How to Get the Best Exchange Rate on Your Travel Money

The obvious answer to the question is shop around! No one currency provider will be able to give you the best deal all the time. If they could then they would be the only one left in the industry, why would anyone go to anyone else? The reality is that most of the providers have some unique selling point or niche where they are the best.

There are some generalisations that we can state right from the start. Firstly, online providers will almost certainly give you a better exchange rate than a high street provider. Secondly there is almost no good reason for having to pay commission on your currency order.

Right, now that is out of the way, lets look at those online providers. The exchange rates change constantly throughout the day so I cannot tell you explicitly who has the best offering because it could change before you had finished reading this. I will look at three typical providers that do business in different ways, but are fairly typical of their type.

Travel FX are a purely online travel money provider, you order your currency online, pay by bank transfer and they deliver, normally the next day, by royal mail special delivery. This is the cheapest option 99.99% of the time. They could be anywhere in the UK, it makes no difference so they are paying minimal business rates, and none of the expenses associated with regular retail.

TTT Moneycorp. You will not find any high street stores but they have a presence in all themajor UK airports. You can choose whether to have your money delivered by post or pick it up at the airport.

The Post Office. Order online and then have it delivered or pick it up at your local branch. Here you have a truly local service but still with competitive rates.

So which do you go for? Well there are other considerations to take into account, you could get a great exchange rate but then pay more in delivery charges than you saved. All these providers and the other in the industry have a tipping point where they will offer you free deliver. With so many options to juggle, exchange rate, delivery options and collection options and delivery charges a comparison table would be helpful.

One option is to use a price comparison website. Not many compare foreign exchange rates but a Google search for compare exchange rates or Euro rate comparison will turn up turns up all the big names that offer this service.

What none of these sites can tell you is when to buy though. Exchange rates vary day by day. On top of that if you are having cash delivered then you do not want to be caught in a postal strike. Be prepared and get your travel money in plenty of time. If you give yourself a week before you travel that is plenty of time to guarantee that you will have your cash before you go.

If it all goes wrong? British Airways will happily sell you cash on the plane and it is about the worst exchange rate you can imagine, but then you can hardly get off and go somewhere else at that point can you.

Compare Holiday Money is the top UK impartial travel money and travel insurance comparison website. They publish articles and regular blog posts with focus on saving money when you travel.