Compare Holiday Money Rates

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If you’re going abroad for work or pleasure, waiting until you get to the airport to arrange foreign currency is a costly mistake. Airport and other bureau de change services charge you as much as 10% more than if you use a foreign exchange specialist, such as the ones shown in the table below.

You’ve probably seen adverts at the airport and the bank highlighting 0% commission however this is not entirely accurate. Although they charge 0% commission they still charge for their service by offering you less than competitive exchange rates, leaving you with up to 10% less money to spend whilst on your travels.

Ordering your money in advance is a much cheaper option. Use the table below to find the most competitive supplier, you can then either pick up the money or have it delivered straight to your home or office.

How is it cheaper to pre-order holiday money?

Until fairly recently, banks and bureau de change services had no competition when it came to customers buying foreign currency. These types of services are still generally found in the high street and at the airport. If you’ve seen them before it’s likely you’ll also have noticed they heavily advertise the fact that they do not charge commission. However, although it appears that they are offering their services free of charge, nothing could be further from the truth.

Whilst they do not charge an upfront fee for their service they instead build their profit into the exchange rate that they offer, effectively hiding their charge from the customer. Let’s face it; the general public are unlikely to know up-to-the-minute mid-market exchange rates and these opportunistic exchange services know that all too well. Not knowing the amount of foreign currency you should expect to receive makes it very hard for customers to work out exactly how much they have paid for their currency exchange.

However, in recent years there has been a dramatic rise in the number of foreign exchange specialists offering similar (usually significantly better) services than the high street banks and bureau de change shops at substantially improved exchange rates. The end result being that the customer benefits from a better service whilst also receiving more foreign currency for their money.

How much could I save on my holiday money exchange?

If we take an exchange of £1,000 into euros as an example and an official exchange rate of 1.2000 euros for every pound. You may expect to receive the following:

Airport bureau de change: 1,080 euros
Bank: 1,140 euros
Foreign Exchange Specialist: 1,176 euros

From the above you will see that taking the time to pre-order your foreign currency would give you an extra 100 euros to spend abroad.

Author Image - Michael Foote

Written By Michael Foote, Insurance and Finance Expert

Michael Foote is the founder of Quote Goat and has over 13 years experience working in the finance, insurance and currency sectors. Since launching Quote Goat he has appeared on TV as well as many of the largest online publications including Forbes, The Telegraph and The Metro. Prior to Quote Goat, he worked in finance in the city for a number of firms including HSBC.