FairFX Publicity > Euro Related Posts
According to Stephen Heath, FairFX Chief Executive, people travelling to Egypt and Turkey are less knowledgeable about their currencies compared with the euro or dollar.
An article on Skyscanner confirmed that the varying exchange rates meant that many people left their travel currency "to the very last minute".
However, with the British pound sterling weakening at the moment, that could be a mistake. With FairFX, people are able to lock-in the value of the euro at the time of purchase on their currency cards. Then, if people use their FairFX euro currency card in countries like Egypt and Turkey where other currencies are used, your currency is dynamically converted to the local currency at no extra charge from FairFX.
That’s significant – FairFX do not charge you when you use your currency card in a country that doesn’t use the currency card currency, making the FairFX card the ideal global traveller card.
Friday 25 September 2009, 08:25am
This week the Bank of England has highlighted that overseas investors may choose to reassess their willingness or ability to purchase sterling assets and thereby finance the UK trade deficit.
This has led them to conclude that "As a result, the long-run sustainable real sterling exchange rate... may have fallen."
Currency markets reacted suddenly to this statement. According to an article in the Express, the Post Office have been offering just 1.03 euros to the pound, Gatwick airport just 1.02 euros to the pound and Birmingham and Luton airports a poultry 98 cents and 99 cents respectively to the pound.
Here at FairFX our rates have also been dragged down – but not nearly as much. Today we’re offering 1.10 euros to the pound.
So in conclusion euro rates have fallen a little over the past couple of days – but they’ve also rebounded a little. Just be aware that at times when currencies fluctuate that some companies will feel that they can get away with giving consumers a worse deal. Keep your eye on the rate when you’re ordering currency at the moment.
Wednesday 23 September 2009, 01:00pm
In a recent article the London Evening Standard has discovered that British holidaymakers were charged a total of £106million for taking out money with their credit card abroad last month.
They highlighted that the biggest lenders, including American Express, Alliance and Leicester, Virgin Money, Halifax, Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland, are charging credit customers more than £50 to withdraw €1,000...
This means that holidaymakers are being charged nearly six per cent. According to the article, on taking out €1,000, Lloyds TSB and Halifax credit card customers pay 2.95 per cent commission - £25.95 - and a three per cent withdrawal fee - £26.39 - meaning their travel money costs £931.95.
The article recommends FairFX, saying that “Another popular currency card, from FairFX, sells €1,000 for £888 and has four times as many users as at the start of the year. It charges €1.50 for every withdrawal abroad.”
Click here to read the article in full.
Monday 21 September 2009, 11:53am
With most people re-evaluating their more exuberant spending habits, we’d like to ask the question - Should everyone start taking solvency tips from students?
After all, students are right at the heart of receiving up-to-date financial health advice from experts like Martin Lewis or from finance-focused newspaper journalists.
A recent article to offer great money-saving tips is one that was published in the Times in August… and we’re really happy that one of the recommendations was the FairFX Travel Money Card!
The article highlighted that if students are taking a gap year before university, or if they’re planning on travelling during the holidays, a pre-paid card could be useful.
It confirmed that for travel in Europe and America, the Fair FX card offers one of the best deals. Click here to read the article in full.
Friday 18 September 2009, 10:51am
A recent article in the Mirror has exposed zero commission travel money deals as a rip-off.
The article highlighted the fact that many shoppers attracted by special deals often don't realise that terrible exchange rates are costing them up to 120 euros when they change £1,000 worth of travel money.
Surprisingly, the Post Office were highlighted as one of the bad boys. They strongly promote zero commission deals – but its rates are very poor if you change money at its branches rather than online. At the time the article was published they offered just 1,094 euros for £1,000.
At the same time a leading prepaid travel money card like FairFX would give you 1,152 euros for £1,000, a significant saving of 58 euros.
FairFX Chief Executive Stephen Heath was quoted in the article. Click here to read the article in full.
Thursday 17 September 2009, 10:38am
A recent article in the Birmingham Post has confirmed online currency exchange rates to be among the best.
However, according to the article one in five people still leave it to the last minute and change money at the airport, where they are almost certain to get a poor rate. About 15 per cent rely entirely on credit or debit cards, where providers are reckoned by price comparison service uSwitch.com to collect fees and charges worth £281 million a year.
Stephen Heath and Ian Strafford-Taylor – both FairFX Directors are featured in the article. Heath and his business partner Ian Strafford-Taylor aimed to bring the Easyjet low cost online model to currency conversion in launching FairFX in 2006 – now they handle £100 million worth of foreign currency a year through cards and cash.
Low costs keep their exchange rate consistently high in best buy charts; its only charge on ATM withdrawals will be the one levied by the machine owner. Of course, saving on prepaid cards is maximised if buyers are canny enough to buy at a favourable exchange rate.
Wednesday 16 September 2009, 10:34am
More websites than ever are writing about the benefits of the FairFX Currency Card. This follows the publication of research which showed the overall value that the FairFX Card offered compared to competitors in the market.
Opodo mentioned in their article entitled "Travellers 'face hefty forex costs'" that Fair FX discovered that just 4% of travellers understand that they can be charged even when money changing services are advertised as being 'free'.
Easier.com continues the theme in their article ""FairFX.com calls on travel money industry to clean up its act" saying that the worst industry practices identified include:
- Publicising free services whilst increasing hidden costs
- Non usage fees
- Cross-border fees
- 0% commission / commission free
- Differential pricing online vs high street branches
- Poor exchange rates at many airports
- Misleading guarantees
CompareAndSave.com concluded that Prepaid credit cards 'offer better value'.
The article quoted Stephen Heath (chief executive of FairFX.com), saying: "We are calling on all providers to be clear and transparent about the fees, so that the traveller can decide upfront whether they are happy to end up with less of their currency in their wallet."
He added: "We believe very strongly that travellers need to be aware of these hidden costs."
SpanishNews.es added that FairFX offered "Exchange Rate Relief for Travellers" saying that compared to other travel cash providers; notably Lloyds, Marks & Spencer and the Post Office (UK) the FairFX pre-paid was the clear winner, offering rates at €1.1475. The difference was even more marked when compared with (airport) Travelex.
We’d like to thank everyone for helping to spread the great travel money rates news!
Wednesday 19 August 2009, 04:05pm
An interesting article in the Independent on Saturday highlighted that Debit cards are cheaper than most credit cards, while still being widely accepted overseas.
They said that the FairFX prepayment debit card can be pre-loaded for trips and has no commission and good exchange rates (£500 bought 576 euros, the best deal of all).
Click here to read the article in full.
Click here to check current FairFX exchange rates against competitors.
Monday 27 July 2009, 12:22pm
As we're only a matter of weeks away from Brits starting to go off on their summer holidays, it seems that the press is turning its credit crunch focus onto how much travel money you can get for your pound sterling.
Firstly, and article by published by the Guardian on Sunday advised on how to be flash without the cash when you're on holiday by using a prepaid card when you're on holiday. Read the full article here.
Yesterday the Telegraph published an interesting article which highlighted money saving tips for gap year students. One of the tips included using the FairFX travel money card. Read the full article here.
Today the Daily Mail highlighted that if you obtained your travel money from the airport, you might end up having up to £300 less spending money for the average family summer holiday compared with using a FairFX card. Read the full article here.
Wednesday 27 May 2009, 04:08pm
Four great articles which mention FairFX have been published over the last couple of days.
Firstly the Telegraph started off by featuring the five ways to get the best deal on your holiday money. They confirmed that the best prepaid card for foreign travel is the FairFX travel money card.
Next it was the turn of financeMarkets.co.uk to advise 'Beware the myth of 'commission free' exchange rates' before TravelDailyNews.com discussed 'The myth Of "0% commission" holiday money'.
Finally, despite Auto-Europe.co.uk advising its readers on how to avoid currency cons they still confirmed that thousands of Brits would still headed for the airport as soon as the schools closed for Easter to soak up some sun in a European resort.
Wednesday 08 April 2009, 03:17pm
Latest 'Euro' Posts
25 September 2009, 08:25am
23 September 2009, 01:00pm
21 September 2009, 11:53am
18 September 2009, 10:51am
17 September 2009, 10:38am
16 September 2009, 10:34am
19 August 2009, 04:05pm
27 July 2009, 12:22pm
27 May 2009, 04:08pm
08 April 2009, 03:17pm
Monthly 'Euro' Archives
2009
September (6 entries)
August (1 entry)
July (1 entry)
May (1 entry)
April (2 entries)
March (1 entry)
Febuary (3 entries)
January (9 entries)
2008
December (6 entries)
September (1 entry)
August (1 entry)
July (1 entry)
April (1 entry)
March (2 entries)
