just has a better feel to it, for me.

We will have our Tesco Visa card with us anyway and a spare credit card locked in our safe just in case.

Graham :smile2:


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