Annecy Travel Forum

good money exchange place
Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 01:36 AM UTC

looking for a place to exchange us dollars in annecy. thanks

monicarc

6 replies

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Re: good money exchange place
Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 08:32 AM UTC

At any Bank - or use an ATM to withdraw Euros from your account. This is the mosr usual way to exchange money in France - I always use an ATM because when the conversion is done my bank (UK) gives the best exchange rate and makes no commission charge.Enjoy France.

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ranger49

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Re: good money exchange place
Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 04:20 PM UTC

Outside of Paris where I know of several places you can exchange currency at 2%-3%, ATMs will probably offer the best exchange value as withdrawals from French bank or post office ATMs cost nothing. Next of course is what your bank charges you for out of network ATM withdrawals. In addition, either Cirrus or Plus will take 1% of the exchange as an international currency conversion fee.

Most French banks offer a currency exchange service but the commissions can be very high.

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Sarastro

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Re: good money exchange place
Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 04:23 PM UTC

ATM's won't work for us, travelling with people dead set on using travelers checks (plus I had a bad experience with an ATM in europe in the past). Looks like I will look for a bank to change $.

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monicarc

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Re: good money exchange place
Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 04:32 PM UTC

Most people I know stopped using Travellers cheques in Europe several years ago as more and more places declined to accept them.
If you plan to carry all the money for your trip with you in cash - dollars/euros - be very careful. By that I mean opportunistic theft can occur anywhere in the world so be sure to keep an eye on you bag/purse, do not put it down on an adjacent seat etc. One of my daughters had her bag with cash and passport stolen from her side during a church service in Rome. You could end up being worse off than by using ATMs.

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ranger49

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Re: good money exchange place
Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 04:38 PM UTC

Interesting about the Travelers checks.

You might have some difficulty exchanging them as many merchants no longer accept them (too risky). The rate of exchange for travelers checks is even more expensive (higher commission and fees) than that of cash if you can find some place to exchange them.

You seemed determined to carry travelers checks so my advice is carry some cash as a backup.

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Sarastro

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Re: good money exchange place
Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 08:10 PM UTC

I haven't used travellers cheques in France since 1997. It was getting hard to cash them, even then.

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