ATM's in Carvoeiro

[Lamby]

Hello forum members. I travel to CVO for the first time this weekend for a two week holiday (very excited!!! ) Traditionally I have exchanged my £'s to Euros in The UK prior to travelling abroad. However, I have been advised that you get a better exchange rate if you put your £'s into your bank account and get your Euros as and when required from an ATM while on holiday.
I have done some research and there appears to be two or three ATMs in CVO.
Does anyone have any experience or words of advice regarding this. Do any ex-pats draw money from a UK bank account at an ATM in CVO and if so is there a charge? Plus, is the exchange rate better?
I have been quoted 1.0751 here in The UK. I bank with Barclays.
Any help gratefully appreciated x

[fmm]

Yiou don't get charged if you bank with Nationwide. you will if you bank with Barclays.
There are ATMs in several places - I can think of three off the top of my head - two on Restaurant Hill (Estrada do Farol). - One at Barclays, near the Iron Stove/O Cantinho, and one at the Santander Bank - or whatever it is called - just up from A Gale.
There is one on the top of the in road at the Millenium Bank.

[Lamby]

Thanks fmm.
Sorry to be a pain and excuse my ignorance, you mentioned a Barclays Bank in CVO, surely they wouldn't charge if I was withdrawing from my UK Barclays account?!?
Also, do you know if the exchange rate is more favourable?
Thanks

[fmm]

Although it is called Barclays and it has the Barclays logo, it is not linked to Barclays in the Uk (or certainly wasn't a few years ago).

The other way is doing through a post office card (google and it will give you information).

On the recommendation from someone on here 5 years ago, I opened up a "holiday" account at nationwide and dump money in there on a regular basis in the UK to take out when I get to Carvoeiro. I even take out cash from this account and pay into my Millenium account as this is the cheapest way of trasnferring money over.

As to rates - it is usually favourable - but impossible to tell until you see the statement. I have never felt that I have lost out if that help!

[Lesley Jean]

Lamby have you looked at either the post office or travelex on line for your euros? they deliver next day by recorded delivery and you get a much better rate than anywhere else.

Post Office has a rate of 1.0831 and Travelex has 1.0835 today.

Barclays in Cvo is nothing to do with Barclays in the UK, they are separate companies.

[HampshireRich]

The ATMs will only let you draw out €200 at a time, but will let you do it twice - €400 in any one day. Beware though - they do tend to run out at busy periods.

[SAM SPARKLE]

Hi Lamby, a bit late now, but for future use you could apply for a Fairfx card, (http://www.fairfx.com/) they offer one of the best rates around (1.0950 today), you can use them as often as you like in any 24 hour period providing you have enough credit. The max you can top up to is 5K and they charge €1.50 per transaction, most of my mates now have them and swear by them.

[fmm]

Moneysupermarket wrote an article in January last year comparing rates. Obviously the rates are different today, but this gives you an idea of what you get for each of the methods recommended plus a few others not yet suggested.

"Last Friday, £500 would have bought 540 euros with a Nationwide debit card, 524 with a FairFX card, 521.50 with a Caxton FX card, 515.50 from Travelex traveller's cheques online, 515 from a Post Office bureau de change, or 497 from Travelex at Heathrow. "

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-a ... age_id=513

[wolfie]

I notice that everybody always seems to say that Barclays UK is nothing to do with Barclays Portugal .Well , they are part of the same group although being in different countries will be limited companies in their own right .But we have a Barclays mortgage in Portugal and to save having to go over to sign some paperwork were able to do it a a local branch in the UK .So they are same bank but separate parts of the group if that doesnt sound too confusing

[fmm]

They are part of the same group, but claim they are separate for business purposes if you try to transfer money between UK Barclays and Portugal Barclays!

[PTBUXTON]

As somebody's has already mentioned the Nationwide Flex account does'nt charge for withdrawals with in the EU also you would get bank rate not tourist rate which at the moment is approx 1.11euros to the £.

[AVO]

Hi Lamby,

I took out 100 Euros last week at the ATM in the Intermarche and got 1.071 on my Barclaycard.
It was a much better rate than I was offered before I went from the Post office which was 1.05. and that 1.071 includes the charge for a cash withdrawal!

[Bruce Wallis]

Another, and even better rate, is to exchange larger sums of money.....£500+, at the market rate, or just below.
I have an account with a currency dealer, Interchange FXS, and normally get about 1.5 - 2 cents below the spot rate at the time of the purchase. Ie, the rate at the moment is 1.1140, they will give you about 1.1010.
You just transfer the sterling to them via internet banking, and the euros appear in your Portuguese bank account 2 days later.

[fmm]

I stand by my original suggestion that Nationwide provides the best service - the rate yesterday was 1.1129 with no comission charges. Definitely worth opening an account if you holiday/travel regularly in EU countries. Plus you can squirrel money away every now and then so the holiday costs don't come as a horrible surprise from your main bank account!

[joanne]

Must ask if any one else had this problem, we had a Nationwide Acc for years, that we use to transfer money into our Acc in Barclays and we have also found this the best way, then we just draw from our Barclays Acc over there, but last time we were out I decided to try the Nationwide card and it would not let me take any money it kept asking me for a 6 digit no? I asked in my Branch at home and they have just said they have never heard of that and to try again when next out, will try again next week, but am worried it will keep my card.