the money exchange American dollar to euro business

Charlotte, London is in the UK, and the UK doesn't use the euro; they're on the British pound (GBP)

No, you cannot pay for things with American dollars, and it's not recommended to try and exchange dollars for pounds once in England. Do not use exchange services at the airport as they usually have lousy rates, and banks abroad increasingly will not exchange money if you don't have an account with them.

Best way to obtain local currency is with ATMs, just as you would at home: check with your bank to make sure yours will work abroad, and ask them about any additional fees involved for using your card outside of your country. Some travelers have cards which involve no fees, and others are charged a small percentage of withdrawal amounts or per transaction.

You can check approx. current conversion rates here:
http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/

As Kathy explains you just use your ATM card to withdraw British pounds. Your hotel desk can tell you the closest cashpoint/ATM.

I like to have about 200 in local currency when I land. I travel solo and don’t like to have to deal with an ATM in my jet-lagged state. When I first started traveling I went to my local bank and purchased foreign currency thru them. You don’t get as good an exchange rate as you would on the ground in UK but it is worth it to me not to worry about money right away.

Others on this forum don’t mind going to an ATM right away so you’ll get different opinions.

Editing to add: You might want to get a copy of Rick’s Europe through the Back Door which gives a good overview of European travel.

Thank you for explaining the money thing. So I just take my regular American ATM card and I put it in England London ATM machine and it will do the exchange rate when I buy things purchases, tickets food just use my American ATM card. The bank did say they charge me a fee I don't think it's very expensive they take an hour dollar or whatever. What about the MasterCard what do you do what can you do with the MasterCard? You can make purchases the master card to?

I travel pretty much like Pam. An interesting proof occurred yesterday. I used a bank ATM to get some Forints. The ATM gave me the choice to charge my account in Forints and let my bank do the conversion or to charge my account in dollars based on that bank's ATM conversion rate. It is ALWAYS better to charge your account in the local currency and let your bank do the conversion. I just never realized how much better, in this case it was $203.XX vs $192.XX. An amazing difference. Also, stay away from ATMs not associated with banks and ATMs that offer currencies other than the national currency (euros in the UK for instance) as they charge a fee for services.

Sorry to post again but I just saw your other thread about packing and see you are leaving Monday.

No time to get pounds locally. You’ll have to go the ATM route. You’ll need to contact your bank first thing Monday to do a travel notification. Also contact your credit card companies.

Welcome to the Rick Steves forum. I see you have posted at least two different questions on this forum. From these questions my guess is this could be your first trip to Europe. Your other post indicated you are leaving on Monday for a cruise. So not a lot of time to go into a complete explanation. But here goes some tips that could be of help.

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If you are going to London you will probably need a few British Pounds for your time in England. Then if your cruise ship stops on the continent you may need some Euro. The most recommended way of obtaining currency is by using a Debit Card tied to a checking account in your local bank. It provides the best exchange rate. And the rate changes very slightly each day. But by using a debit / ATM bank card you get the best deal. The same goes for Euro.
Do not use a "CREDIT CARD" as that is a cash advance and you are charged interest on you credit card bill from the time you withdraw any money. The worst exchange rates are given by money exchange office in and around airports and train stations.

The front desk on the ship should have a currency exchange that you can use after you get on board.

On land they will not take US dollars.

I just checked the internet for the current exchange rates. It takes $1.30 to buy one British Pound (or 1 dollar equals 76 pence.) $1.17 to buys one Euro (1 Dollar equals 85 Euro cents.)

From your other threads, it appears that you are leaving on Monday? If that's the case, you won't have time to order British pounds from your bank. You'll have no choice but to withdraw pounds from an ATM when you land in London. But BEFORE YOU LEAVE, and preferably today, call your bank and make sure that your ATM card will work in Europe, and that they know that you will be travelling abroad. Otherwise they could freeze your account if they suspect a fraudulent withdrawal. Also notify your credit card companies of your out of country travel for the same reason.

You only need Euros if you are going to a European country that uses the Euro. You would get them the same way - from an ATM when you arrive in that country. Do not attempt to convert actual cash (except in an emergency)). Most banks won't do it unless you have an account. Exchange bureaus will do it, but at ridiculously bad rates.

To find the current exchange rate, just Google currency conversion.

Don't use your ATM card to purchase goods or services. Use it only to withdraw cash. Either use cash (for small items) or use your credit card for purchases. It's much safer.

Like CJean, we only use our ATM/Debit cards for withdrawing cash, and our credit cards for making purchases.

To stress again what has already been stressed by others above, call both your bank and your credit card companies right away with dates and locations you'll be traveling so they don't see an unusual transaction and put a freeze on your cards, as they may assume those cards have been stolen or accounts hacked. Also carry multiple credit and ATM cards if you have them in case one doesn't work or you have some other sort of issue with it.

Or will they just take American dollars?

Certainly. Just as popular as the New Zealand Dollar in Chicago.

The exchange rates are crummy for the kiosks in the US airport where you'll be leaving, but I think you will feel more comfortable landing, when you're tired, with some British pounds when you want to catch a taxi or take public transportation, etc.

Enjoy your trip!

It is a good idea to take along more than one credit card, if you have multiple cards. If you choose to do that, do not keep them all in your wallet! Europe is a very safe destination (virtually no guns to worry about), but the one thing it has more of than the US is pickpockets. Highly professional pickpockets. Having learned the hard way, I now keep no credit cards or ATM cards in my wallet. Each card is in a separate zippered pocket of my purse.

The back-up cards (I take long trips and have the bad habit of losing cards) are left in my hotel room, locked in my suitcase. I do the same thing with extra local currency: A modest amount (the equivalent of $40 or so) is in my wallet; a bit of extra is in a zippered pocket of my purse. If I have still more, it is left locked up in my hotel room. Some folks prefer to use a money belt rather than leaving stuff in their hotel rooms.

Read the following Rick Steves tips:
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/cash-tips
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/cash-machine-atm-tips
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/pay-credit-cards-vs-cash
Notify you financial institutions of foreign travel.

My local bank always has Euros and British pounds on hand. They did have to order other currencies (for my recent trip to Scandinavia), but I always just walk in and get a couple hundred Euros so I don't have to worry about it when I'm tired from a long flight.

Where are you in So Dakota that a bank keeps pounds and euro on hand? I don't think there is a single bank in Denver that keeps foreign currency on hand. That is most unusual.

I just returned from London and used my visa debit card to get pounds from an ATM there. No fees with my card. I did have to have a pin for my MasterCard to work certain places, like ticket machines for the tube. The only problem I had with withdrawing money was the second time I tried to do it with my ATM card, I kept getting an error that my bank would not authorize the transaction. I ended up using my credit card to withdraw more cash (with a small fee).

There are certain B&Bs that will accept payment in Euro in addition to British Pounds (GBP). I've stayed at some in Kings Cross.

You have the choice of paying the bill in cash in GBP or Euro, or by credit card but for that luxury a 3% surcharge is added on. No US dollars accepted.

Keeping foreign currency on hand used to be the case with B of A in SF, at least with the branch located at Powell and Market....no more. As of 2008 the main Well Fargo branch in SF at Union Square did likewise as regards to GBP. Last year I ordered 1,000 Euro from that B of A branch, (no fee), was told that the cash was not immediately available, since it had to be ordered, had to wait a couple of days, (I told them to call me) They did and I went back to pick up the cash.

@Fred, I got renminbi/yuan for a trip to China in 2009 by walking into the FX department of Bank of America SF Main Office.

Generally, unless you can get to your bank's headquarters office you're looking at waiting for currency to be shipped from the main FX vault. Even for non-exotic currencies like € and £.

Important to notify banks and credit card companies that you will use your cards in Eutope. Just tell them the country(ies) and the dates.