Euros

What is the best way(or best place)to exchange US dollars to Euros??

Thanks!!

I always withdraw money from at ATM with my debit card when I'm in the EU. I find this is the most convenient, and gets me the best exchange rate with minimal fees.

Just make sure your ATM debit card doesn't charge out-of-network ATM fees or Foreign Transaction Fees -- it is does, get another bank! Also never use a CREDIT card in an ATM, because that is treated as a cash advance with gonzo interest from day one.

We have a Visa Debit card from Schwab Bank -- no ATM fees anywhere and no FT fees. We look for a bank-branded ATM in the airport -- avoid Travelex -- and get a starter supply. Once in cities and towns bank ATMs are everywhere -- although they may be called "bankomat" not ATM.

Or you can play the Foreign Currency Arbitrage game. If you think the Euro is particularly low right now, you can get Euros from your US bank. There will be a fee, but if the Euro strengthens before your trip you could still be ahead. [Note: this is also known as Currency Speculation, and has been known to lead to massive losses for investors. YMMV]

Or you can play the Foreign Currency Arbitrage game. If you think the Euro is particularly low right now, you can get Euros from your US bank. There will be a fee, but if the Euro strengthens before your trip you could still be ahead. [Note: this is also known as Currency Speculation, and has been known to lead to massive losses for investors. YMMV]

Buying from your local bank will cost you. The exchange rate tonight for buying euros from Wells Fargo is $1.17 per euro. Then there is a delivery/shipping charge of $15 unless you buy a substantial amount. The effective exchange rate now for purchasing 250€ is $1.23 per euro.

It's even worse if you buy a convenience cash pack from AAA. Saturday my local office was selling 78€ for $103. A whopping $1.32 per euro.

The Interbank rate for an ATM transaction is just under $1.10 per Euro. Even being charged a foreign transaction fee of 3% by your bank, you will pay just over $1.13 per euro. You should get the same exchange rate on credit card use.

I always withdraw money from at ATM with my debit card when I'm in the EU. I find this is the most convenient, and gets me the best exchange rate with minimal fees.

I'm with you, but I use ATM card not debit card. And I use my Capital One card as much as I possibly can since they do not charge me any foreign transaction fees. I've never had it refused by a merchant or restaurant either. :D

ATM... every local bank we checked never offered rates as good even factored in ATM fees etc...

I'm with you, but I use ATM card not debit card. And I use my Capital One card as much as I possibly can since they do not charge me any foreign transaction fees. I've never had it refused by a merchant or restaurant either. :D

A question for you because I see you have a Cap One card. They recently sent us a new card-chip and sign. When we were in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, the card worked great for admission tickets at one of the museums but when I tried to use it in their gift shop, it would not work. The clerk would not swipe it because it had a chip. I just paid cash but am now wondering if I can look forward to this happening again. I prefer this card for the same reason you do....just not sure if the chip is going to give me problems. Unfortunately, there wasn't another opportunity to try it again before we left for home. Since then, I did use it at Walmart and had to use the chip reader not the swipe strip. It worked that time.

I'm with you, but I use ATM card not debit card.

And I use my Capital One card as much as I possibly can since they do not charge me any foreign transaction fees.

I've never had it refused by a merchant or restaurant either. :D

I'm a little confused.

Is your ATM and your Capital One the same card ?

I thought ATM cards could only be used in ATM machines and not directly with merchants.

A question for you because I see you have a Cap One card. They recently sent us a new card-chip and sign. When we were in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, the card worked great for admission tickets at one of the museums but when I tried to use it in their gift shop, it would not work. The clerk would not swipe it because it had a chip. I just paid cash but am now wondering if I can look forward to this happening again. I prefer this card for the same reason you do....just not sure if the chip is going to give me problems. Unfortunately, there wasn't another opportunity to try it again before we left for home. Since then, I did use it at Walmart and had to use the chip reader not the swipe strip. It worked that time.

You raise a good point.

My chip card works fine at Walmart also.:)

However, there is still confusion between the USA "chip & sign" VS the Euro chip & pin" cards and what European vendors/machines accept.

I have found that, in Amsterdam/Rotterdam, cash(Euros) is king.:)

Thank you so much everyone!!! I really appreciate it.. :)

Capital One has a card called the 360. It is similar to a debit card tied to a checking account. It can be loaded with as much or as little as you want and then you can withdraw money from the ATM as needed. No extra fees for using it in foreign countries.

I'm a little confused.

Is your ATM and your Capital One the same card ?

I thought ATM cards could only be used in ATM machines and not directly with merchants.

It is completely different in Canada...

I have a bank card that I use for debit and ATM transactions. If I use it as a debit card, it takes the funds right out of my bank account. No "loading" required. I can use it at almost every merchant in Canada and in some places in the US. For example, when I shop at Macy's and use my Macy's card to get the sales, I immediately pay the card off from my bank account at home using my debit card.

If I want money out at an ATM, I use my debit card and it pulls the cash out of my account at a reasonable exchange rate. If I use a bank that has an articulation agreement with my home bank, there are no fees.

Fran

I'm with you, but I use ATM card not debit card. And I use my Capital One card as much as I possibly can since they do not charge me any foreign transaction fees. I've never had it refused by a merchant or restaurant either. :D

I'm a little confused.

Is your ATM and your Capital One the same card ?

I thought ATM cards could only be used in ATM machines and not directly with merchants.

I'm confused by this also, because the only ATM-only card we ever had was replaced some years ago by a Chase Visa-brand debit card and our Schwab Bank card has always been a Visa-brand debit card. I didn't think there were any ATM cards left in circulation.

A question for you because I see you have a Cap One card. They recently sent us a new card-chip and sign. When we were in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, the card worked great for admission tickets at one of the museums but when I tried to use it in their gift shop, it would not work. The clerk would not swipe it because it had a chip. I just paid cash but am now wondering if I can look forward to this happening again. I prefer this card for the same reason you do....just not sure if the chip is going to give me problems. Unfortunately, there wasn't another opportunity to try it again before we left for home. Since then, I did use it at Walmart and had to use the chip reader not the swipe strip. It worked that time.

I have chip and sign as well and when I called Cap One this week to give them my itinerary for next week I asked about that and they told me to just have the merchant call the toll free # on the card and all would be well. they also warned me NOT to let the merchant make the conversion for me. Many of them will try to do that "as a favor to you" but in actuality they convert at the highest rate to THEM, not you and if you decline to let them convert for you, they cannot force you to agree. I don't have a Wal Mart near me so I have never used it there and I don't use my Cap One at home anyway....only when I'm outside US.

I'm a little confused.

Is your ATM and your Capital One the same card ?

I thought ATM cards could only be used in ATM machines and not directly with merchants.

No my Cap One is not an ATM card..I use the ATM card that was issued by my bank, but it is only an ATM card not a debit or credit card.

I have chip and sign as well and when I called Cap One this week to give them my itinerary for next week I asked about that and they told me to just have the merchant call the toll free # on the card and all would be well.

Good luck with that. :rolleyes: Be sure to carry plenty of cash for those occasions!

I'm with you, but I use ATM card not debit card. And I use my Capital One card as much as I possibly can since they do not charge me any foreign transaction fees. I've never had it refused by a merchant or restaurant either. :D

Good luck with that. :rolleyes: Be sure to carry plenty of cash for those occasions!

Cash always works! Can't imagine that the clerk at the museum gift shop where I had the problem would have called Cap One. She just wanted me to use another card.....I paid in cash.

The primary difference between ATM and debit cards is that debit cards can be used for sales transactions, while pure ATM cards cannot. Otherwise they're the same. If "MasterCard" or "Visa" appears on your card, you have a debit card.

Of course that's true, Max, but the way they differ is that interest accrues from the minute you use that credit card to obtain cash and increases daily! For that reason I use ATM card to get cash and CapOne to make purchases or pay bills outside of US. If you're gone for a couple of weeks and then get your credit card bill, the interest on a cash withdrawal on your credit card (another word for loan) can be substantial, no?

Of course that's true, Max, but the way they differ is that interest accrues from the minute you use that credit card to obtain cash and increases daily! For that reason I use ATM card to get cash and CapOne to make purchases or pay bills outside of US. If you're gone for a couple of weeks and then get your credit card bill, the interest on a cash withdrawal on your credit card (another word for loan) can be substantial, no?

It sounds like you are still confusing credit cards and debit cards. Just because it says Visa or MasterCard doesn't make it a credit card. Visa/MC DEBIT cards work just like ATM-only cards for cash withdrawals, but they also offer the option of being used for purchases (I don't use them for this purpose because they deduct the funds from your bank account immediately -- no monthly float like a credit card -- and have fewer benefits and less consumer protection).

It sounds like you are still confusing credit cards and debit cards. Just because it says Visa or MasterCard doesn't make it a credit card. Visa/MC DEBIT cards work just like ATM-only cards for cash withdrawals, but they also offer the option of being used for purchases (I don't use them for this purpose because they deduct the funds from your bank account immediately -- no monthly float like a credit card -- and have fewer benefits and less consumer protection).

Got it and you are right. I don't have any debit cards so when I hear Visa/MC, I automatically think credit card. I will be more careful now. Thanks for clarifying!

It sounds like you are still confusing credit cards and debit cards. Just because it says Visa or MasterCard doesn't make it a credit card. Visa/MC DEBIT cards work just like ATM-only cards for cash withdrawals, but they also offer the option of being used for purchases (I don't use them for this purpose because they deduct the funds from your bank account immediately -- no monthly float like a credit card -- and have fewer benefits and less consumer protection).

Generally I'm with you, but on our last trip my credit card with no FTF was inexplicably refused for a relatively large (400 euro) purchase, and it was useful to have the no-FTF Schwab debit card as a backup. We put plenty of funds into the account before departure to provide us that cushion, and that turned out to be a good idea!

You always need a backup. The day before our recent trip my Barclay Arrival+ card was refused at a local merchant -- I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to use it on the trip, but after a long wait on hold we cleared it up. Another trip I had a brand-new card with a Chip which gave us lots of trouble in Spain -- DW's version of the same card always worked fine -- finally figured out the Chip was defective on mine. So we always bring several cards, ranked in order of preference. But the Barclay card gets used whenever possible because of the no-fees plus 2.2% rebate features.

Another redundancy issue - if you are traveling with a partner, make sure you have cards on different accounts. Sometimes if a card is lost or stolen, the entire acct is frozen - affecting other cards (which might have different numbers and not be lost/stolen but still unusable).

We have a CapOne money market acct that we use just for vacation savings, and that debit card is the one we prefer to use for cash when traveling. But I will bring the debit card for my own bank acct as a backup. For credit cards, we try to use my husband's CapOne master card (no forex fee) when we use a credit card, though we have Amex (can be useful for certain Amex benefits though not as widely accepted outside of large cities around the world), and I have a different Visa card, and I have a separate visa I use when I'm traveling for business.

So the only accts of ours that are actually the same is the CapOne money market and one Amex - all others are separate accts, so if heaven forbid one acct is compromised, we have backups while traveling....

(overall, though, our preferred method is to get cash from an ATM and pay cash whenever possible - pretty much only hotels get credit cards for our travel)