Going to USA in three weeks and need to get some cash. I don’t really understand how exchange rates fluctuate but I know that the US going into Syria might affect things. And other stuff might do too – seems very complicated.

Can anyone have a educated guess what will happen? Am I best getting my dollars now or leaving it a bit longer?

And advice welcome!

Do it now, get dosh from the post office. Sorted

How much cash are you planning on carrying around with you?

*grabs (pretend) shotgun and balaclava

Oh and when’s your flight, and from where?

Can anyone have a educated guess what will happen? Am I best getting my dollars now or leaving it a bit longer?

If anyone can offer you an opinion which has greater than a 50% chance of being correct, you’d be advised to borrow as much money as you can and do whatever they tell you to do with it 🙂

I doubt you’ll really feel the impact with the sort of cash which you’ll be withdrawing for holiday.

people still withdraw cash for a holiday before they go ?

is it the 90s again ?

just get a decent bank account or a prepaid card. the rate might be slightly lower than the post office but the convienance and security outweighs this.

I thought that if it changes a LOT then it might be worth waiting/acting quickly. Probably wont make much of a difference as I’m not getting huge amounts (£500 maybe, credit cards used mainly).

As part of the trip I will be going to Moab BTW. Slickrock Trail here I come!

It is very unlikely to fluctuate to the point where it is going to make a massive difference to what you get.

At the moment the tourist rate is around $1.52 to the £. So change £1000 and (barring commission – most places do Nil commission anyway) and you will get $1520.

Even if it swung by US 10c (which is incredibly unlikely) either way you would get $1420 or $1620 depending which way it goes so only $100 difference on £1000.

As I say such a swing is unlikely so any difference will be less.

Alternatively, take your debit card and take cash out as you go and get the exchange rate on the day (plus a service charge). This is what I tend to do.

Check out any of the Forex company websites for their updates and forecasts.

Bear in mind that the rate they offer may be through offshore banks, not across the counter for holiday money though.

Most have a live tracking application or similar.

Torfx
XE.com
Eurorateforecast.com

There’s always places to go/services to use where cards can’t be used. Credit card I have has no foreign use fee so I’ll use that whenever I can.

Pity it’s not $2 to £1 any more!

Having some cash with you is always helpful, and depending on where you go a necessity.

As to the OP, nothing going on in Syria is going to affect the dollar/pound exchange rate in any meaningful way in the timeframe you are talking about. Get some cash wherever and whenever is most convenient for you.

seems very complicated.

Honestly, it really isn’t.

You exchange some cash, take your credit card, and go on holiday.

You are no brokering a large currency deal, you are going on holiday.

Chill out, relax, enjoy yourself.

oh yeah i agree.

It was particularly helpful to have 1000 dollars on me when i went to turkmenistan for a month (where there are no bankmachines out side of ashgabat)

usa – i dont see it. plenty cash points about out there where you can withdraw cash as required for no fees if you have the right cards

seems very complicated.
Honestly, it really isn’t.
You exchange some cash, take your credit card, and go on holiday.
You are no brokering a large currency deal, you are going on holiday.
Chill out, relax, enjoy yourself.

I meant that the reasons why the rate fluctuate seem to be complex. Probably why people can’t predict it easily!

@rodbod – check how much your credit card company charges, the costs vary widely from differing exchange rates, to %-age and one off fixed fees (eg one of my cards charges £1.50 each time it’s used so for small items that’s very expensive, my other account it’s free to take cash out with their ATMs). I rarely get much cash out in advance just use local ATMS with my “good account”

Don’t try and double guess the FX markets – if you want to hedge yourself just get some money now and some later/on holiday.

USA – there’s no problem using your card to buy a sub $1 Cola from a fast food store, or similar from other places

That said you want a true exchange rate card (like my Halifax Mastercard) like there are a few available. You may just manage to get one it time for your holiday – go prepay maybe.

As said otherwise you’re not really getting enough cash to make a huge amount of difference between now and then unless they suffer hyper inflation or something surely?

Cash is really useful in some situations though i.e. tipping, or if your renting a car and need to top up fuel.

Example: I found in AZ/NM/NV that the majority of pay-at-pumps didn’t recognise my card, and staff didn’t think there was a round around it.. as they needed the zip code it was registered to (DOUBLE EDIT – it didn’t recognise UK postcode or just the numerics from it), so to save lots of faffing around with passport (ID)/pre-pay/refund on my card it was easier to do a quick mental calculation of amount of fuel required, and hand the cashier a 10, 20 etc dollar note and the pump would stop at that amount.
EDIT – I’m sure someones gonna come along and tell me the way round this next time though 🙂

Take your bank card and use it in teller machines day to day. Any small saving you might make on exchange reates will be guzzled up the first time you order a beer anyway so as others have written, just go and relax.

Warn your bank that you’ll be using the card or they might block it.

Going to USA in three weeks and need to get some cash

Don’t get a load of cash. It’s just not worth it.

Get $100 or sometihng, then just use your debit card like you would at home. Piece of cake.

Just remember that if you are offered the choice to use your card as debit or credit, select credit even if it’s actually a debit card.

I found in AZ/NM/NV that the majority of pay-at-pumps didn’t recognise my card, and staff didn’t think there was a round around it.. as they needed the zip code it was registered to

Yeah I think that happened to me maybe once.. can’t remember where.

Also, check if your bank has a US partner – if it does, and you use their cash machines, you save some sort of transaction fee and/or some commission. Barclays’ partner is Bank of America.