Changing yuan (Chinese RMB)

smcelhinney

Anyone know anything about this?

Most banks I've gone to say that the best they can do is take it off me and send it off to get changed. Where the hell do they "send" it?

I dont want to risk this given that it could take 2-3 days to change, and with the Chinese economy as fluid as its ever been, I could potentially lose out on exchange rates. I'd prefer to walk into a bank and know that Im getting the price on the board. (Although, you never get the price on the board, what with the commission, interest, the price of the staple that they use for your receipt and any other feckin sundry charge they decide to impose on you that day...)

Any ideas? Any Chinese people read these threads wanting to by yuan? Or is that illegal?

Redjeep!

I've never changed Chinese money as such, but a few years ago had to change a small amount (~Euro100 worth) of Taiwanese money (forget what it was called). I just changed it at a typical money changer at the airport.

It took them about 10 minutes to figure out what it was but they changed it there and then.

If it's a reasonably large sum (say a few grands worth) then I've found a UK company called Sterling Exchange who were brilliant. They gave a much, much better price than AIB. In fact it was so much better that it showed just how criminal the banks are.

They will give you a set rate over the phone and you have to fill out and fax a few forms and then transfer money across to them and they transfer it back. As long as you complete the forms within a few days, then the rate is set.

I was more than a bit nervous when I used them (it was quite a lot of money and could have gone horribly wrong), but they were fantastic. The exchange rate was several percentage points better than AIB's, which can make a huge difference (several thousand on a large transaction).

Do a search for Sterling Exchange and you'll find them.