[Joel_Zimmerman]

Hi there.
I am going to Hungary next week from England and so, as many of us do, we check how much our native currency compares to the foreign currency. In my case, I was seeing how much �1.00 was compared to the Hungarian Forint. XE, the currency converter, quoted me Ft307.83 for �1.00. When I went to Marks & Spencer, apparently with the best conversion rates, quoted me Ft28,000.00 for �100.71; that works out at �90.95 for Ft28,000.00. I told them that they must have made a mistake, but the woman at the booth just said, "But that's not our rate" and also said they don't charge. Aren't they still technically charging for conversions by making a lower rate?

Thanks for any insight!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

The RATE you see at XE is the rate you would be trading currency at on the Currency exchange, that is NOT the exchange rate when going to a Bank or institution,

Different institutions do it differently, some hedge their currency conversion based on a hedged average over a fixed period of time, some apply a % fee based above the previous days closing rate to cover costs of handling.

basically they can't use the "Live Rate" as they would lose money when buying selling bills with countries.

you should expect a 10-25% difference in the posted trading rate, and the rate at which you'd actually trade your currency in. the BEST way for currency conversion is purchasing things with your credit card while traveling as Credit card company's usually do the conversion at time of payment, or at time of billing which ever comes first with minimal conversion fees