Would someone comment on "do not bring dollars to exchange for Euros."

It is almost always cheapest (would say always, but there seems to be exceptions to every rule) to withdraw local currencies from an ATM with your bank debit card than do currency exchange.

Not ever country has a post office for exchanging currency. It may work in France and no where else so the comment is very valid. I seriously doubt if the post office can beat the exchange rate offered at a bank owned ATM in Europe. It is my experience based on many, many weeks of travel through out Europe that the cheapest and most convenient way to obtain local currency is via a debt card at a bank owned ATM anywhere in Europe.

I agree with the withdrawals from the ATM. Check with you bank on the exchange rates. My bank had a better exchange rate than what you'd find at any currency exchange.
Hope this helps.

Thank you all.
I shall try both and report back

Using the ATM is usually the best (i.e. least costly) way to get Euros in Europe. Of course this depends on what fees your bank might charge for using your ATM/Debit card in Europe, so check with them. Check around if you feel your bank's fees are too high as there are several that don't charge fees on international withdrawals.

Why is an ATM less costly? The exchange rate is fixed by your card network (meaning Visa or Master Card) and your bank can't arbitrarily charge some other higher rate. The rate applied to your withdrawal is always the best rate possible and closely matches what you get when you Google the exchange (i.e. "100 EUR in USD"). Just make sure to use a Bank owned ATM since privately owned cash machines can set their own rate. Also, never accept the transaction being charge in your home currency "for your convenience" at the ATM or anywhere else you might use your card. NEVER do a cash advance on a credit card for cash anywhere unless you have no other option as this is the most expensive way to get cash.

And you also don't have to carry stacks of cash with you which when I do always makes me nervous. :-)

Times have changed FML17. The PTT was broken up about 20 years ago with the TT part becoming Orange telephone, cable tv, internet, etc. In 2000 I went into the small Cassis Post Office looking for a phone cabin and the clerks laughed. I had forgotten about the break up.

La Poste exists, of course, but the bank part in it is called La Banque Postale and it's just like any other large bank, hawking its credit card for a price and other products. I haven't seen money exchange in La Poste for at least fifteen years, but they do have atm machines.

"I belong to credit union and they provided me with Euros for my trip with no charges and a great rate."

I find that very difficult to believe. I've done a lot of research about this and haven't found that to be true other places. Can you give us the "great rate" you paid and the date and let us decide? Or does that CU have a website that lists their rate today? Sometimes, depending on the bank or CU and the type of account, one can get euro from an ATM at exactly the Interbank rate. No one is going to beat that for cash over here.

Unless the credit union has a foreign currency operation, they have to buy the foreign currency from a bank or, worse, Travelex (10+%). So, if they're doing this gratis, as a service, their rate is still going to be no better than from where they get it. Wells Fargo has the best exchange rates I've found for buying euro over here, and they charge more (5%) than they charge at a ATM over there (~4%). You can beat Wells Fargo's ATM rate by going to a small, local bank (2%) or credit union (1%).

Try and find a post office that is open when you need it.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.
I have the thread on Credit Union with example.
I suspect I should join. Never have belonged to one . . .So I shall have to work my way thru the logistics.
I shall also use an ATM belonging to a bank and check their fees.
They have already been notified of my travel plans.
Now I have to find out their withdrawal limit.
Boy does traveling have its details !!

Betts, Good info re the PTT. I am now alerted.
Speaking of ORANGE, my phone automaticall switches over to it. So I do not have to swap out a Sim card.
Am I unaware of how this works?

Lee, The ""small local bank" sounds like I have to set that account up in the US before I leave.
Leaving a week from this coming Monday. I had better get going.
I currently have only ATM cards from TD Bank and Valley National (local to NY & HQ in NJ.

I would be very interested to find out how one poster got a better exchange rate from their local financial institution than I get from a banks ATMs in Europe where I get the exact Interbank rate at the second I use the ATM. Unless they are operating at a loss, I find this extremely hard to believe. And, I have spent time in Europe for 13 of the last 14 years, always using a debit card tied to a checking account at a local credit union, to get local currency from a bank's ATM. That CU has a 1% transaction fee which I accept since I have been a customer there since 1972.

I belong to credit union and they provided me with Euros for my trip with no charges and a great rate. It was a better rate then getting them in Europe, I checked on line for rates with 3 different banks.

Had I made an ATM withdrawal moments ago, the VISA rate is $1.10199USD for 1€. The OANDA website reveals an exchange rate at 0% of $1.09667USD or a net cost of $.00532USD per 1€. If the above credit union is beating my no foreign transaction fee ATM card, I want in on the deal and now. :)

FML17, I can't help with the phone questions, but NO, you don't need to set up another bank account! Just let the banks who've issued your ATM card(s) (and credit cards, if you have them and are taking them) that you will be out of the country and where and when you'll be there. *IF YOU DON'T your cards WON'T WORK! They will assume your cards were stolen and they will cut off access to your own account and you'll be left with no way to get your money.

In Europe, just use your ATM cards as you would at home. Your travel guide should have more details...

The "better rate at the credit union" is most likely a cash exchange of dollars for Euros. I know my bank gives me a better deal if I want to buy Euros here than I get trying to sell USD at a bank in Europe. But neither one is better than the ATM rate.

Or someone made a mistake at the credit union and used their "buy" rate when they "sold." :-)

Rick says to bring along some USD:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/cash-tips

Bring along some US dollars. While you won’t use it for day-to-day
purchases, American cash in your money belt comes in handy for
emergencies, such as when banks go on strike or your ATM card stops
working. I carry several hundred US dollars as a backup (in
denominations of easy-to-exchange 20s). I’ve been in Greece and
Ireland when every bank went on strike, shutting down without warning.
But hard cash is hard cash. People always know roughly what a dollar
is worth. If local banks don’t have exchange services, you can always
find exchange desks at major train stations or airports.

I carry some US cash on me while I'm over there, not "several hundred" as suggested by RS. That would be in Euro but $100 or so as reserve pocket cash, since you never know. The point on the perceived value of the dollar is valid. Prior to the Euro, definitely during the Cold War days, the most desired and valued currency to have on hand in western Europe and the Soviet bloc were DM and US $. Now it's the Euro and US $.

Someone did post a while ago about a "Currency and Bullion Exchange" in Vancouver, Canada. I went to their website, and, they indeed, do sell euro online at a very favorable rate, something like 1.6% over the Interbank rate, which is less than what you would pay with an ATM card from a big bank (Wells, USBank, Chase, et al) at an ATM in Europe. The price for euro is in Canadian Dollars; if you had to convert US Dollars to Canadian Dollars (at 8/10%), then the price of euro in USD would be about 2½% over the Interbank rate. But, I can still get euro in Europe with my Wells Fargo PMA account for 0% over the Interbank rate and no fee, from my credit union at 1% over, no fees, or from my local bank for 2% over and $2 fee, so I'm not going to be going to Vancouver to get euro for my next trip, but for Canadians living in Vancouver, that is a very good source of cash.

Speaking of ORANGE, my phone automaticall switches over to it. So I do not have to swap out a Sim card. Am I unaware of how this works?

In my experience, the phone will automatically connect to the local carrier without you having to use a local SIM card, but that DOES NOT mean you get local rates for calls, texts, or data use. If you don't have an international data plan or turn off all cellular data, you will come home to a huge bill. If you're going to bring a smartphone, research local SIM cards, buy an international data plan, or turn off cellular data and use only wifi. Phone calls without a local SIM or an international calling plan cost around $1 per minute, even if you make local calls, because you're still using your home plan.

The “interbank rate” is the rate at which banks make very large, very short-term loans to each other. It sometimes was called the overnight rate, indicating how short the term was. The average rate serves as a benchmark for several transactions including consumer lending.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbank_lending_market

The foreign exchange rate grows out of trading on currency markets. The daily rate published in newspapers is an average of those transactions daily. The ordinary consumer rarely if ever will receive that amount. Instead, a bank sells a customer currency for more than the rate and buys it back for less, often two to four percentage points in each direction. That's how banks make money on their foreign exchange service. Fees for the transaction are a separate matter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_rate

Any financial institution that sells you foreign currency at the published daily rate – it's like selling wholesale – and with no transaction fee, won't cover its own costs of doing business, and so is running on good will rather than sound financial procedure.

I carry two ATM cards, issued by different banks, and never in the same pocket. My credit cards will also advance money, but with difficulty and charging a scandalous interest rate.

Do not, not, NOT plan on exchanging dollars for euros. I have always been a fan of cash and a money belt, and have generally gotten about 1,500 euros before a trip from Wells Fargo, at a very reasonable cost. I would also carry perhaps a thousand in U.S. currency in case my budgeting was off. I would put everything I could on my credit card (I don't have an ATM card and don't want one). I never had any problem exchanging dollars for euros until last summer.

On my last trip I found it virtually impossible to exchange U.S. currency for euros. I think there is a counterfeiting problem. I was mostly in small towns. For example, in Colmar, France, I was referred to the "post office," where I was told I could exchange money. They said I would have to leave the money and come back in 10 days, which didn't work very well for me. In Strasbourg, I found ONE bank willing to change money, but they would only allow me to get 200 euros. In Basel, I COULD have exchanged money, but I would have had to exchange dollars for Swiss Francs, and then Swiss Francs to euros as a separate transaction. I wasn't willing to do this. I spent LOADS of time worrying about and trying to deal with this, and I will never allow this to happen to me again.

I'm not a fan of ATM cards, but I'll never go to Europe again without some means of getting euros if I have misbudgeted, either through a credit card or a prepaid ATM card.

As for a "prepaid ATM card" there are several threads discussing the benefits and costs. For me, a regular ATM card works best and it has no foreign transaction fees. The attraction of a "prepaid ATM card" is baffling, but may be associated more with new international travelers...and ones not reading the Travel Forum.

I know Frank said may times he is not a fan of an ATM card without stating why. The is no simpler, cheaper, convenient way to obtain foreign currency than using a debit card at a bank owned ATM. In fact I would also argue that the security is just as high as using a credit card. So I don't know why you would not use a debit card.

Frank from Oxford,

Could you please explain your reasoning behind not wanting to use an ATM card to get cash? I am interested in your reasoning.

As far as leaving the cash at the bank and coming back in 10 days to get Euros, this is similar to what my bank here in the US does when I have attempted to sell back any foreign currency I have left from my trips. They are not concerned about counterfeit so much as they are selling the currency to a foreign exchange company and it just takes that long to complete the transaction. So I understand why the bank in Europe chose the same process.

I use my ATM/Debit card to only get cash from ATMs, and always only a credit card for every other type of transaction that I don't pay cash for. I feel that using a Debit card like you would a credit card to make purchases can open you up to fraud where your bank accounts can get drained and then you have to wait days for your bank to put the money back into your accounts. But I feel reasonably safe using my Debit card at bank operated ATMs.

We live in a different world now when it comes to foreign exchange than even just 10 years ago. It costs banks real money to handle this in staffing cost to process the cash as well as carrying cost to have the various currencies on hand. Many banks have decided that since their ATM will allow you to get as much cash as your bank lets you at practically no cost to them, they should not have to shoulder the costs of actual cash exchange.

I have a number of accounts with my bank. One is a checking account with a debit card. I keep less than a hundred dollars in it and use it for online purchases. If I want to make a large online purchase, I transfer more money into it. This account does not have overdraft protection so all someone could get would be the balance in the account. This was suggested by the bank after someone got hold of my credit card number and tried to charge a large amount to the card.

So I could always use that account for a trip to Europe and only put into it the amount I planned to use (of course, if I went over the planned amount, I could always do an online transfer or put some of my expenses on a credit card).

If you want to have a "cushion", don't take it in US$ and try to exchange it. Take it with you in euro from someone like Wells Fargo. Keep it in a separate place and get more from the ATM when you other cache gets low. At the end of the trip, spend it for the last expenses (or do like I do and take it home to start the next trip).

Lee's example works provided you do not have a cross-collateralization agreement with your bank. It is very common with multi-accounts at a bank for a bank to sneak a cross-collateralization agreement in somewhere. What that means is that if you overdraw one account the bank can look to your other accounts for fulfilling that deficit. Different from overdraft protection. It is a one line fine print that is very significant and banks love to have it.

Thanks for the tip, Frank. I'll check into that on Monday (Ops, Monday's Labor day, Tuesday). But I doubt it, since the bank suggested the limited account when they caught somebody charging on my CC account. That might happen with a check, but I doubt that a debit card transaction for more than the available balance would go through.

I suspect that today, where everything is linked electronically, any attempt to charge more than the balance on a debit card would be denied. I once had an ATM withdrawal rejected at FRA in Germany because I had withdrawn a small amount the previous day (which was still the same "day") back in Denver, so the German withdrawal exceeded the daily limit.

Update: Frank, I checked today with Wells Fargo. They said the "no overdraft protection" absolutely protect my accounts, and further, the account can never be debited for more than the balance in the account.

Alright, here I am jetlagged but better for the wear.
You were right about the PTT. It is just another bank.
I found the ATM the most useful.
Nobody will take $100 bills in fear of either copying or money laundering. It is forbidden in France by regulations. $50s are ok.
The exchange rates are easily available, as suggested, by Google Now or Oanda.
The dollar as currency is not as welcome as it used to be. Limits may be placed on amts allowed to be changed.
Banks, credit cards, etc. . . . you just have to sort out before you leave.
On daily basis I operated in Euros. No questions, no problems.
I watched people using credit cards for daily matters and hope the best for them re fees.
Future dictates looking into the credit union cards mentioned by many.
Thanks all for the background info.

"I watched people using credit cards for daily matters and hope the best for them re fees."

Not just fees, places that take credit cards are more expensive to start with. Your most economical travel comes with using small, family run places, and, in Germany at least, they don't usually take credit cards (nor are these places shown on booking websites, that take a 15% commission).

the advice given in the posts about using debit cards for cash from ATM's is valid and has been for some time.
I use my credit card whenever I can for accommodations, supermarkets, restaurants etc. I want the airline miles!
I have a credit union account, I buy EUROS from them at no charge, but the rate is whatever the currency exchange is for the day the purchase was made by the credit union. Of course having no fees of any kind is valuable.
One trick I use for my credit union debit cards is to have 2 separate checking accounts with my CU, so that I have 2 debit cards linked to to 2 separate accounts. Not only does it give me a backup debit card but I can also move money between accounts or add money from my CU savings account.

The problem with using your credit card whenever possible in Germany is that places (hotels, restaurants) that take credit cards are inherently more expensive to start with. So you end up "paying" for those miles with higher prices.