Travelex
Your first impression upon arriving on the Travelex site will surely be that it is an impressive and well rounded website. It has resources that cater exceptionally well to currency conversion, as needed by anyone who has to travel.
You will no doubt recognise the familiar blue and red sign with a white border as you arrive on the home page. This alone should give you plenty of confidence about using the site. You may be surprised though when you see just how many services they do offer you. This is far more than just somewhere to get your holiday cash!
Take me to the site! How do I get there?
It couldn’t be easier. All you need to do is visit this website address. You can reach everything else from this page.
What does the site offer?
There is an invaluable series of services designed to delight anyone who needs foreign currency. Buy Back Plus is a great example. In order to encourage you to buy all your foreign currency from Travelex, they will buy any unused currency back from you at the same rate. The current flat fee for doing this is a mere £3.99, although you should check the site as this can change from time to time.
Using the “travel money online” feature you can order the currency you want to use on your travels and arrange to pick it up at the airport on the day you travel. This gives you the advantage of being able to fix the exchange rate months in advance if you want to. You also don’t need to make a separate trip to a bureau de change – instead you can just pick it up on your way.
They provide a whole range of associate services for individuals too – up to and including VAT reclaims for non EU residents – and for corporations they provide everything from corporate cards to arranging airport meeting rooms.
The key thing to notice too is that there is a ‘convert and buy now’ feature that is right on the home page. This means you don’t have to spend ages trying to find what you need if all you are after is currency. It’s also worth noting that you can buy a currency card (basically like a debit card in that you put money onto it before travelling, so you can only spend what you have) and Traveller’s Cheques from this box as well as hard cash.
You will see too that when you add something to your ‘wallet’ (their term for a shopping basket!) you can check it and make any required alterations before going ahead and buying what you need. And you have two methods by which to get hold of your cash too – you can either have it delivered through the post or opt for collection at a Travelex outlet if it is easier for you. Postal delivery is free if you order over a certain amount in cash, currently £500. Keep an eye on this though as it is of course subject to change.
What is their currency converter like?
When using the currency converter on the site it is important to realise that the results refer to the buying price for cash. This means the rate is for actually buying bank notes from Travelex in whichever foreign currency you have chosen.
Using the currency conversion tool is exceptionally simple. All the currency names in the ‘from’ and ‘to’ boxes appear in English and with their full country name included. This means you will see Thailand Baht instead of just Thai Baht. However, none of the international three letter currency codes are listed, and all the symbols associated with various currencies (e.g. £/$/€) are absent.
Start by selecting the currency you are starting with from the drop down list labelled “from”. Next, enter the amount of that currency you wish to convert that currency into in the box labelled “Amount”. So for example if you had selected UK pounds as your currency to convert “from”, entering 5000 in the “Amount” box will allow you to convert £5,000 pounds sterling.
Finally select the currency that you wish to convert “to” from the drop down list of that name and click on the button marked “convert”. The result is a small table that shows the date, the rate used, the start currency amount and the end currency amount. No cross rates are listed.
No precious metals etc. are listed on this site as it deals with the actual physical “paper money”; notes and bills as opposed to inter bank credits.
Supposing I need some help and advice – can they help me with that?
Your best bet is to go to the very bottom of the site. You’ll see a number of headings and various options underneath each one. The main ones that will be of use to you are the ones underneath the ‘using this website’ heading. But you should also take a look at the one which says ‘find a shop for pick up’, if you want to collect your cash instead of having it delivered.
Currency FAQs in particular should answer any queries you have, and it pops up in a separate handy window so you won’t lose the page you are currently on. And there is always the ‘contact us’ option if you need to go a step further.
In conclusion
This is clearly a site dedicated to travellers wanting to get the best for their money. The converter is very easy to use and the site has a wide range of very useful features that can help you and save you money as well.
Rating (out of five stars)
This currency related site is focused very definitely on holidaymakers. As such it isn’t as versatile as some other sites are, but if you are heading somewhere which uses a different currency then it is definitely worth exploring what it has to offer. As such we are giving the Travelex site four out of five stars.
- 4 Stars
Link: Travelex Currency Converter