I want to forewarn travelers of a currency exchange incident I recently had with Ttavelex at London's Heathrow Terminal Two on 8 June 2023. I attempted to convert British pound sterling to U.S. dollars at the Travelex Heathrow Airport T2 terminal location since I was returning to the U.S. I was only offered the opportunity to convert my British funds to a Travelex Money Card (debit card) in which I was assured I would be able to obtain those funds upon return to the U.S. Upon return to the U.S. on 8 June 2023 I went to my financial institution to access my funds, using the debit card I was denied access to my $290 by Travelex. After this denial I sent an email to Travelex on 8 June requesting they provide my funds through a more traditional method, in which they have yet to respond or provide the funds. If you plan to convert foreign funds to U.S. dollars at a Travelex location I would advise you insist upon hard currency vice their debit card in order to avoid the current fiasco I am experiencing.
Posted by
la la land...
871 posts
For anyone who banks with Bank of America, they will convert your foreign currency at an excellent exchange rate. About a year ago, I took an assortment of currencies I had accumulated and no longer needed, from Chinese to Thailand to South Korean, and I got paid in dollars very close to the market rate.
Posted by
Bristol, UK
1037 posts
Travelex at the airport will offer the absolute worst conversion rates anywhere and should always be avoided.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7579 posts
Just guessing, but you probably need to use the card like you would a credit or debit card, for gas, shopping, or withdraw the cash from an ATM. The bank really couldn't do a counter transaction to get to the cash (though you could have walked out the door to their ATM and withdrew the cash, then went in and deposited it.)
For future reference, I am not sure where you got the British Pounds, hopefully not from Travelex the first time, but turning GBP back in to convert to Dollars is a terrible rate. You probably could have used your credit card or Apple/Google Pay for nearly everything, and maybe just used your Bank ATM/Debit card to withdraw a few (30 GBP?) from an ATM in the UK.
Posted by
Singapore
332 posts
I used to be a huge fan of cash, but on recent trips have taken no more than £50, and rarely actually spent any cash at all. Card for everything is the best approach, with a small amount for backup.
Posted by
Preston UK
916 posts
Your first mistake was ending up in a position where you still had $290 in cash to exchange. That's way more than most of us would recommend you bring to the UK these days. Then. as others say Travelex at the airport is a really bad place to change money.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7341 posts
We had some leftover pounds on our trip this month, plus I had an old 10 pound bill. We were able to get all of that switched back to dollars at a post office near the Bank of England in London. No wait in line, too!