Wise for travel

and equally I’ve just read that Raphaels Bank went out of business about 4 years ago, and hence those cash machines may have been replaced with £ only machines

Ahhh well, Banca March it’ll probably be then, though to be honest, I getting past the point of caring :laughing:

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That explains why I couldn’t find one in Euston the other month!

That website needs to be updated

They’re still in Gatwick and Belfast as of earlier this month. Don’t know who runs them now but they seemed to be the same Raphael style machines.

Travelex? They’re the main operator of them I’ve seen in recent years.

No, those I saw didn’t have their label on them and Travelex usually put their logo on their machines. Same spot and design as the previous GBP/EUR/USD ones from Raphael at least in Belfast.

Reading more detail, although they went out of business in 2019, a Forbes article on their shutdown mentions that they “exited the ATM business” in 2015, so it’s interesting that someone has taken them over, but hasn’t made any major changes in that time.

I know you mentioned you wanted cash, but when I was in Spain (mainland) this year, I found most places expected a card (even ice cream shops), and I think we only used cash for tips.

Just been

Seems that they have though apparently you can’t avoid the DCC on their machines so best to use one in an actual bank. There’s two real bank ones in Belfast and they just ask if you want to pay in GBP or EUR with no pressure and no DCC.

So, me and the Wife went to the Canaries at the beginning of this year and we took £240 of Euros that we’d had sat at home for the best part of 8 years from a previous visit to the Canaries. We actually spent all of the cash, I bought some clothes, ice creams from street vendors and the rest went on duty free at the airport.

We’ve no intention of spending any where near that amount of physical cash for our forthcoming visit, but I am talking a small amount as previously posted. Chances are we’ll spend that small amount without a problem. Trust me though, the bulk of spends will be Chase or Starling. The Wise card just seems like a reasonable way to purchase the Euros at a reasonable rate compared to the regular High Street exchange options.

It’s cheaper than the usual high street options but cheaper still are Chase or Starling (only by pence if you’re lifting €50).

One thing that’s rarely mentioned is that Wise give you US bank details which was dead handy for depositing some $ travellers cheques that I’ve had sitting around for way too long.

Do Euro dispensing ATMs really work with a Euro denominated card (I’ve never tried this) ? When they were first introduced, they only worked with UK cards from Sterling accounts and used a rate that was something like 10p less than the wholesale rate.

Yes if it’s a proper bank one.

We have two in Belfast operated by the local banks. They ask if you want to pay in GBP or EUR. As everywhere the EUR rate is dreadful. They take UK and EU issued cards but ask the GBP/EUR question for both.

If you have the EUR option enabled on Starling, it’ll take the EUR from that if you’re paying the ATM in EUR.

I suspect that Northern Ireland’s special status probably influenced that. I don’t think it probably works like this anywhere else, but I am prepared to be contradicted

I think the only bit special in this case is that it’s clearly easier to go to the EU than it would be from, say, Glasgow. However, I’d be surprised if there weren’t similar machines in, say, Dover or at the Eurotunnel station.

Fairly sure one was an HSBC machine but haven’t been in town for a while to check that.

If a UK ATM offers the exchange rate upfront it’s rarely a good deal as it’s usually either via LINK or DCC to the card scheme - either way, the rate is being determined by the operator of the ATM.

If you use the ATM and it lets you decline the fixed exchange rate then you’ll usually get either card scheme rate or that of your issuer e.g. up to €200 free if you’re withdrawing Euro with Wise and have a Euro balance.

I know. I priced it a couple of years back when they wanted about £69 for €60 when on Starling it was about £60 at that time.

One thing that’s a bit different from the usual DCC abroad is that some of the ATMs take Link cards (i.e. not Visa/MC). I’ve not tried those in a while but years back the rate that Chelsea and Yorkshire gave in Plus machines wasn’t bad.